Clean eating is a healthy way to eat when followed and most parents would love for their children to eat the same way. There are parents out there who raise their children to eat in a strict manner such as raising them vegan or vegetarian.
Monitoring Your Kid's Diet
Almost all parents monitor their children's food intake on some level. Too much sugar is usually a no-no in most households. However, there are parents who are much more strict and notify their family, friends, and neighbors of what their kids can and can't eat.
Kids being kids will probably do their best to sneak in a treat or two when you're not looking. It is even tougher when kids are in school and tempted to eat the candy and other treats their classmates are eating. Times like these are probably when you hope that your children will remember what you have taught them about eating healthy foods.
Letting Your Kids Decide What to Eat
I've witnessed on many occasions (while dining out) where a parent will ask their children what they wish to eat. Personally, I think that is cool because you let a child make their own decision. However, it also depends on what you are offering as a choice. I've heard parents ask if their kid wants 7-Up or Sprite. I have also met children who have said that they are not allowed to drink soda or eat meat, etc.
Some kids will make certain food choices because they were raised that way while other kids will not think twice about eating a bag of chips and drinking a soda.
As a parent, do you raise your children to eat clean or do you allow them to eat the way they want?
Sugar is very addictive and can contribute to all types of health problems. Even when you think that you are eating healthy, there could be sugar involved. Unless you understand the types of sugar names on food labels, you probably have no clue that you are eating it.
How to Avoid Sugar All Together
Living a clean eating lifestyle can help you to avoid sugar for good. The reason being, that eating clean involves eating whole, natural foods. This means that you are not eating processed foods which can contain sugar. A good way to know if what you are about to eat is natural, just ask yourself, "Is this man-made?" If it comes in a box, jar, or other type of packaging, then think twice.
Even if you think a "health food" is sugar free, you may want to check out the label. Sugar has many names:
Types of Sugar by Name
What About Eating Fruit?
Fruit is a natural food and the sugar in fruit (fructose) is handled well by the body as far as digestion goes. It also doesn't fluctuate blood sugar levels the way refined sugar does. However, the sugar contained in fruit can still cause problems for some people.
Fructose is processed in the liver and when too much fructose is consumed, the liver cannot process is fast enough and begins to make fat from the fructose which is then sent into the bloodstream.
Drinking Sugar
Keeping this in mind, it's a good idea to monitor your beverages as well. This includes fruit juices without added sugar and even skim milk:
...juice — 100 percent juice, no sugar added — contains about the same amount of sugar (or even more — 50 percent more for grape juice) as the same volume of Coke. [Source: HookedOnJuice.com]
Pasteurized skim milk isn’t a great choice either. Because the fat is removed and much of the nutrition is destroyed during pasteurization, there’s not much left except for milk sugar. [Source: NaturalBias.com]
Sugar is everywhere which is why eating clean is an ideal way to keep it out of your diet. Are you trying to tackle your sugar cravings? What do you substitute instead?
Other Sources:
Fructose: Sweet, But Dangerous
Low-Carb Fruit: Lists of the Best and Worst
