Episode Transcript
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Cinzia Filipovski (00:00):
Welcome to parenting with the pros and
(00:01):
cons. I'm Cinzia, Filipovski.
And I'm Dr. Molly OShea.
Molly OShea (00:07):
Today we'll be discussing sugar feeding
children to your children andall the pros and cons. But first
a little bit about I'm Dr.
Molly. I'm a pediatrician who'sbeen in practice for about 30
years. And I've seen it all.
I've been a speaker for theAmerican Academy of Pediatrics
and a journal editor, and Iraised four kids to adulthood.
(00:29):
I've talked to parents my wholelife and been a parent myself
and I know all the pros andcons.
Cinzia Filipovski (00:37):
And I'm Cinzia, Filipovski. I'm a full
time working mother of five yearold twin boys. I'm the executive
director of two medical officesand owner of a medical practice
management company. I'm acertified positive parenting
educator. And so as you canimagine, I am pretty busy. I am
balancing life and like you, Iam trying to raise my family
(00:58):
with all of the pros and cons.
So let's dive in. Let's startoff Dr. Molly, why don't you
give us the medical side ofwhat's the big deal about sugar?
Well, sugar has.
Molly OShea (01:10):
First of all, let's talk about sugar in general,
right. So they're sugar of alltypes, right? There's there's
sugar that you get in a packageon the bake aisle, and that's
granulated sugar, brown sugar,that kind of sugar. And that's
the kind of sugar that is mostconcerning from a medical
standpoint. So sugar that youfind in fruit or sugar that
(01:30):
comes naturally encased in abunch of fiber, like like fruit
does, or sugar that is a resultof, you know, being grown in a
vegetable, that sugar is lessworrisome. But sugar that is
refined sugar is the sugar thatis most concerning. And sugar is
(01:51):
concerning for a couple ofreasons. I mean, obviously, it
doesn't really have anynutritional value. And in the
long run, it can ironically leadto high cholesterol, it can lead
to lipid problems, it not onlyobesity. I know people think it
leads to diabetes, it doesn'tactually lead to diabetes, it
(02:12):
leads to obesity, which can be aproblem for causing diabetes.
But having a lot of sugardoesn't actually lead to
diabetes. I know a lot of peoplethink sugar leads to being
hyperactive or having a DD andit doesn't do that either. But
it definitely leads tocardiovascular disease, it does
lead to obesity. And generallyActually, there are links to
(02:35):
having a lot of sugar and highfat foods in your diet and being
depressed. So those are some ofthe medical issues around sugar.
So it's it's not a fantasticplayer in our diet. And I know
that parents today, especiallyare aware of some of that and
are choosing to make sugar, youknow, a limited player in their
(02:56):
kids diets.
So just to kind of wrap that up,it's added sugar that were added
the sugar , they added you mightnot be directly adding it right.
But you're buying things wherewe're where granulated sugar,
white sugar, brown sugar wasadded to it right? Or we'll talk
(03:18):
about it later.
Cinzia Filipovski (03:19):
But we're not adding sugar to fruits and
vegetables.
Molly OShea (03:22):
Oh, that's correct.
But things like smoothies, whichI do want to talk about may be a
problem, too. So I'll talk aboutthat, you know, as we move
along.
Cinzia Filipovski (03:33):
So I saw something that I just wanted to
mention, you know, when we talkin terms of sugar, something
that I learned, you know, wasI'd like to see what the
recommendations are from, youknow, you talked about
cardiovascular health becausesugar can cause high blood
pressure or inflammation in thebody. That's a lot that I've
learned about in doctors, youknow, from what I'm reading and
(03:57):
understanding because I'm not adoctor are finding more and more
that the idea behind high food,high fat foods aren't as harming
as high carbohydrate or refinedsugar foods, that they're the
problem. They're the onesthey're the foods that are
causing inflammation in ourbodies and therefore causing a
lot of the diseases. So as we'relooking at a lot of these
(04:19):
diseases in life, we're findingthat if we were just to alter
our diet, especially here in theUnited States of America, we
would become healthier ingeneral. So one of the
Molly OShea (04:30):
Yeah, go ahead. I just wanted to refine low carbs,
okay, because carbs kind of hasit's a big category of food.
And, you know, I certainly don'twant kids on a ketogenic diet.
You know, one of these ketodiets, certainly, and carbs are,
that's a big category of foods.
So the kinds of carbs that areproblematic in our diets are
what I call white carbs. Sowhite bread, white potatoes, you
(04:54):
know, white banana, you know,white carbs.
And usually white carbs aresimple carbs. And so I tell
parents often, you know, if youcan eliminate white carbs from
your diet, you'll be a long wayahead of the game.
Cinzia Filipovski (05:14):
Yes. And listen, this has been a battle
of mine My whole life. As youcan see, I am, you know, const,
I have constantly battled myweights, and this issue has come
up constantly. So I am here withthe rest of all of you trying to
just work it out each day. Butnow that I'm a mother, I've
really tried to really take alook at this. And so the
(05:34):
guideline that I work off of isless than four children under
18. And Dr. Molly, definitelycorrect me if I'm wrong here,
but I have under 25 grams ofsugar a day is the
recommendation from the AmericanHealth Association, who the
World Health Organization, etc.
So that's kind of the guidelinethat I used and under age to
(05:54):
really zero added sugar would beideal, if possible. So as we
talk about this, you know, let'stalk about the difficulties of
that, and and what does thatreally mean, in terms of living
your life, because we know thatwe can't, we can only keep our
children in a bubble for solong. So other than this past
(06:15):
year that we've been in livingin this pandemic, and we've
truly kind of been in more of abubble, our children cannot be
in a bubble, whether you have totake them to daycare or to other
people's homes, or whatever itmight happen. And we have more
control over them, obviously,the younger they are, but as
they start to become toddlers,and realize what's happening,
(06:35):
you can take them to a party,for example, and you can't
really not give them somethingas they watch the rest of the
children eating cake and icecream. So let's I want to talk
about that a little bit and howyou know how we handle that. So,
Dr. Molly, how did you handlethat with your own children?
