At the beginning of the school year I made some adjustments to our family diet with the primary aim of reducing Gleek’s sugar intake. The core of plan was effective, we all eat less sugar now. The structure of the plan has taken a beating, so we’ve adjusted. Instead of having sugar free days we’ve shifted to limiting sweet treats to afternoon hours. This week I made another adjustment, I’ve started requiring Gleek to eat protein at breakfast and first thing after school. The idea is to help her have a steady supply of energy rather than a spike and crash. A side benefit of the plan is that my attention to food has us all eating healthier.
A huge stumbling block in my sugar-reduction plan looms on the horizon. Halloween is the most massive sugar-fest of the year. My kids love Halloween. I love Halloween. We will not be abstaining, but I believe that there are many things I can do to alleviate the net sugar impact. We’ll be giving out small prizes instead of candy this year. This will prevent us from having a bowl full of temptation in the front room. I’ll also be instituting the candy buy back where I trade money for sugar. Beyond that, we’ll just weather whatever cranky storms come our way. The holiday is worth the ride I think.
My neighbor does a candy buy-back, but they actually go out and get little gifts that can be traded. The kids get to keep a limited amount of candy, and everything else HAS to be traded, so the kids really consider whether they want the candy because it’s there or if it is something they really enjoy and want enough to include it in their (10) choices.
Like Gleek, I don’t do well with much sugar intake. It was hard to deal with in high school, but it’s become habit by now. I don’t crave candy, but when I do, I have some sugar-free candy that I like as a substitute. Of course, you have to consider whether artificial sugar is an acceptable substitute for a growing child. In my case, I found the protein for breakfast and after school to be the most effective.
I had let myself eat whatever I wanted with my last pregnancy, which included a lot of sugar. I realized how much it was affecting my life when I was constantly getting headaches, always cranky and moody, gaining lots of weight, and feeling anxious and depressed. After several weeks of sugar withdrawl (and it was a painful few weeks), I have been doing much better. I hope Gleek has similar success!
The stepping back seems to be working and is subtle enough that we haven’t triggered many withdrawal symptoms. I’m glad to hear a report from someone who has actually implemented a plan similar to mine over the long term. It gives me confidence that this choice is a good one. Thanks.