10Sweet Ways to Limit Sugar in Your Kid's Diet

1

Read the labels on the foods that your kids are eating.Even baby foods can have added sugar.

2

Offer water instead of juice.Sometimes doctors will recommend giving juice to add calories.Talk to your pediatrician about the options.You can flavor it with a little lemon if you like. If you do give your child juice, dilute it by 50% or more with water. It still tastes good, and your kids will become accustomed to it.

3

Try frozen fruit. There are lots of yummy options, such as blueberries, raspberries, peaches, etc.These frozen fruits often do not have any added sugar and they are very healthy for your kids. Our daughter loves them, and often requests them with her breakfast.

4

Make smoothies with your kids using frozen fruit, milk, and unsweetened yogurt.I started making smoothies for my daughter when she was eight months old, and she asks for them to this day.

Feed your kids raisins, craisins, "blaisins" (dried blueberries), or other dried fruits, but check for sugar content when buying them. My wife and I bought dried mangoes for our daughter only to find that they were covered with sugar when we opened them up.We simply wash the dried mangoes before we give them to her.

5

For candy-laden holidays, go au naturel.Try making homemade dried fruit roll ups with no added sugar instead of Christmas and Valentine's cookies, and use cookie cutters to make it fun.For Easter, fill the plastic Easter eggs with dried fruits or other healthy items.Kids love to find the eggs, which is often the more fun anyway than the treat inside.If you can't say no to chocolate, a fantastic substitute for is carob, with a rich malt flavor not found in most chocolates.

6

Have healthy snacks on-the-ready. Instead of candies or even fruit, bring vegetables or nuts along with you to feed your kids in the car.Carrots, celery, and other portable vegetables, as well as peanuts, sunflower seeds, and almonds are easy to bring along. When our daughter was teething, she enjoyed eating a carrot even if it took her 30 minutes to eat it.Just remember to be careful and monitor them while they are eating it when they are very young.

7

Rethink their PB&J.Use organic or natural peanut butters, or those made from other nuts such as almonds.Avoid introducing them early on to sugar-packed jelly.

8

Ditch the syrup.Don't add syrup to pancakes. Leave them plain. You may be surprised when they don't know the difference. If you like, add fresh fruit or heated fruit instead. For ourselves and for our daughter, we heat up strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries and mash them up while they are heating.This makes a healthy syrup-like sauce that tastes great on pancakes and many other desserts and/or ice cream if you want to cheat a little.Another breakfast no-no: feeding your kids sweetened cereal.

9

Are they getting an eyeful?If you monitor what your child watches on TV, then he or she doesn't have to watch the commercials.If they don't watch the commercials, they won't see some of the ads for the cereals or other sweetened items, and they are less of a nagging, sugary presence.

10

Talk the talk.Most importantly, monitor what you eat and drink, and be a strong, healthy model to your kids.While your kids might not eat everything that you eat, they do follow your lead. It's never too late for you to change your eating habits.