We tend to eat rather health consious-ish. I buy organic as often as I can find it, and we don't eat a lot of fried foods, no red meat and we don't buy products with high fructose corn syrup in them.
My instinct is I would prefer my kids have a moderate amount of real processed sugar balanced with fruit, vegetables, protein and starches rather than the processed sugar substitues when we really don't know what the long term effects will be on their growing bodies and health.
This is what I currently avoid for my kids on a regular basis. If they have it occasionally from another parent I let it go.
They include aspartame (Nurtrasweet, Equal), saccharin (Sweet 'N Low), acesulfame K (Sunett), and sucralose (Splenda), and neotame.
I am still trying to learn a bit more about Maltitol, Stevia, and Blue Agave. Do you know anything about these products?
I have a friend who was getting raging headaches and through a process of elimination with help from a nutritionist, discovered she gets a terrible reaction to anything with Splenda in it. She got rid of Splenda - no more headaches, when she experiments or accidentally gets some, instant pain, nearing migraine. I have another friend whose son was acting like he had extreme ADHD, he was always creative and often in his own world but never hyper nor really ADD. When they cut out Diet Coke from the family diet he seemed to be himself again. When he drinks diet soda or eats sugar free nutrition bars it effects him profoundly.
I can have a sip of a drink or one bite of something and know immediately if it is made with what I call fake sugars - I can taste a difference. My mom once made me a juice and soda drink, which was thoughtful, everyone else was enjoying it but when I took it I just didn't like it at all, then I realized she had used diet ginger ale and it went down the sink. Last week I ordered a smoothie flavor I have had before and after one sip on the straw I knew something was not right, the girl behind the counter argued with me and I respectful said it wasn't made the way it usually is made, then she realized that she had used the diet mix not the regular one. I knew.
Do you allow your children to eat or drink products with sugar substitutes? At what age did you allow it? How much is okay and when do you ask them to stop? Do you eat or drink products with it? Do you experience side effects?
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I drink something with artificial sweeteners almost every day. I have had no side effects. I have allowed my daughter small amounts since she was quite little. No side effects. I don't like sugar, or extra empty calories, so will choose artificial sweeteners instead of sugared drinks. It's great that we have choices.
I agree with you - much better to have the odd "regular" soda than the diet stuff! Even decaf is a BAD alternative!! The chemicals they use to get rid of the caffeine are worse for you than the caffeine itself! Again, for me, it's "regular" coffee or nothing.
Aspartame releases formaldyhyde in your system so basically you are pre-embalming yourself. Splenda releases chlorine gas in your system. Do I need to say more? I never let my children have that garbage. They are adults now and make their own choices. My son avoids artificial ingredients, and my daughter consumes artificial ingredients, my son's health is great, my daughter always seems to have health issues. Stevia, Blue Agave are good choices, I have not researched Malitol. Turbinado sugar is also a better choice, since it retains all digestive enzymes whereas white sugar does not.
I think that fake sugars have always been "wonderful" "safe for everyone" " a miracle" "natural by product" etc...until the mice start getting cancer or start acting oddly on a regular basis. I think that using natural items such as butter, real milk, real eggs, real meat, etc...is the best way to go.
I have horrible migraines from artificial sweeteners, across the board they cause me horrible pain. I can eat something made with them that I don't even know is not sugar and I am in bed half an hour later in pain.
My mother and my daughter are the same way. I avoid them at all costs.
Good question. I'm allergic/sensitive to just about any kind of "fake sugars" too. I get a very very sick stomach from aspartame, nutri-sweet, Splenda, etc. I can't really have the newer "comes from real sugar, sugars" either. Headache, stomach ache, etc. I have never allowed my daughter to have any of them either. I don't know if she's sensitive like me, but she has a somewhat delicate stomach and I believe if you're not used to it, it probably won't agree with you either.
The newer "fake" sugars that are made from concentrates of "real" sugars don't work for me either. All I can say is - MSG is made from wheat - a natural product, right? Well, you take that tiny piece of the wheat based thing and you concentrate it a million times and you have MSG - something that literally swells your taste buds and for me, it feels like it swells my brain too. I can taste MSG from a mile away and I avoid it at all costs. Just because something comes from the real deal, doesn't mean it's good for you.
I'd honestly rather my daughter had real sugar instead of anything fake. All things in moderation too. We avoid high fructose corn syrup in probably 99% of what's in my house. I try to go organic when I can, but we're not 100% there yet.
