Twenty years ago, I met a couple with a young son who decided not to let the kid have sugar. I wonder how that might have worked out for the kid now that he’s grown.
I assume the kid hit 18 and went on a sugar binge as soon as he tasted it the first time.
Anyone have experience with this?
How many went on to try crack
Sugar, not even once
It’s just Puritanism and has all of the drawbacks of an overreaching authority.
Those kids usally binge on sugar once they hit adolescence and are away from thier parents. Great way to create a substance abuse issue. It’s what happens every time you do shit like this.
Prohibition is a method of control that requires a hell of a lot of restrictions to work. And even then it has a high failure rate.
Counterpoint, I see parents giving sodas to toddlers all the time. Reminiscent of that scene in Idiocracy where a parent tries to get their baby to drink Brawndo.
But sugar can cause a slew of problems in kids like childhood obesity, diabetes and hyperactivity. The sugar industry has done its best to convince people it’s harmless while packing cheap foods full of it to make it taste better. Countries that consume large amounts of cheap foods like the US have higher obesity rates.
Blah blah moderation and all that, but when all you can afford is the cheap shit it’s harder to avoid sugars. Kids finding they might have a sweet tooth when they get older is a tiny concern.
Well that doesn’t sound like a good faith argument.
Dosent to me at all
They didnt even really counter your point, they gave another perspective to form a stronger argument of what your message was already saying
Parents should teach and guide their children moderation, especially for such common and addictive substances like sugar, especially when without moderation serious health and quality of life damages can apply
If a parents goal is to raise healthy humans with a high quality of life - they should be teaching and guiding children into moderation, not prohibition and the shame that goes with it, not hedonism and the shamelessness that goes with that
Its not that sugar is some fearful substance that should be prohobited outright, but its also not a substance without issue and should be moderated and controlled if modersation is not yet possible for such a still-developing human
There are many such substances that need this parental guidance, sugar is just the most obvious one to younh parents - a toddler probably/hopefully isnt hitting a 40 or a roach
They didn’t address my point at all and went for the extreme opposite. As if it was a gotcha.
One of the things that makes me ignore my mastodon account is how quickly people take offence there, even going so far as to try to shut down conversation threads on their posts as though they don’t expect any depth or variant viewpoints. While there are lots of “reply guy” types over there, even the hint of disagreement, perceived or real, is seen as objectionable.
This response is similar.
The world must look so small and scary from your perspective if you think this was opposition to you. Its not.
Nah man, I just dislike when people do shit like he did thinking they have a point.
Also nice knee jerk reaction.
This is so frustrating
The commenter was building on top of your argument
You said prohibition wasnt healthy
They said total absence of control wasnt healthy
They implicitly agreed with you that prohibition wasnt healthy
I then spell it out for you that the message being built, that almost certainly you also agree with, is that moderation is the answer.
A counterpoint turns a random point into a line, a line into a polygon, a polygon into a solid, etc.
That counterpoint gave your message an extra and important dimmension. They thought your message was correct but lacking neccisary nuance.
For some reason you got peeved with that, and i think that looks poorly on you, not anyone else.
My mom kept the fridge stocked with sodas when I was a kid, mostly because I had friends over often and she wanted them to feel welcome. I usually drank soda because it was convenient; quick, cold, no dishes. Over years I downed thousands of sodas. It didn’t even occur to me that I didn’t even like it that much.
Now I drink so much water. I’ll have a soda a few times a year, but if I’m thirsty water is king. I feel like a kid who got caught smoking forced to smoke a whole pack.
My family growing up went to having 1l of coke for everyone to share on Sundays, when shit was super expensive, to 600ml or more per person per meal over about 10 years when it got cheaper. I got myself to the point that I would go to a friend’s house, and feel thirsty and refuse to drink water, which was the only thing available. That’s when I noticed my family had a problem.
