Dear all,




Something interesting happened the other day. After a big family lunch on Thursday, the ice

cream dessert was laid out for everyone to choose from. My mother-in-law asked my daughter

if she wanted to have some, and she said "I don't want ice cream because I'm going to a

birthday later and I'm going to eat cake there." At a very young age, my daughter seems to

have developed a healthy relationship with sweets. She developed the sense to choose a

favourite treat and make it count. Now you would think that being my daughter she would

obviously be a 'health freak'. But that's not true at all. Children have an inherent preference

for sweets and sugar, and she is no exception. The only difference is that I've spent many

months setting ground rules and explaining why she can't have endless access to desserts. When you give your children a lot of sugar, in the form of candy, chocolates, or desserts, you


are setting them up for a lot of health problems. Other than the obvious weight gain and tooth decay, sugar can also cause skin conditions, eye problems, mood swings, delayed learning,

low immunity, and much more. What you can do is explain that to them in very simple terms;

for example, I would say 'if you eat lots of cake then your hair won't be shiny and flowy like a

princess' (because she was going through a princess phase). I'd also explain that having a bit of dessert is ok as long as we know when to stop. While some of you may call that 'brainwashing', I call it 'habit setting'. As adults, many of us have a habit of losing control when faced with yummy desserts. And that's why it's very important to teach 'sugar control' to children very early on in life.
Wishing you the best of health,