Molly OShea (06:57):
Well, I think that there was there was less
information at the time I wasraising my kids, my kids are in
their 20s now, but I was and Iloved to cook. So it made things
easier for me. But I wasdefinitely kind of very natural
in the way I approached feedingmy kids, I wanted them to have a
kind of that whole food diet,where it was fruits and
(07:21):
vegetables and lean proteins.
And very Actually, we justdidn't eat a ton of meat when my
kids were little. But and so asa result, sweetened foods that
were kind of the cakes, thecookies, the white breads, you
know, those kinds of foods werereally treats and infrequent
treats. So they so they werethey were truly special
(07:47):
occasion, kinds of things,people's birthdays, or Christmas
or Easter or Halloween, youknow, those kinds of holiday
sorts of events, which had itspros and cons, to be honest with
you, in some ways by holding outin those ways. I mean, certainly
when they were two went under,they didn't know the difference.
But as they got older, becauseit was something that was so
infrequent, at least my kidsreally went bananas, you know,
(08:11):
when they had the opportunity tohave have that freedom to to
have that stuff. And, and youknow, looking back, I wonder if
having had a little bit moreopportunity without so much
rigidity, it may have createdless kind of that salacious
interest, you know, like, Ooh,this is you know, not, this is
(08:35):
off limits. And so I'm right,the forbidden sugar. So I do
think you know, there are there,there needs to be some, you
know, sort of normalcy aroundit, you know, because all foods
can be fine for I believe, allfoods can be fine. And the more
rigid, we create the structurearound it, the more some foods
(08:57):
become really exciting and otherfoods become taboo and other you
know, so it creates problems.
That was that was kind of myexperience with certain foods
with my kids. Now, but what'syour experience? That's a
personal experience. Growing up,I think that's a personal
(09:17):
experience. You know, I'vetalked to a lot of friends as
well that have either struggledwith this in their own lives
personally, that, you know,growing up in a home without
anything present, made us allwanted more, you know, so we
would go to school and see whatthe other kids had in their
lunchbox. And it was verydifferent from what we had. And
(09:38):
I think that that's, you know, Ithink that's both realistic, you
know, understanding that, thatthat's what goes on, but also,
it's also an issue that we havehere in the United States. You
know, what kids bring to lunch,for example, is not a healthy
lunch overall. So we have to setour kids up the best we can for
(09:59):
those scenarios.
Cinzia Filipovski (10:01):
The approach that I'm using right now, and I,
you know, I try not to be sorigid, but for the first couple
years of their life, it wasalmost a zero added sugar. And
if there was added sugar, thatdoesn't mean we didn't have
cakes, or it doesn't mean wedidn't have cookies, or any of
those types of things. But theadded sugar I used was honey, if
(10:22):
I needed to, or maple sugar, ormaple syrup, which is added
sugar, but you have to use, youcan use less of it, because it's
sweeter. So the net effect, afuel of the amount of sugar was
lost. And I was okay with that.
So I would do that. And we did alot of fruits and vegetables in
our home. So our kids lovedfruit and still love fruit now.
(10:47):
And if we went to special placesa party or around other people,
I let them have what theywanted. And I still do that. And
oftentimes their eyes are biggerthan their stomachs, and
especially my one son, he loves,or he thinks he loves all these
treats, and he wants it all. Andthen when it really comes down
(11:10):
to it, he has a couple bites,and he's done. And I'm okay with
that, you know, I want him tonot feel that he is being
limited. So I let them do thatit's the every day where we have
more control. So we talk aboutthings in terms of treats. And
we have a bin in our house whereI put what you know, quote
unquote treats. And the treats,though that I have chosen are
(11:32):
the best that I can findavailable. So I try to find
things with less sugar in themor things that are made with,
you know, like, as I talkedabout honey sweetened with honey
or maple syrup or organic thingsversus just, you know, your
typical processed foods. And soI have a little bin and when
(11:53):
it's treat time, they canchoose. And I like to follow
kind of, I've done kind of likean 8020 or 9010 approach, which
basically if we can do 90% oftheir, their diet without the
sugar, then 10% of it with it.
That's kind of my goal. So I youknow, I have found one brand of
(12:15):
ice cream at the grocery storethat doesn't have all the added
what I'll call gunk, and reallyjust uses cream and sugar. And
so that's what I give them or wemake ice cream. And we kind of
control the sugar that way. Andwe use a lot of fruit to kind
of, you know, allow that extraflavor. And so that so far that
(12:38):
has worked our biggestchallenges, honestly have been
family family that don't eat thesame way that we do or that want
to give them more treats thanreally they need to have on a
regular basis. And so that'sreally the struggle that we have
mostly otherwise, I feel like mykids, they're not deprived, you
(13:00):
know, and oftentimes, they'llchoose something that I'll
consider healthier oversomething that's not because
they actually prefer the tastenow. And so that kind of makes
me happy with Yeah, because theyI think they're starting to see
Molly OShea (13:13):
my kids were young.
And before they were really,really ingrained in school, you
know, kind of even throughkindergarten, maybe first grade,
they were very much like thatthey've kind of preferred the
stuff that wasless white, and more whole whole
grain or whole hardy or whateveryou want to call it. But as as
(13:34):
my opportunity to be the theonly person are practically the
only person feeding themdiminished. So as there was
snack time at school, and it wasa rotated snack. And, you know,
as they started to do groupactivities after school, and
there was a snack parent, which,frankly, these kids don't even
(13:54):
need snacks, I get that but it'spart of the culture. And so if
somebody is bringing a snack,you know, it does feel odd to,
you know, say no snack for you,or to send a separate snack the
kids do feel verysort of awkward, whereas being
the kid who has to have theseparate snack when there isn't
(14:15):
some, you know, allergy reasonto do that. So as a as my
opportunity to be the primaryperson giving them their stuff
declined. I got to tell you,their palate shifted and it's
it's bound to happen I think,you know, you as a and then
their desire for, you know,whether it was Doritos or
(14:37):
whether it was, you know,cookies increased and so in to
try to combat that or try to atleast answer it. You know, we
then because I like to cook, youknow, we would then try to
create kind of our homemadeversions of those things in
order to, to do that. But, butfrankly, it's hard and I don't
(15:00):
Don't think you have to love tocook to want to do that. And
there are tons of parents whodon't really that's not their
thing. They don't like to cook,you know, they might be. And
they don't. Exactly, exactly. Sofor parents who really don't
like to cook or don't have thetime for it, I think having
convenience foods are easy, andthey're convenient for a reason.