I didn’t quit cold turkey, but when I reached 26 I remember drinking soft drinks less than once per year. Best decision ever. My mum didn’t go over weight not sure how, but developed diabetes. Only then she switched to diet coke, but kept drinking that like I drink water.
Zero calorie soda tastes good, which makes me not trust it at all.
FWIW, it’s a myth that sugar causes hyperactivity. But it’s been shown in studies that parents who believe the myth are more likely to perceive their children’s behaviour as hyperactive when they’ve had sugar.
I think there is evidence that some artificial food additives can have that effect in some people, though.
You’re right, it should probably say mood swings due to changes in blood sugar levels instead as that’s more accurate
Those kids usally binge on sugar once they hit adolescence and are away from thier parents
Was an absolute soda chugging fiend in college, until a root canal brought me down to earth.
Bingo!
I’ve seen the opposite be true. Family members that grew up with Candy/Sugar never left it behind and have impulse control issues that led to substance problems.
Those that had very limited sweet stuff, are able to moderate, or don’t enjoy sweets as much, and haven’t had substance issues.
I think the key factor in substance issues tgough is the persons genetic predisposition and trama.
What is trama?
Like trauma but U weren’t involved
Thank god!
I’d be interested to read some real literature on this. Obviously moderation is the best behavioral choice in the context of life and society, while no refined sugar is obviously the best choice for health.
But if you had two groups of kids, one who was given no sugar and one who was given too much sugar, I bet the former group ends up healthier the vast majority of the time.
I think the real issue is simply that excess calories (and sugary foods are highly dense in calories) leads to obesity. And obesity in childhood lends itself to continued obesity through adulthood, thus higher rates of things like diabetes and high blood pressure.
I think the whole argument about sugar itself is a bit of a moot point. It all comes down to whether or not you let your child become obese while you are still under their care.
I grew up in a household with a lot of sugar. I turned out just fine. Two of my siblings struggle a lot with obesity, and one has been overweight since childhood.
We’re all fat and our teeth have been mostly replaced with crowns. And even though we’re in our fifties, our attitude towards sugary food is incredibly unhealthy, because we didn’t learn to eat it in moderation, we learned to take advantage of any opportunity that offered us sugary food.
You also lived during the “fat” craze. Fat was deemed bad so manufacturers filled their food with sugar so they could market it as low fat.
It’s Capitalism all the way down
Fuck Kellogg and the Seventh Day Adventists.
Religious zealots ruin everything.
Well, religions ruin everything but they require puppets to do the work.
What did the Seventh Day Adventists do?
They’re directly responsible for the demonization of meat and fats which led to carb heavy diet recommendations which, in turn, caused the obesity epidemic.
Also, they’re a bunch of religious zealots which are categorically a threat to egalitarian democratic societies.
What even is the justification for demonization of meat?
What even is the justification for demonization of meat?
How much time do you have?
https://isupportgary.com/articles/seventh-day-adventist-plant-based-nutrition
TLDR - modern nutrition is driven by a guideline some lady hallucinated in a dream over 100 years ago. Which specifically called out meat as a driver for immoral thoughts and actions.
I mean I agree with the sentiment, but the seventh day Adventists were specifically making really low sugar, very bland cereals because they thought that would make people less horny or something. I don’t think they are to blame for high sugar content
Low sugar doesn’t mean low carb and they promoted carb heavy diets over proteins and fats which are absolutely essential. They infiltrated organizations to push scientifically unsound bullshit which led to the obesity epidemic.
What? Young earth creationists being unscientific??
Maybe god told them in a vision to cause the obesity epidemic
Little Debbie disagrees. https://www.nadadventist.org/news/southern-adventist-university-names-ruth-mckee-school-business-after-bakery-co-founder/
blame for high sugar content
And you should be using present tense, they directly own about 40 brands, more if you count 7da founded companies, or so many if owned by a 7da family.
How dare you call me out like that.
