4 Tips To Help Shift Your Child’s Sugar Craving Habit

Do you worry about what your child is eating? Too much pasta, bread, cereal, chips, pop snacks, cookies, pancakes for meals and snacks? Yet your home is full of a variety of other foods.

I get it. I know so many parents who feel the same way.

They call me feeling stressed not knowing how to help their child eat more balanced. Many times, along with the challenge is a concern about recent weight gain.

And the pandemic along with being inside for a whole year with less activity and eating becoming the new activity doesn’t make it easier, right?

I honestly get it.

You may have been told to remove chips and cookies from your pantry…

Maybe I should stop giving desserts? This is not the answer. Instead, it’s about balance

The reality is it starts with you, not your kids. There’s nothing wrong with giving these foods, but you feel concerned about the overall sugar cravings. The key is to keep blood sugars steady throughout the day by balancing meals and snacks with protein, fat and fiber more of the time, during the routine of the week. You can do this quietly without even talking about it. There will still be birthday parties and activities with sugary and carb heavy foods and that is normal and natural. It’s also normal to have some during the week, but again it’s about having it in a balanced way in order to help curb the cravings.

Here are 4 steps to help begin making this shift. In the process your kids will feel more satisfied after snacks and meal time. And guess what… they will likely decrease their carb and sugar cravings.

Tip #1: At meals, serve a protein and some healthy fat along with the carbohydrate. For example, instead of a plate of pancakes, serve eggs sprinkled with cheese and avocado along with a pancake. For dinner, serve 1/4 plate turkey meatballs, 1/4 plate pasta and vegetables. In other words, balance the plate.

Tip #2: At snacks, serve a protein or fat along with the carbohydrate (fruit or grain). For example, banana and nut butter, apple and cheese, guacamole and crackers, hummus with carrots.

Tip #3: Add fiber in the form for vegetables to meals and snacks. Fiber helps fill up your belly, which allows for less simple carbs to be eaten at a meal. For example, if you’re serving chips and guacamole, add cut up cucumbers and carrots onto a snack plate.

Tip #4: Serve food and set meal and snack times. This cuts back on grazing and mindlessly eating carb based packaged snack foods during the day.

If you need more support to help your child or teen lose weight in a family focused, mindful and achievable way, I offer a free discovery call for families who are ready for great transformation. Click the link https://www.balancemyplate.com/contact to schedule a call.