And convenience foods tend to befoods that are going to have
(15:23):
more of these, these things inthem, they're going to have more
added sugars, or they're goingto have the kinds of carbs that
are less valuable. And so, youknow, how then when you are
doing convenience foods? Well,how do you? How do you vet
things? What do you look at? Howdo you decide that something is
(15:44):
wholesome?
Cinzia Filipovski (15:48):
Well, aside from the sugar, I tried to look
at, you know, I check yourlabels, right? So I tried to
look at the foods and quitehonestly, I look at how many
ingredients.
You know, if something like ifsomething like applesauce has 10
ingredients in it, I have to askwhy apple sauce is just apples
(16:11):
in my book. So yes, there'sgoing to be added sugar. But
then when there's all thesedifficult words that you can't
pronounce, let alone try tounderstand what they are, then
why? Why are we going to feedthat to our children. So we are
in a day and age that we haveother options, thankfully, and
affordable options, there are alot of options. Now, it just
(16:33):
takes a little bit of digging.
And I think that, you know, andI understand time, trust me, I
understand the lack of time. ButI do think that if we can just
spend a little bit of timelooking at the labels,
especially in the grocery store,and identifying a couple of the
main staple foods that our kidslike, if you don't have the time
to cook at home, I to try to doa lot of cooking at home. But I
(16:53):
also try to bring a few thingsin again so that my kids can see
them. And know that that's okay.
And that, you know, they canstart to hopefully self regulate
as time goes on. But it'simportant to look at the labels
and to try to find the hiddensugar. Because sugar is not
always going to be stated assugar. You know, if you see
(17:14):
something that sayshigh fructose corn syrup, the,
you know, molasses or raw sugar,you know, that's my favorite
when you see raw sugar. And thatkind of makes us think, Oh, that
must be better for you. It's rawsugar. And really, it's just
sugar. So looking for thosetypes of words. And again, just
trying to find foods that haveminimal amount of ingredients.
(17:37):
So once you start to identifythem, like I said, I found an
ice cream at the store thatliterally has three ingredients
I remember on the flavor. Andhonestly, I don't want to say
the raw Okay, and now I believeit's, you know, I don't want to
I believe it's turkey Hill, allnatural. I believe that's what
(17:58):
it is. And I think that there'sfive or six flavors, obviously,
they're limited. But I do choosesome of the flavors that the kit
like I do believe they have acookies and cream option with
the way that they've done it ina Carmel option. So that they
they're exposed those icecreams. And then that way they
if they're going to have it inmy opinion, I'd rather hat and
(18:22):
it's going to have sugar in it,I'd rather they have the most
pure and best ingredients inthem along with that sugar
versus having just all you know,all just what I'll call fake
things. And this brand is onsale at the local grocery store.
It's just it's the same pricecomparison as all the other ice
(18:42):
creams. So there's that and youknow, I try to do those types of
things because I know it'sdifficult cereals is another one
right cereals has so much sugar,but you can't have like my kids
have now seen their cousins haveall these colorful and fruity
looking cereals. So they're notgoing to forget that they asked
(19:04):
for it, they want it so I triedto find a different version and
you know, which I did find thatdoes have some sugar in it so we
don't have cereal every day. Andso they can have that cereal
once in a while as well. Sothat's kind of what we've tried
to do. The other thing thatwe've done is basically except
for recently and even recentlyin very limited quantities that
(19:28):
that are homemade. We've givenour children zero juice we've
given them nothing but watergrowing you know other than
their formula and what theyneeded as infants but we don't
drink our sugar. And so that'sanother thing that we've done in
our house because I think thatthat's a very hidden source of
(19:49):
sugar that people think is goodwhen really it's not good for
you. I agree with you i sugaryou
Molly OShea (19:58):
know juices for kids are like pop
For adults, you know, it hasreally No, no real value. And it
really does change the child'spalate. So I totally agree with
you. And it gets me also ontothe topic of smoothies, which I
want to talk a little bit aboutparents really think smoothies
are fantastic, because theyprovide an opportunity to get
(20:20):
fruits and vegetables in,especially in children who might
be less eager to eat a varietyof fruits and vegetables. But if
you think about how many, youknow, you put in, let's say, six
strawberries, half a banana, youknow, a mango, you know, you're
putting in a lot of fruit, andthen whatever vegetable you
(20:42):
might put in there to, you know,to get a vegetable in there, and
you blend it up or whatever, andthen you give it to the kid,
that is way more than they wouldeat sitting there if they were
the whole fruit. And so as aresult, you're giving them a
very concentrated amount offruit sugar. And even though
it's fruit, sugar, fructose, notsucrose, which is, you know, the
(21:05):
kind of sugar you sprinkle onthings, it's still sugar in a
different form, and less healthythan eating the fruit in its
natural fiber casing. So,smoothies, smoothies are very
tricky. I only recommend them asa meal replacement, not as a
(21:27):
snack, and not as a dessert. Andnot as a way to sort of get
hidden fruits and vegetables. Ido it strictly as a meal
replacement. So let's say youknow, that mornings are really
hard for your kid and gettingthem to sit down and have a meal
is tricky. That's when you wouldadd protein powder to it. And
(21:49):
you would add some fruits if youwant to add vegetables and
vegetables. And that's insteadof a meal. And it's six ounces.