Happy, uh, cake day
Ate loads of shit for years as soon as I left home, now type-2 diabetic. 😬
We did no added sugar until our kids were 2. We don’t regulate much anymore but it seems like they still love sweet things but don’t crave it or overindulge like I used to when I was their age. A lot of neural development happens early on
I feel like this is a reasonable response. Early childhood is an easier time to regulate sugar intake and definitely developmentally crucial so you don’t want any extra unhealthy foods complicating things.
I was raised similarly and have a pretty healthy relationship with sugar today. I just always worried about the kids whose parents freaked out about them having a soda at a birthday party when they were like 8 or something. I understand policing sugar up to maybe grade school, but past that definitely has a negative effect emotionally and can lead to kids bingeing when they’re cut loose.
Neural pathways alone, the difference between “I LOVE sugar” being written into your source code to “I like sugar” as a browser extension.
That reminds me, I avoided exposing my son to soft drinks until he was maybe 5yo. As a result he didn’t like soft drinks and wouldn’t touch them until he was about 12yo. Fortunately here in Australia all birthday parties also offer cordial - artificial fruit juice, but not carbonated.
Now he drinks as much as he wants, which is probably a can or 2 per week.
That’s kind of how I was. I did go through a root beer kick in my 20s but that was still pretty tame and mostly just like sampling a couple different ones a week. I still have my favorites I’ll buy six packs of every couple to few months lol but, for the most part, it’s not something I seek out aside from that. I seem to like the less sweet root beers as well, so maybe that’s connected.
Opposite here. I was born in 1969, so I was a kid in the seventies. My mom was a stay-at-home housewife who packed my school lunches. Often it would consist of a sandwich made of just margarine and sugar on Wonder Bread with the crust cut off (cut diagonally), with either a Jello chocolate pudding or a Ding Dong back when they were wrapped in foil.
I’m four years older than you. I got better lunches than you, but not too much better. Margarine was supposed to be better than butter, so that’s what we got, too. Coffee was thought to be bad, so my mom switched to Postum. She worried that I was eating too many eggs when I learned to make them myself. My mom somewhat tried to be good about food for us. We didn’t get the sugary cereals, we got corn flakes, and rice crispies, but we put sugar on the cereal anyway, and she didn’t stop us. She didn’t keep soda, candy, or other snacks in the house as a rule, that was just for “special occasions”, etc.
What we had was playing outside.
I gave up sugar completely about eight years ago, it was the single best health choice I made.
margarine and sugar?
on bread?
so like how does that work out long term ?
are you o k?
When I was a kid, we did cinnamon toast: wonder bread toasted and slathered with margarine, covered in enough sugar to form a slurry with the melt, then sprinkled with cinnamon. More crunch came from the sugar than the toast. I’m kinda fat now
We had a shaker of cinnamon and sugar mixed. It was an old jar with a metal lid that my dad punched holes in.
I don’t eat sugar, or margarine, or bread anymore, but I still remember how good it was.
I used to love this as a kid.
Now as an adult, I found a fun substitute. Slice some cucumber. Then add cinnamon, salt, and whatever sugar substitute you like. It’s not quite the same as the real thing, obviously. But I haven’t had the “real” version since I was a kid. It’s a nice throwback that satisfies the want for a desert-like item with few calories.
There are cultures where sweet foods are less common or less extreme. They eat American sweets and complain that they don’t like it because it tastes too sweet, or they will complain that America sweetens foods that they normally don’t expect to be sweet.
I grew up having constant access to sweets. While I have never been obese, I do struggle with addiction to sweets and it is a constant challenge to try not to overdo it.
Sweet American bread. Ugh.
I’m an American and yeah, bread shouldn’t be this sweet. Aldi has a good whole wheat that isnt sweet though
Don’t talk shit about my Hawaiian Buns.
It’s not that. Hawaiian buns are a product meant to taste sweet. We’re talking store brand wheat bread type breads.
And on that note, sweetened peanut butter is dessert food, not a sandwich filling. Unsweetened is the best.
