How much sugar is too much for a toddler?
To answer your original question, THE national guideline is the USDA food pyramid, at www.mypyramid.gov. Most of the parts of the pyramid are “good stuff” – grains, vegetables, protein, etc. There are also a certain number of what they call “discretionary calories.” If you look here: http://www.mypyramid.gov/pyramid/discretionary_calories_count.html# it tells you more about discretionary calories. The mypyramid plan for a moderately active 3 yr old boy allows for 170 discretionary calories a day. Since a gram of sugar is 3.4 calories, they are clearly getting too much sugar (about 400 calories, if they take in 120g extra a day). Good luck managing the situation! You sound like a great ally for th
Oh and side note- I was planning NONE of this to come from my mouth. Just trying to help my boyfriend have a concrete idea of what is too much. He has come to her with this in the past. The thing is I think that the things she thinks are heathy – those phoney fruit snacks, Yogos, chocolate milk are then topped off with the treats- gum, candy and chips. The kids go to her home begging for snacks when they leave our house (even tho they eat great with us and have plenty of snacks) and she thinks they are hungry when I really think they are just craving sugar. She has sent us her snacks in the bag – as a hint- I assume. And they really were just candy. She seems like a good Mom and I do think she’d really want to do right by the kids.
Sounds like she is just feeding them what she eats, and it’s probably going to be difficult to convince her to change her own eating habits. I wouldn’t assume that, but remember, it is probably not your place to say anything about this to their mother at this point. If things are generally amicable, I suggest you ask the boys’ father to bring it up with the mom. I don’t know of any hard and fast guidelines for sugar intake, but a common sense approach will keep everyone from going insane. Limiting sugary sweets to one or two nights a week after dinner is a good start. I would cut juice right out as it’s not a good way to get micronutrients to these kids (darn-near-empty calories); give them fruit instead of juice. Also, keep in mind that 3-year-olds can be really picky, and sometimes it’s OK to give in and let them have some chips, etc., esp. if they’re active kids. You can find whole grain chips and similar crunchy carb-y snacks these days. Being a step-mom is hard work, but it’s wort
How much sugar is too much? Probably anything more than 1 or 2 servings per day, following the serving size on the package. If you’re trying to convince her to alter her ways, expect an uphill battle. Food and eating can be very close to the bone such that even commenting on someone’s diet is akin to a personal attack. I know that this is not what you asked, but I see it as the real battle. That said, put the power of manipulation into your hands. If you’re trying to convince her, you need to understand how she argues. The typical styles are from logic, ethics, and emotion (logos, ethos, pathos). If you present a solid, logical argument to an emotional arguer, you’ve lost the moment you open your mouth. I’m also in the camp of working by subversion. First and foremost, it’s your house, your rules. Then you can get the kids involved in cooking and the process of meal planning. There are so many wins on so many fronts there in addition to nutrition. Help build a foundation that they will
120 g of sugar is 480 calories. That’s about half the amount of calories a toddler needs. So yeah, too much sugar (and then you are not even counting the empty calories in the fried snacks they eat…). But you knew that already. I think many parents these days think the sugary cereal and the chocolate milk are health foods, and then they get treats on top of that. It is quite sad.