It's a small volume, it's notsome giant glass of a smoothie
as a way to provide a meal foryour child. And because the
smoothie thing it's kind of atrap that kids love, because
they're so dang sweet. Andthat's so dang sweet. is
(22:12):
problematic. Even though it'snatural sugar,
Cinzia Filipovski (22:15):
people add sugar to that.
as well. It's just the rightnotes. Yeah. And I want to bring
to, you know, everyone'sattention to is we have these
places now that are smoothieplaces that kind of sell
themselves as being veryhealthy. But one smoothie can
have anywhere that they have atthese places can have anywhere
(22:36):
from 29 to over 110 grams ofsugar in one certain one
smoothie. That is crazy whenwe're talking about 25 grams a
day. Yeah, total for children,two to 18. So you're talking
about one smoothie gives youlike a week's worth of sugar
(22:57):
almost. So just be verycautious. And also, again,
looking at those labels. Youknow, if you're going to do a
smoothie at all, as Dr. Mollymentioned, I would do it at home
if possible, and try to make itmore green than anything. I
think the smoothie smoothiecraze that has happened can be
beneficial and healthy. But Ithink it was really based on
(23:18):
green smoothies, making itmostly vegetables and we have as
a society, as we often dochanged it to be something that
just like,
Molly OShea (23:29):
grass, let's face it.
You know, our dogs? I don'tknow, you know, but what what I
get it. I've looked so manyplaces, I have one last mom
hack, and then we'll wrap up Ithink unless you've got one, I
forgot when I've been baking formy kids, you know that you could
(23:50):
picture you know, the image ofbaking cookies after school with
your kids. I never add theamount of sugar that the recipe
calls for ever. I easily cut itin half, sometimes more and the
kids don't know the difference.
So whatever you're making cakecookies, bread, like a like a
quick bread, whatever. Do notdoubt yourself. And I would say
cut that sugar in half. And youwill you will not know the
(24:14):
difference Honest to God andit'll taste great. And you will
really really reduce the sugarthat you have in that recipe.
Yeah, absolutely.
Cinzia Filipovski (24:25):
The other thing I want to mention two
things. The other thing that Ithink has a lot of hidden sugar
that people think is veryhealthy is storebought Oh gosh,
good one. There's a lot ofchildren yogurts that and adults
you know think that they'rereally benefiting their
children. Yes. fruit on thebottoms. Because there's so much
(24:45):
added sugar. It's not just thefruit. So look at those very
carefully or the the you know,what are they called the the
ones that are in the package.
Right, exactly. All those youknow those pouches, that the
yogurtpouches, they're not they have
so much added sugar. So one,making yogurt at home is much
easier than you might think itis. But if you're not able to do
(25:08):
that, that's okay. There areunsweetened or lower sugar,
options of yogurt. And I knowthat everyone, not everyone, but
most people are used to a muchhigher sweetened version. So
it'll take some adjusting, whichleads me to my last thing I know
that children model ourbehaviors. So we have to set
(25:30):
that example for our kids. So ifwe're parents that are drinking
six cokes a day, and eating, youknow, we won't eat any fruits
and vegetables will, you know,will, will only eat out or eat
processed, they're going tomimic that. And if that's your
decision, that's your choice.
(25:51):
But if you're trying to live ahealthier life, or at least, you
know, set up a healthier lifefor your child, or your
children, remember that youmimic, they mimic you. So you
know, if you're gonna if youwant them to eat lower sugar
products, then you need to do
Molly OShea (26:07):
I think that's great, you know, and on the
yogurt front, what you what wedid was we would take plain
yogurt and use an used a sugarfree jam from the grocery store
and blend that together. Andthat made it easier for us to do
we didn't have to make theyogurt at home, nor did we have
to make whatever the fruitflavor was going to be. It was
(26:28):
simple. And it worked prettydarn well because the it was
just fruit sweetener. Withoutadded sugar and the yogurt and
the kids, the kids ate it up andstill do. That's how they do it
as adults now so it's uh,
Cinzia Filipovski (26:41):
yeah, absolutely. We even like again,
sometimes it's just plainyogurt, with nothing added to
it, we might add just a littlebit of honey. And again, it's
it's just a little bit and ittastes awesome. So you know,
something to consider. Alright,so Yeah, go ahead. That's it I
(27:02):
you know, sugar. One thing wedidn't talk about that is also a
con for sugar, just to wrap itup is your team sugar can cause
a lot of destruction in yourtooth enamel. So that's one
thing to mention real quicklythat I know we haven't talked
about. So to wrap up, there area lot of negatives to just added
sugars, white, processed, oradded sugars. And our goal is to
(27:26):
try to give you somealternatives. And some of the
alternatives that we've talkedabout today are adding honey or
maple syrup instead of justadding sugar, or finding foods
that are already prepared withlower sugar content at your
grocery store by reading labels.
And by offering you knowoffering those choices to your
children. We've also discussedhow you can't necessarily 100%
(27:47):
shield your child from every badfood out there. So trying to
give them a little but not toomuch. So that they can be
exposed and have some controlover their own urges, as well as
be part of the party whenthey're there. But at home limit
it and keep it down to a minimumand keep the treats down. Think
(28:08):
about your smoothies before youtry to have those too often. And
bottom line try to model thebehavior or try to show your for
everybody to eat more healthy inyour home. Because that's very
important for your children tosee. So Dr. Molly, why don't you
tell everyone how they can seemore of us if they have any
(28:28):
questions or concerns or justwant to see more of what we are
saying
Molly OShea (28:34):
Thanks for listening to this episode of
parenting with the pros and consand we come out with new
episodes frequently. So bechecking our website parenting
with the pros and cons for thatand then you can also follow me
on Dr. Molly OShea on Instagram,or you can reach out to me on my
website Dr. Molly OShea. We loveconnecting with parents with all
(28:57):
of your pros and cons we havelived at all. So I'm Dr. Molly.
Cinzia Filipovski (29:04):
And, I'm Cinzia Filipovski
Molly OShea (29:06):
and we look forward to talking with you about all
the joys and all the pros andcons of parenting next time.