I avoid the sugar substitutes like the plague. I do not understand why people need everything sweetened. When you're not used to that uber sweet flavor, things sweetened with that stuff taste WAY too sweet, fake and gross. My kids NEVER drink sweetened stuff-except once in a blue moon my son gets a natural root beer from a pub we eat dinner at sometimes. We always water their natural juice way down. They love water. I only drink water, tea, coffee and wine pretty much. All the artificial sweeteners are EXTREMELY unhealthy. Supposedly the Stevia is OK, but it still tastes way too sweet for me. It's much better to allow a bit of real sugar or honey here and there and not use it in excess.
We do not use any of those artificial sweeteners in your first list (splenda, saccharine, aspertame, etc. We do have some stevia, which is actually an herb, from what I understand. It is a safe substitute sweetener. It is not chemical like the others. The little bit that I understand agave is that some of it is really bad for you, and some is not. I would have to look into it further to make a decision for sure about it for us. We used to use it a lot, but when I read conflicting information, we cut it out until I can get to it again. I do use real maple syrup for some sweetening (breads, for example). I know that white sugar (processed) is not good for you either. It's hard, isn't it? I'm like you though, I *know* when someone gives me a sugar substitute, and I won't drink it. It is nothing short of poison.
We avoid artificial sweeteners like the plague! They give me a horrible migraine and they drive my children insane! I would much rather they have the real thing then something that is engineered. Their bodies know the difference too. They all know how to read labels and when they see something say "now with less sugar" they always check and lo and behold there is the fake stuff in it's place.
The only time we have it is when we don't have a choice like at a party, and then we'll look for water if at all possible.
It tastes so nasty, how could it be any good for you?
My kids tend not to want anything with artificial sweeteners. They are skinny as rails so I really don't worry about their calorie intake.
I don't know about most of what is on your list except Agave. It is in a way like honey but tastes completely different. Natural. Agave is the plant we distill tequila from. No, Agave nectar does not contain alcohol. Of course you can make Mead from honey soooooo, yes, now we know you make alcohol from sugar. :)
Stevia is a natural sweetener made from stevia leaves. Agave nectar is made from the agave plant and is also natural. They are good to use.
We stay away from artificial sweetners, too.
I'm not familiar with maltitol. Here is a site describing it. http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/nutrition/a/maltitol.htm It is listed as a carbohydrate, has calories and has a glycemic index number. Without my studying it further I'm not sure about it's use but I suggest it's also artificial. It's not described as being natural while stevia and agave are.
Here is a site for stevia. http://www.stevia.com/ It has no calories and no glycemic index number. It's not a carbohydrate.
Agave nectar is a carbohydrate and has calories. It's just listed as a more wholesome sweetener than sugar. I'd put it in the same category as honey.
No, I don't let them have artificial sweeteners. We do use stevia to sweeten homemade lemonade and sometimes to sweeten homemade iced tea, but they also drink that black. And I sometimes get the Crystal Light Pure drink mixes, which are also sweetened with a stevia-based sweetener.
I am a Diet Coke addict and definitely don't want them to ever crave something that is so unhealthy the way that I crave that. I know it's terrible and am always working on weaning myself off of it. I hope they never start consuming artificial sweeteners on a regular basis.
I'm with you. We try to keep our foods as close to their natural state as possible. I even have to be careful with regular sugar because it affects my children's behavior negatively. I'm always amazed at the moms who feed their kids Fruity Pebbles, GoGurt, juice boxes, etc. all day long and then are confused about whey they're so hyper, label them ADHD and then medicate the poor loves. The ingredients are listed for a reason - read them!
I had to go on a low sugar/low carb diet the last few months of one of my pregnancies because the sugar in my urine was always really high (blood tests came out fine...just the urine...so they suggested I eliminate sugar and white flour anyway). ANYWAY...I tried a few 'sugar free' things...and just found that I didn't feel good...sometimes it was headaches...sometimes I couldn't pinpoint what it was...but I always felt WEIRD after I tried the sugar substitutes. So...I try to really limit our sugar intake...but we don't do the sugar substitutes.
I would swear in defense of stevia and agave. We sweeten our tea and sparkling water, even smoothies with stevia. I use agave in my cooking or instead of syrup on waffles, french toast , pancakes,
I am a mom that lets my kids have whatever. I haven't bothered to worry about "diet" products or sugar substitutes. But my kids are older now, and now that we are starting to know better, I wish I would have paid more attention. I have a friend who, like your friend, had terrible stomach problems and it turned out to be Splenda. I applaud you for being so diligent with your kids!!!
I avoid "diet" things for my son completely. I'd rather him have the sugar.
Otherwise, we use Stevia.
I agree with you too. I used to drink diet sodas but not anymore. I only use regular sugar myself and for my son. My son doesn't drink much soda but I told him he can't drink diet soda ever and if he is in a restaurant and needs sugar to use the white and brown packets only. I told him he can use the yellow packets if has has to but never pink and blue. Having regular sugar in moderation is much safer than those chemicals.
