I basically let my kids eat whatever they wanted ...but only allowed good basic ingredients in the house and nothing pre-cooked. 99% of the time breakfast is oatmeal or fruit. Candy is ok once a day in the shape of candy. Twice a year I would let them buy a box of sugary cereal, and once in a while they could have pancakes. It worked just fine. Neither kid ever had a weight problem in childhood or adolescence and they have no neurosis about food. My son is a veggie head; my daughter is meat and potatoes. Same genes; same diet; different dispositions. That's OK too.
To add insult to injury though, women who get food stamps, get a certain allotment of sugary cereal that they MUST BUY or they lose those predestined "dollars." It's called a subsidy to General Foods masquerading as aid to the poor. It's obscene.
Joanna
mike larkin wrote:
>http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060901/sugary_cereals_kids_060901/20060904?hub=TopStories
>
>Updated Mon. Sep. 4 2006 10:19 PM ET
>
>CTV.ca News
>
>A survey has found that many of the most popular
>children's cereals contain very high levels of sugar
>-- so high that parents might as well hand their kids
>a chocolate bar for breakfast.
>
>CTV News and the Globe and Mail decided to examine the
>sugar content in some of the most popular brands, to
>investigate one of the possible contributing factors
>to the epidemic of childhood obesity.
>
>One-quarter of Canadian children are now overweight or
>obese, and often their diets are linked to serious
>illnesses including diabetes.
>
>Here's a snapshot of the cereal survey:
>
> * Based on a 50-gram serving, Kellogg's Froot
>Loops had 22.5 grams of sugar, as much as a dark
>chocolate Kit Kat bar.
> * Nestle Nesquick had 23.3 grams of sugar, almost
>on par with a Twix candy bar.
> * And Post's Sugar Crisps cereal had over 26.6
>grams of sugar. That's more sugar than a Coffee Crisp
>bar or Snickers.
>
>"I was actually shocked at how much sugar there is in
>some cereals these days, and shocked when you compare
>it to the amount of sugar in chocolate bars," says
>Toronto-based dietitian Rosie Schwartz.
>
>She said parents would be horrified to give their
>children a chocolate bar for breakfast.
>
>"But when you think about eating you know a serving of
>cereal that contains the same amount of sugar, they
>might think twice about they're serving their kids."
>
>Not only are these cereals very sugary, they are being
>doled out at twice the recommended serving.
>
>"It's not one bowl of cereal. It's many bowls of
>cereals. Most kids don't stop at one bowl," says Dr.
>Robert Lustig, a professor of pediatrics at the
>University of California in San Francisco.
>
>Lustig says high sugar at breakfast promotes hormonal
>imbalances that encourage kids to overeat. More
>overweight children are developing diabetes, high
>cholesterol and heart disease.
>
>"These cereals and processed food are high in
>fructose, which poisons your liver, and they are low
>in fibre which makes your insulin go up," he says.
>"Ultimately you are setting them up for continued
>process of weight gain."
>
>Breakfast and learning stats
>
>Offering children breakfast foods lower in sugar and
>higher in fibre -- such as oatmeal and bran -- may not
>only keep off the pounds. It may also help with
>learning.
>
>Psychologists from Tufts University recently conducted
>a study where 60 school-aged children were given three
>different breakfasts:
>
> * Day one: Oatmeal
> * Day two: A sugar ready-to-eat breakfast
> * Day three: No breakfast
>
>After each breakfast, the children in the survey were
>given a number of tests that measured cognitive
>performance.
>
>Overall, tests scores were highest when children ate a
>breakfast. However, children performed best on tests
>of spatial memory -- used in math, art and geography
>-- after eating oatmeal compared to sugary cereal.
>
>However, Kellogg Canada, the maker of a host of
>cereals, including Corn Pops and Rice Krispies, denies
>their products are harmful to children.
>
>"Pre-sweetened cereals, just like other cereals,
>provide many essential nutrients. For example, Froot
>Loops contains seven essential vitamins and minerals,
>including 50 per cent of a child's daily requirement
>of iron," the company said in a statement to CTV News.
>
>"What's more, several studies have shown that when
>eaten as part of a healthy diet, sugar is not linked
>to the development of obesity, hyperactivity in
>children, type 2 diabetes or heart disease."
>
> * Full statements from Kraft Foods and Kellogg
>Canada
>
>However, Lustig accuses "big food companies" of a
>marketing scheme.
>
>"The reason they are so popular is that kids will
>pester their parents to eat them. You'll notice the
>sugared cereals are put down at eye level for children
>and there is a specific marketing strategy going on
>there."
>
>He recommends giving children food with six to seven
>grams of fibre per serving, and being wary of
>lower-sugar kids cereals, which may compensate with
>more carbohydrates.
>
>"Breakfast cereal is just one manifestation of what's
>gone on with our entire diet," says Lustig.
>
>With a report from CTV's Avis Favaro and research by
>Elizabeth St. Philip and Shaneeva Yassin
>
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