Welcome to parenting with the pros and
(00:01):
cons. I'm Cinzia, Filipovski.
And I'm Dr. Molly OShea.
Molly OShea (00:07):
Today we'll be discussing sugar feeding
children to your children andall the pros and cons. But first
a little bit about I'm Dr.
Molly. I'm a pediatrician who'sbeen in practice for about 30
years. And I've seen it all.
I've been a speaker for theAmerican Academy of Pediatrics
and a journal editor, and Iraised four kids to adulthood.
(00:29):
I've talked to parents my wholelife and been a parent myself
and I know all the pros andcons.
Cinzia Filipovski (00:37):
And I'm Cinzia, Filipovski. I'm a full
time working mother of five yearold twin boys. I'm the executive
director of two medical officesand owner of a medical practice
management company. I'm acertified positive parenting
educator. And so as you canimagine, I am pretty busy. I am
balancing life and like you, Iam trying to raise my family
(00:58):
with all of the pros and cons.
So let's dive in. Let's startoff Dr. Molly, why don't you
give us the medical side ofwhat's the big deal about sugar?
Well, sugar has.
Molly OShea (01:10):
First of all, let's talk about sugar in general,
right. So they're sugar of alltypes, right? There's there's
sugar that you get in a packageon the bake aisle, and that's
granulated sugar, brown sugar,that kind of sugar. And that's
the kind of sugar that is mostconcerning from a medical
standpoint. So sugar that youfind in fruit or sugar that
(01:30):
comes naturally encased in abunch of fiber, like like fruit
does, or sugar that is a resultof, you know, being grown in a
vegetable, that sugar is lessworrisome. But sugar that is
refined sugar is the sugar thatis most concerning. And sugar is
(01:51):
concerning for a couple ofreasons. I mean, obviously, it
doesn't really have anynutritional value. And in the
long run, it can ironically leadto high cholesterol, it can lead
to lipid problems, it not onlyobesity. I know people think it
leads to diabetes, it doesn'tactually lead to diabetes, it
(02:12):
leads to obesity, which can be aproblem for causing diabetes.
But having a lot of sugardoesn't actually lead to
diabetes. I know a lot of peoplethink sugar leads to being
hyperactive or having a DD andit doesn't do that either. But
it definitely leads tocardiovascular disease, it does
lead to obesity. And generallyActually, there are links to
(02:35):
having a lot of sugar and highfat foods in your diet and being
depressed. So those are some ofthe medical issues around sugar.
So it's it's not a fantasticplayer in our diet. And I know
that parents today, especiallyare aware of some of that and
are choosing to make sugar, youknow, a limited player in their
(02:56):
kids diets.
So just to kind of wrap that up,it's added sugar that were added
the sugar , they added you mightnot be directly adding it right.
But you're buying things wherewe're where granulated sugar,
white sugar, brown sugar wasadded to it right? Or we'll talk
(03:18):
about it later.
Cinzia Filipovski (03:19):
But we're not adding sugar to fruits and
vegetables.
Molly OShea (03:22):
Oh, that's correct.
But things like smoothies, whichI do want to talk about may be a
problem, too. So I'll talk aboutthat, you know, as we move
along.
Cinzia Filipovski (03:33):
So I saw something that I just wanted to
mention, you know, when we talkin terms of sugar, something
that I learned, you know, wasI'd like to see what the
recommendations are from, youknow, you talked about
cardiovascular health becausesugar can cause high blood
pressure or inflammation in thebody. That's a lot that I've
learned about in doctors, youknow, from what I'm reading and
(03:57):
understanding because I'm not adoctor are finding more and more
that the idea behind high food,high fat foods aren't as harming
as high carbohydrate or refinedsugar foods, that they're the
problem. They're the onesthey're the foods that are
causing inflammation in ourbodies and therefore causing a
lot of the diseases. So as we'relooking at a lot of these
(04:19):
diseases in life, we're findingthat if we were just to alter
our diet, especially here in theUnited States of America, we
would become healthier ingeneral. So one of the
Molly OShea (04:30):
Yeah, go ahead. I just wanted to refine low carbs,
okay, because carbs kind of hasit's a big category of food.
And, you know, I certainly don'twant kids on a ketogenic diet.
You know, one of these ketodiets, certainly, and carbs are,
that's a big category of foods.
So the kinds of carbs that areproblematic in our diets are
what I call white carbs. Sowhite bread, white potatoes, you
(04:54):
know, white banana, you know,white carbs.
And usually white carbs aresimple carbs. And so I tell
parents often, you know, if youcan eliminate white carbs from
your diet, you'll be a long wayahead of the game.
Cinzia Filipovski (05:14):
Yes. And listen, this has been a battle
of mine My whole life. As youcan see, I am, you know, const,
I have constantly battled myweights, and this issue has come
up constantly. So I am here withthe rest of all of you trying to
just work it out each day. Butnow that I'm a mother, I've
really tried to really take alook at this. And so the
(05:34):
guideline that I work off of isless than four children under
18. And Dr. Molly, definitelycorrect me if I'm wrong here,
but I have under 25 grams ofsugar a day is the
recommendation from the AmericanHealth Association, who the
World Health Organization, etc.
So that's kind of the guidelinethat I used and under age to
(05:54):
really zero added sugar would beideal, if possible. So as we
talk about this, you know, let'stalk about the difficulties of
that, and and what does thatreally mean, in terms of living
your life, because we know thatwe can't, we can only keep our
children in a bubble for solong. So other than this past
(06:15):
year that we've been in livingin this pandemic, and we've
truly kind of been in more of abubble, our children cannot be
in a bubble, whether you have totake them to daycare or to other
people's homes, or whatever itmight happen. And we have more
control over them, obviously,the younger they are, but as
they start to become toddlers,and realize what's happening,
(06:35):
you can take them to a party,for example, and you can't
really not give them somethingas they watch the rest of the
children eating cake and icecream. So let's I want to talk
about that a little bit and howyou know how we handle that. So,
Dr. Molly, how did you handlethat with your own children?
