We are not surprised by the idea that Most of us and our children drink too much sugar a day. And much we eat as added sugars, which are added to the food because it does not contain them naturally.
So we liked the idea that A 12-year-old boy decided to take action on the matter and reduce his family's sugar intake by discovering the large amount contained in his favorite soda. We tell you his trick to achieve it, simple, but as they explain, very effective.
In Babies and more Children between 9 and 12 years consume more than 32 kilos of sugar per yearFood sugar
Making a purchase without added sugars is almost impossible mission, since they are found in most of the foods we consume. But we can eliminate them little by little. How? Reading the labels of its composition and replacing them with healthier ones.
For example: opt for fresh fruit instead of drinking juices or eliminate soda from our diet and that of our children, with a lot of guilt in childhood overweight.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends reducing sugar consumption, both for adults and children, to less than ten percent of total caloric intake. And if that reduction reaches five percent, it would bring benefits to our health.
For example, an adult who consumes 2000 calories should reduce the consumption of free sugars to less than 25 g.
Matthew's experiment
The idea of improving health was based on the initiative of Matthew Carter, from Birmingham, United Kingdom, to make his family aware of the importance of reducing sugar consumption.
Because in addition, he had verified that his teammates in the football team were gaining weight and related it to the chocolate they ate after training. I had read that it is important that athletes lead a healthy life to keep fit.
In Babies and morePhile play pyramid for children to have a balanced playful diet He took five breakfast bowls (for his sister, his brother, his mother, his father and him) and filled each of them with the amount of sugar recommended daily for each family member.
Then, he asked each of them that when he ate something, check the amount of sugar it contained, take it out of the bowl and put it in its original jar. When their bags were empty, they could not consume more sugar that day.
And, as his mother Claire told the BBC, the initiative worked and today they lead a healthier life:
"It all started because Matthew was having trouble sleeping and we decided to check if it was the soda with gas he was drinking. We saw that it contained four teaspoons of sugar."
In Babies and more Most American children under two years of age consume too much added sugar, and how are we doing at home?Shortly after the experiment began, Claire began to see changes in her children's behavior.
On the second day, Sarah, who was six years old, announced that she did not want her sugary cereals for breakfast, since if she consumed a lot as soon as she started the day, it would be more complicated to endure the rest of the day. She started eating fruit and stopped crying when her parents forbade her to eat something sweet, like a cookie. Does your mother say that:
"Seeing the amount of daily sugar consumed in the bowl, the concept of a teaspoon began to make sense to her. The very act of removing the sugar from the bowl and putting it in its original jar meant that she could see the amount of sugar in what I was about to eat "
Claire and her husband Martin also lost weight during the five weeks of the test. And Matthew's experiment has had a lasting effect on his family: "Two years later, our sugar consumption remains under control", says his mother, who adds that:
"Other parents have told me that even when my children are at a party, for example, they choose different foods from their friends. I think they have simply become accustomed to a low-sugar diet and that is why they no longer need it."
In Babies and more Increase taxes on sugary drinks and subsidize fruits and vegetables: solutions to the 21st century epidemic are soughtMatthew, the creator of the experiment explains that: "I didn't think we would continue talking about my experiment two years later. We no longer use the bowls because we already know how much sugar we should eat, but the bowls allowed us to see what we were eating."
Isn't that a simple idea? And it seems effective. At the moment, at home we have set out to test to see how much sugar we consume and try to reduce intake if it is too high. And to cheer us up even more, we look at sinazucar.org, with photographs of foods we usually consume and the amount of sugar they contain. What do you think about it?
