Maybe fixation was why your parents did not have it around as it worked best for them and their kids behaved better. 2 of my 3 have issues with can sugar and I come from a long line of alcoholics. I did not try to restrict my kids much as soon as they were a bit older, but did not have it in our house. My oldest has found he just can’t do the junk and is a happy abstainer now. The addiction and depression were not worth it. I went through a junk phase when I left home, but got tired of feeling bad and returned to my roots. My daughter started to live on sugar when she left home and wound up with mental problems, physch drugs and alcohol issues. She claims we are crazy. My youngest does not have sugar issues, but other substance issues. I believe this is primarily biological and not how we are raised. I am now grateful that my parents said no to us, although we did sometimes bake sugary treats, there were zero prefab sweets around.

If you feel guilt every time you treat yourself when living an ordinarily healthy lifestyle you’ve got an eating disorder.

We do eggs and toast most mornings. It really only takes like 5 minutes or so for me and my 3.

Cereal is our major issue. If my daughter has cereal in the morning she just doesn’t function well or at all within a few hours. So I get outrageous responses to “we don’t eat cereal – especially on the weekdays!” lol

I would say that I had a sugar filled childhood.
I was taught moderation in a multitude of ways.
My parents never knew about how moderated I was when it came to making choices away from home.

To this day, I am very similar to the author. I’d rather have sugar than anything else and once I start it again I can’t stop.

I have friends like this too. There is no “treat” or “cheat” for us, it’s FULL ON and then so hard to go back.

I have health issues and genetic factors that I think are connected to mine. I have 3 friends with PCOS that I think are related to theirs. My mother in law says it’s her addictive personality.

I’m not saying that it’s a health issue so therefore I can’t control it, I just think that some people are seriously wired differently than others and cutting out sugar doesn’t kill that so you can bring it back in moderation later. Some people know themselves and thus recognize it in others (like their kids) and have learned that the only way to solve it is to silence the sugar monster.

Don’t stop teaching your kids moderation but do it in different areas. Don’t put them in situations you know they are going to fail and thus you are going to have to restrict the. Treat it like when you make a call between “is this willful rebellion or is it something they haven’t learned yet” before punishing them.

I think balance is key. A kid should learn to associate the sugar crash with the candy bar. That being said, I’m sure the candy bar should be a rarity but even so complete restriction can and may well just end in a ‘flip you mom and dad’ of tweenage candy guzzling. Parents want to protect their children but what happens when you’re not there to say ‘no’? Sometimes learning from experience is more effective than mere say.

For me, having sugar triggers wanting all sorts of addictive things. Dairy, coffee, fried foods, foods that CONVERT to sugar when I eat them. Not a coincidence. I’ve known this for quite a while. Its just not in the cards for me to *sometimes* have sugar, so I don’t at all. I’m twenty three, and have never even began to consider that my upbringing triggers this addiction.

Parents who are conscientious about the harmful effects of sugar should be praised. Thank you, mom and dad, for not letting me indulge as a child.

Using medjool dates in recipes is a really delicious (and completely unaddictive!) way to make pastries. They literally taste just as good as the refined sugar, and in the end, you won’t want it as much because there isn’t an addictive trigger inside of you begging for more. and more and more and more.

Plus, its a fruit. Theres no wondering about conflicting research on it (stevia/agave) and it isn’t the same type of sugar as brown rice syrup/honey/coconut sugar etc. JUST FRUIT! You can’t really go wrong here.

I disagree with the accusation that with holding too-sugary “treats” will lead to eating disorders. As someone who has experienced bulimia my entire adult life (I’m currently right around 30) I can confidently say that the times when I completely avoided any “trigger” foods, i.e. anything with too much sugar, I felt much more in control of my whole life and it didn’t set off the binge-exercise cycle. I knew that my body was just going to pretty much beat it out of me relentlessly for more.

I really think that it’s very difficult, and almost unfair, for other people who don’t actually experience that sensation to understand and then to criticize and say to you, “JUST in moderation.” It’s really not JUST that easy.