Molly OShea (06:57):
Well, I think that there was there was less
information at the time I wasraising my kids, my kids are in
their 20s now, but I was and Iloved to cook. So it made things
easier for me. But I wasdefinitely kind of very natural
in the way I approached feedingmy kids, I wanted them to have a
kind of that whole food diet,where it was fruits and
(07:21):
vegetables and lean proteins.
And very Actually, we justdidn't eat a ton of meat when my
kids were little. But and so asa result, sweetened foods that
were kind of the cakes, thecookies, the white breads, you
know, those kinds of foods werereally treats and infrequent
treats. So they so they werethey were truly special
(07:47):
occasion, kinds of things,people's birthdays, or Christmas
or Easter or Halloween, youknow, those kinds of holiday
sorts of events, which had itspros and cons, to be honest with
you, in some ways by holding outin those ways. I mean, certainly
when they were two went under,they didn't know the difference.
But as they got older, becauseit was something that was so
infrequent, at least my kidsreally went bananas, you know,
(08:11):
when they had the opportunity tohave have that freedom to to
have that stuff. And, and youknow, looking back, I wonder if
having had a little bit moreopportunity without so much
rigidity, it may have createdless kind of that salacious
interest, you know, like, Ooh,this is you know, not, this is
(08:35):
off limits. And so I'm right,the forbidden sugar. So I do
think you know, there are there,there needs to be some, you
know, sort of normalcy aroundit, you know, because all foods
can be fine for I believe, allfoods can be fine. And the more
rigid, we create the structurearound it, the more some foods
(08:57):
become really exciting and otherfoods become taboo and other you
know, so it creates problems.
That was that was kind of myexperience with certain foods
with my kids. Now, but what'syour experience? That's a
personal experience. Growing up,I think that's a personal
(09:17):
experience. You know, I'vetalked to a lot of friends as
well that have either struggledwith this in their own lives
personally, that, you know,growing up in a home without
anything present, made us allwanted more, you know, so we
would go to school and see whatthe other kids had in their
lunchbox. And it was verydifferent from what we had. And
(09:38):
I think that that's, you know, Ithink that's both realistic, you
know, understanding that, thatthat's what goes on, but also,
it's also an issue that we havehere in the United States. You
know, what kids bring to lunch,for example, is not a healthy
lunch overall. So we have to setour kids up the best we can for
(09:59):
those scenarios.
Cinzia Filipovski (10:01):
The approach that I'm using right now, and I,
you know, I try not to be sorigid, but for the first couple
years of their life, it wasalmost a zero added sugar. And
if there was added sugar, thatdoesn't mean we didn't have
cakes, or it doesn't mean wedidn't have cookies, or any of
those types of things. But theadded sugar I used was honey, if
(10:22):
I needed to, or maple sugar, ormaple syrup, which is added
sugar, but you have to use, youcan use less of it, because it's
sweeter. So the net effect, afuel of the amount of sugar was
lost. And I was okay with that.
So I would do that. And we did alot of fruits and vegetables in
our home. So our kids lovedfruit and still love fruit now.
(10:47):
And if we went to special placesa party or around other people,
I let them have what theywanted. And I still do that. And
oftentimes their eyes are biggerthan their stomachs, and
especially my one son, he loves,or he thinks he loves all these
treats, and he wants it all. Andthen when it really comes down
(11:10):
to it, he has a couple bites,and he's done. And I'm okay with
that, you know, I want him tonot feel that he is being
limited. So I let them do thatit's the every day where we have
more control. So we talk aboutthings in terms of treats. And
we have a bin in our house whereI put what you know, quote
unquote treats. And the treats,though that I have chosen are
(11:32):
the best that I can findavailable. So I try to find
things with less sugar in themor things that are made with,
you know, like, as I talkedabout honey sweetened with honey
or maple syrup or organic thingsversus just, you know, your
typical processed foods. And soI have a little bin and when
(11:53):
it's treat time, they canchoose. And I like to follow
kind of, I've done kind of likean 8020 or 9010 approach, which
basically if we can do 90% oftheir, their diet without the
sugar, then 10% of it with it.
That's kind of my goal. So I youknow, I have found one brand of
(12:15):
ice cream at the grocery storethat doesn't have all the added
what I'll call gunk, and reallyjust uses cream and sugar. And
so that's what I give them or wemake ice cream. And we kind of
control the sugar that way. Andwe use a lot of fruit to kind
of, you know, allow that extraflavor. And so that so far that
(12:38):
has worked our biggestchallenges, honestly have been
family family that don't eat thesame way that we do or that want
to give them more treats thanreally they need to have on a
regular basis. And so that'sreally the struggle that we have
mostly otherwise, I feel like mykids, they're not deprived, you
(13:00):
know, and oftentimes, they'llchoose something that I'll
consider healthier oversomething that's not because
they actually prefer the tastenow. And so that kind of makes
me happy with Yeah, because theyI think they're starting to see
Molly OShea (13:13):
my kids were young.
And before they were really,really ingrained in school, you
know, kind of even throughkindergarten, maybe first grade,
they were very much like thatthey've kind of preferred the
stuff that wasless white, and more whole whole
grain or whole hardy or whateveryou want to call it. But as as
(13:34):
my opportunity to be the theonly person are practically the
only person feeding themdiminished. So as there was
snack time at school, and it wasa rotated snack. And, you know,
as they started to do groupactivities after school, and
there was a snack parent, which,frankly, these kids don't even
(13:54):
need snacks, I get that but it'spart of the culture. And so if
somebody is bringing a snack,you know, it does feel odd to,
you know, say no snack for you,or to send a separate snack the
kids do feel verysort of awkward, whereas being
the kid who has to have theseparate snack when there isn't
(14:15):
some, you know, allergy reasonto do that. So as a as my
opportunity to be the primaryperson giving them their stuff
declined. I got to tell you,their palate shifted and it's
it's bound to happen I think,you know, you as a and then
their desire for, you know,whether it was Doritos or
(14:37):
whether it was, you know,cookies increased and so in to
try to combat that or try to atleast answer it. You know, we
then because I like to cook, youknow, we would then try to
create kind of our homemadeversions of those things in
order to, to do that. But, butfrankly, it's hard and I don't
(15:00):
Don't think you have to love tocook to want to do that. And
there are tons of parents whodon't really that's not their
thing. They don't like to cook,you know, they might be. And
they don't. Exactly, exactly. Sofor parents who really don't
like to cook or don't have thetime for it, I think having
convenience foods are easy, andthey're convenient for a reason.