I was allowed sugar, but it was cut way back. For example: my parents would take a box of lucky charms for the appeal, then cut it with a Costco size box of Cheerios. Shitload of Cheerios in a bowl, one sad marshmallow. When I got to college and they had bins of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, etc., I went to town and got hit with what I call the Freshman 40. No diabetes, thank god, but my upbringing’s food control fucked me up and continues to do so.
Cheerios is like 18% (multigrain) or 22% (honey) sugars by weight though. Lucky Charms (original) is at 37% and regular cornflakes at 8%, for reference.
Freshman 40? It used to be the freshman 15. Inflation is everywhere.
apparently localized around waists in some cases.
My brother and I turned out just fine and even today I barely eat any sugar. Although we were not forbidden. My parents just didn’t buy candies.
Yeah, i am also fine. It was interesting to see so many comments where people binged as soon as they were able. Makes me wonder if it’s just cus sugar is delicious, and the craving for it is similar regardless of upbringing.
I’m thinking there must be a study somewhere.
And indeed there is, where they studied people who were born just before and after the end of WW2 sugar rationing in the UK:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39480913/
Those people are into their 70s and 80s now, so the long term health outcomes are well documented:
…we found that early-life rationing reduced type 2 diabetes and hypertension risk by about 35 and 20% and delayed disease onset by 4 and 2 years, respectively. Protection was evident with in utero exposure and increased with postnatal sugar restriction, especially after 6 months, when eating of solid foods likely began. In utero sugar rationing alone accounted for about one-third of the risk reduction.
Thank you. I know I shouldn’t be surprised this doesn’t have more than 10% of the upvotes for anecdotal “I didn’t get sugar when I was a kid, so my adult onset diabetes and obesity is clearly my parents fault.” But, I’m a little disappointed.
But, it’s not really what I asked. I asked for experience, not studies. I like the anecdotes.
There’s whole news ecosystems based on information based on anecdotes, as opposed to data driven studies.
Surprised Hershey isn’t astro turfiing us with made-up horrors of sugar deprivation.
Hats of to you for finding the study, and hats off to the one that conducted it. These are some pretty big numbers for a short period of not feeding them sugar.
My good friend was heavily guilted growing up when they wanted any food their parents deemed unhealthy, especially sweets. Guess what, they developed an eating disorder and nearly died from it.
Orthorexia is real and highly inherited like other eating disorders
I have a healthy relationship with sugar following a childhood with limited access because sugary things taste too sweet to me now, as well things like almonds and carrots taste sweet to me.
I wasn’t limited, but we also didn’t have it in the house often. I wasn’t taught moderation with food. Probably because I was extremely active so large portions didn’t have the same detrimental effects as they would have on a sedentary person, and it’s been a problem my entire adult life since I can’t play multiple sports, ride a bike everywhere, and have a morning paper route to bike.
I didn’t get to eat much sugar as a kid. It was fine, never a big deal really. I do remember the first time putting actual sugar on my breakfast cereal just to try it at age 18 or something but it just seemed weird, unhealthy, and overly sweet. I hadn’t thought about it since several decades ago, but now that I remember I thank my parents for it.
Slightly off-topic comment coming in.
I wasn’t not allowed sugar but in moderation. What was heavily restricted was TV. Anytime I wanted to watch something I had to ask and tell my parents how long it was going to take so I had to carefully choose. I presume this was to prevent me from mindless consumption and being glued to screens.
It just made the TV more interesting, so when our parents were out, my sister and I would watch whatever, just to be watching TV and feel like the other kids. My dad tried several times to implement ways to make the device inaccessible to us but (I’m pretty sure) I inherited my stupid brain from him so he probably got annoyed at having to deal with those implementations every time (not that he watched more TV than he allowed us but he regularly taped [on actual VHS video tape] educational content for work).
Also, unfortunately, my ability to choose for myself what to do came at about the same time as all sorts of screens becoming central to our lifestyles and all my parents’ efforts was for naught.