And convenience foods tend to befoods that are going to have
(15:23):
more of these, these things inthem, they're going to have more
added sugars, or they're goingto have the kinds of carbs that
are less valuable. And so, youknow, how then when you are
doing convenience foods? Well,how do you? How do you vet
things? What do you look at? Howdo you decide that something is
(15:44):
wholesome?
Cinzia Filipovski (15:48):
Well, aside from the sugar, I tried to look
at, you know, I check yourlabels, right? So I tried to
look at the foods and quitehonestly, I look at how many
ingredients.
You know, if something like ifsomething like applesauce has 10
ingredients in it, I have to askwhy apple sauce is just apples
(16:11):
in my book. So yes, there'sgoing to be added sugar. But
then when there's all thesedifficult words that you can't
pronounce, let alone try tounderstand what they are, then
why? Why are we going to feedthat to our children. So we are
in a day and age that we haveother options, thankfully, and
affordable options, there are alot of options. Now, it just
(16:33):
takes a little bit of digging.
And I think that, you know, andI understand time, trust me, I
understand the lack of time. ButI do think that if we can just
spend a little bit of timelooking at the labels,
especially in the grocery store,and identifying a couple of the
main staple foods that our kidslike, if you don't have the time
to cook at home, I to try to doa lot of cooking at home. But I
(16:53):
also try to bring a few thingsin again so that my kids can see
them. And know that that's okay.
And that, you know, they canstart to hopefully self regulate
as time goes on. But it'simportant to look at the labels
and to try to find the hiddensugar. Because sugar is not
always going to be stated assugar. You know, if you see
(17:14):
something that sayshigh fructose corn syrup, the,
you know, molasses or raw sugar,you know, that's my favorite
when you see raw sugar. And thatkind of makes us think, Oh, that
must be better for you. It's rawsugar. And really, it's just
sugar. So looking for thosetypes of words. And again, just
trying to find foods that haveminimal amount of ingredients.
(17:37):
So once you start to identifythem, like I said, I found an
ice cream at the store thatliterally has three ingredients
I remember on the flavor. Andhonestly, I don't want to say
the raw Okay, and now I believeit's, you know, I don't want to
I believe it's turkey Hill, allnatural. I believe that's what
(17:58):
it is. And I think that there'sfive or six flavors, obviously,
they're limited. But I do choosesome of the flavors that the kit
like I do believe they have acookies and cream option with
the way that they've done it ina Carmel option. So that they
they're exposed those icecreams. And then that way they
if they're going to have it inmy opinion, I'd rather hat and
(18:22):
it's going to have sugar in it,I'd rather they have the most
pure and best ingredients inthem along with that sugar
versus having just all you know,all just what I'll call fake
things. And this brand is onsale at the local grocery store.
It's just it's the same pricecomparison as all the other ice
(18:42):
creams. So there's that and youknow, I try to do those types of
things because I know it'sdifficult cereals is another one
right cereals has so much sugar,but you can't have like my kids
have now seen their cousins haveall these colorful and fruity
looking cereals. So they're notgoing to forget that they asked
(19:04):
for it, they want it so I triedto find a different version and
you know, which I did find thatdoes have some sugar in it so we
don't have cereal every day. Andso they can have that cereal
once in a while as well. Sothat's kind of what we've tried
to do. The other thing thatwe've done is basically except
for recently and even recentlyin very limited quantities that
(19:28):
that are homemade. We've givenour children zero juice we've
given them nothing but watergrowing you know other than
their formula and what theyneeded as infants but we don't
drink our sugar. And so that'sanother thing that we've done in
our house because I think thatthat's a very hidden source of
(19:49):
sugar that people think is goodwhen really it's not good for
you. I agree with you i sugaryou
Molly OShea (19:58):
know juices for kids are like pop
For adults, you know, it hasreally No, no real value. And it
really does change the child'spalate. So I totally agree with
you. And it gets me also ontothe topic of smoothies, which I
want to talk a little bit aboutparents really think smoothies
are fantastic, because theyprovide an opportunity to get
(20:20):
fruits and vegetables in,especially in children who might
be less eager to eat a varietyof fruits and vegetables. But if
you think about how many, youknow, you put in, let's say, six
strawberries, half a banana, youknow, a mango, you know, you're
putting in a lot of fruit, andthen whatever vegetable you
(20:42):
might put in there to, you know,to get a vegetable in there, and
you blend it up or whatever, andthen you give it to the kid,
that is way more than they wouldeat sitting there if they were
the whole fruit. And so as aresult, you're giving them a
very concentrated amount offruit sugar. And even though
it's fruit, sugar, fructose, notsucrose, which is, you know, the
(21:05):
kind of sugar you sprinkle onthings, it's still sugar in a
different form, and less healthythan eating the fruit in its
natural fiber casing. So,smoothies, smoothies are very
tricky. I only recommend them asa meal replacement, not as a
(21:27):
snack, and not as a dessert. Andnot as a way to sort of get
hidden fruits and vegetables. Ido it strictly as a meal
replacement. So let's say youknow, that mornings are really
hard for your kid and gettingthem to sit down and have a meal
is tricky. That's when you wouldadd protein powder to it. And
(21:49):
you would add some fruits if youwant to add vegetables and
vegetables. And that's insteadof a meal. And it's six ounces.
It's a small volume, it's notsome giant glass of a smoothie
as a way to provide a meal foryour child. And because the
smoothie thing it's kind of atrap that kids love, because
they're so dang sweet. Andthat's so dang sweet. is
(22:12):
problematic. Even though it'snatural sugar,
Cinzia Filipovski (22:15):
people add sugar to that.
as well. It's just the rightnotes. Yeah. And I want to bring
to, you know, everyone'sattention to is we have these
places now that are smoothieplaces that kind of sell
themselves as being veryhealthy. But one smoothie can
have anywhere that they have atthese places can have anywhere
(22:36):
from 29 to over 110 grams ofsugar in one certain one
smoothie. That is crazy whenwe're talking about 25 grams a
day. Yeah, total for children,two to 18. So you're talking
about one smoothie gives youlike a week's worth of sugar
(22:57):
almost. So just be verycautious. And also, again,
looking at those labels. Youknow, if you're going to do a
smoothie at all, as Dr. Mollymentioned, I would do it at home
if possible, and try to make itmore green than anything. I
think the smoothie smoothiecraze that has happened can be
beneficial and healthy. But Ithink it was really based on
(23:18):
green smoothies, making itmostly vegetables and we have as
a society, as we often dochanged it to be something that
just like,
Molly OShea (23:29):
grass, let's face it.
You know, our dogs? I don'tknow, you know, but what what I
get it. I've looked so manyplaces, I have one last mom
hack, and then we'll wrap up Ithink unless you've got one, I
forgot when I've been baking formy kids, you know that you could
(23:50):
picture you know, the image ofbaking cookies after school with
your kids. I never add theamount of sugar that the recipe
calls for ever. I easily cut itin half, sometimes more and the
kids don't know the difference.
So whatever you're making cakecookies, bread, like a like a
quick bread, whatever. Do notdoubt yourself. And I would say
cut that sugar in half. And youwill you will not know the
(24:14):
difference Honest to God andit'll taste great. And you will
really really reduce the sugarthat you have in that recipe.
Yeah, absolutely.
Cinzia Filipovski (24:25):
The other thing I want to mention two
things. The other thing that Ithink has a lot of hidden sugar
that people think is veryhealthy is storebought Oh gosh,
good one. There's a lot ofchildren yogurts that and adults
you know think that they'rereally benefiting their
children. Yes. fruit on thebottoms. Because there's so much
(24:45):
added sugar. It's not just thefruit. So look at those very
carefully or the the you know,what are they called the the
ones that are in the package.
Right, exactly. All those youknow those pouches, that the
yogurtpouches, they're not they have
so much added sugar. So one,making yogurt at home is much
easier than you might think itis. But if you're not able to do
(25:08):
that, that's okay. There areunsweetened or lower sugar,
options of yogurt. And I knowthat everyone, not everyone, but
most people are used to a muchhigher sweetened version. So
it'll take some adjusting, whichleads me to my last thing I know
that children model ourbehaviors. So we have to set
(25:30):
that example for our kids. So ifwe're parents that are drinking
six cokes a day, and eating, youknow, we won't eat any fruits
and vegetables will, you know,will, will only eat out or eat
processed, they're going tomimic that. And if that's your
decision, that's your choice.
(25:51):
But if you're trying to live ahealthier life, or at least, you
know, set up a healthier lifefor your child, or your
children, remember that youmimic, they mimic you. So you
know, if you're gonna if youwant them to eat lower sugar
products, then you need to do
Molly OShea (26:07):
I think that's great, you know, and on the
yogurt front, what you what wedid was we would take plain
yogurt and use an used a sugarfree jam from the grocery store
and blend that together. Andthat made it easier for us to do
we didn't have to make theyogurt at home, nor did we have
to make whatever the fruitflavor was going to be. It was
(26:28):
simple. And it worked prettydarn well because the it was
just fruit sweetener. Withoutadded sugar and the yogurt and
the kids, the kids ate it up andstill do. That's how they do it
as adults now so it's uh,
Cinzia Filipovski (26:41):
yeah, absolutely. We even like again,
sometimes it's just plainyogurt, with nothing added to
it, we might add just a littlebit of honey. And again, it's
it's just a little bit and ittastes awesome. So you know,
something to consider. Alright,so Yeah, go ahead. That's it I
(27:02):
you know, sugar. One thing wedidn't talk about that is also a
con for sugar, just to wrap itup is your team sugar can cause
a lot of destruction in yourtooth enamel. So that's one
thing to mention real quicklythat I know we haven't talked
about. So to wrap up, there area lot of negatives to just added
sugars, white, processed, oradded sugars. And our goal is to
(27:26):
try to give you somealternatives. And some of the
alternatives that we've talkedabout today are adding honey or
maple syrup instead of justadding sugar, or finding foods
that are already prepared withlower sugar content at your
grocery store by reading labels.
And by offering you knowoffering those choices to your
children. We've also discussedhow you can't necessarily 100%
(27:47):
shield your child from every badfood out there. So trying to
give them a little but not toomuch. So that they can be
exposed and have some controlover their own urges, as well as
be part of the party whenthey're there. But at home limit
it and keep it down to a minimumand keep the treats down. Think
(28:08):
about your smoothies before youtry to have those too often. And
bottom line try to model thebehavior or try to show your for
everybody to eat more healthy inyour home. Because that's very
important for your children tosee. So Dr. Molly, why don't you
tell everyone how they can seemore of us if they have any
(28:28):
questions or concerns or justwant to see more of what we are
saying
Molly OShea (28:34):
Thanks for listening to this episode of
parenting with the pros and consand we come out with new
episodes frequently. So bechecking our website parenting
with the pros and cons for thatand then you can also follow me
on Dr. Molly OShea on Instagram,or you can reach out to me on my
website Dr. Molly OShea. We loveconnecting with parents with all
(28:57):
of your pros and cons we havelived at all. So I'm Dr. Molly.
Cinzia Filipovski (29:04):
And, I'm Cinzia Filipovski
Molly OShea (29:06):
and we look forward to talking with you about all
the joys and all the pros andcons of parenting next time.
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