68 // True or False: sugar makes kids act crazy
True or False: sugar makes kids act crazy
Pointers for problem-solving if you feel your child is sugar-sensitive
Does candy make your kids act crazy?
For most adults, we assume so. We blame the candy, cupcakes, or sugar-coated culprit for being the root of our child's behavioral problems.
But what data do you have to support this? Observationally and anecdotally, most moms I speak to could come up with a laundry list of examples. So does it surprise you that studies looking at the association between sugar intake and hyperactivity are considered "case closed?"
With the exception of a small subset of children who have diagnoses ADHD, the research shows that sugar is NOT to blame for patterns of poor behavior in kids. Conversely, we see that often it is the perception of sugar as the problem that leads parents to defer accountability on what they can control (being what, when, and where a child is offered a variety of meals and snacks, including those that are sugar-sweetened).
To pinpoint the problem AND have a more accurate depiction of what you can do about it, this episode is going to force you to pivot with pointers on how to problem solve the ever-so-common concern of "sugar highs," right before Halloween gets here.
Listen to this episode of The Veggies & Virtue Podcast now!
Full Episode Transcription
Please note this a raw transcription. If something doesn’t read correctly, toggle to that timestamp in the show so that you can listen in on what was actually being said!
[00:00:00] Hey Mama. I'm Ashley and welcome to the Veggies and Virtue Podcast. In this podcast, you will find simple menu ideas, kitchen organizational systems spelled out for mom life, and feeding tips and tricks that are both evidence based and grace laced. I believe that you can find flexibility when it comes to feeding your family so that you can feel calm, capable, and connected in the kitchen.
[00:02:06] As a registered dietician and Christian mom of three myself, I want you to break free from the mealtime. And to feel equipped while feeding your kids all day long. Pull up a stool at my kitchen counter and let me pour you a cup of coffee and say a quick prayer for you. It's time to chat about the meal times, messes moments, and Ministry of Motherhood.
[00:02:30] So I wanna start out today's episode by asking you a seemingly very simple question, and that is true or false. Does candy. Or simply sugar. Make your kids act crazy. What would you say, true or false? Like what's your automatic inclination? Because I want you to pause for a quick second. Stick with me for the next 10, 15 minutes and walk through a few scenarios with me, because if we look at the upcoming months, and particularly the holiday season, that's ahead of us, and we look at something like a Halloween.
[00:03:07] We, this might be one that like our friends are hosting and you know, they're, because they're hosting it, it's at the time that they felt was best for their family and in their home. And so it may or may not be conducive with your kids routine and schedule. It may or may not align with when your kid tends to have an appetite or eat, if it's during snack time or over a meal time.
[00:03:31] but they might be having a Halloween party or say you're visiting your child at their. Class, Halloween party, and they have all their classmates, and so there's just the excitement of all the other kids and then this routine that they've gotten into the first month or two of being back to school is a little bit disrupted because they're obviously doing a party instead of whatever the usual curriculum may be.
[00:03:54] That also might kind of shift the timing of things. Some classes I know do Halloween parties or class parties in the morning, and so they kind of do it early on as the kid has gotten there. Meanwhile, some kids may or may not have eaten breakfast. This means that they may or may not have had a morning snack at school.
[00:04:09] This means that they may or may not have had lunch at school. But nonetheless, the class party is happening and all the fun festivities that come with that class party and just everything that's going on. If there's potential for kids in classrooms, if there's a class parade, if there's, you know, candy being given out, the dynamics with that, or walk me through or walk with me through the scenario of trick or.
[00:04:35] Often we think about how our kids are really distracted beforehand. All they really care about is getting their costume on. If you're walking around your neighborhood or getting in the car to drive somewhere else, you're, you know, you're just trying to get your child to eat something before they go out, trick or treating.
[00:04:51] And so your child may or may not have had a very substantial dinner. They might be out past their bedtime, so they might become a little overtired. They also could just be getting uncomfortable in their costume, especially if they're walking around. Maybe the footwear that they had on wasn't super comfortable.
[00:05:06] Maybe there was a tag that was scratching them and just making 'em. or just maybe the overall environment of trick or treating with kids running everywhere and doorbells being run and you know, kids squealing and you holding your hand, telling 'em to watch out for cars and the bucket crinkling and maybe the Halloween tote dumping out upside down and the grass.
[00:05:26] There's just, it's sensory overload. There's so much going on. Or maybe we think about trunker treating. If your church says something like this, it might be that instead of the more traditional tricker treating you're doing the trunker treating and it's a more consolidated event maybe, and everyone's just kind of there in a confined area.
[00:05:43] But that means it could be really crowded and kids could feel really overwhelmed or just kind of sardined in there with everyone. They might not know where you are or where they're supposed to go. They have all the energy of everyone else and the excitement of the event. There is games being played, candid me, candid out, oftentimes really loud music playing, and it's a whole experience.
[00:06:03] And then as adults, we can kind of separate out each of those. But the reason I wanna bring up each of these scenarios is because depending on how long you've been a mom or really been participating in any Halloween functions, when you think about each of those scenarios that are coming up in the coming weeks, I want you to answer me, was candy to blame for a child's hyperactivity?
[00:06:28] In each of those examples, and I know as a mom, I get. I know that diet culture tells us sugar is toxic and it's addictive and it's harmful to our kids. I know that mom, wine culture tells us kids are crazy and we need a drink, and I know that the overall societal culture right now can vilify things and fear moner.
[00:07:02] Until it can market its message to our core, and I get it as a mom, I get it. As a female myself, I get it. I get the messages that we hear about sugar. But as a dietician and as a dietician mom, I feel it's my responsibility and my opportunity on each episode to help you align what is that grace based parenting approach.
[00:07:30] With that evidence based nutrition approach, and I know, I don't just think, I know it is imperative for each of you to know what the research actually says as we go into this Halloween season. Not so that we just have a excessively permissible approach towards offering or allowing our kids to have a certain amount of sugar, but so that we aren't going through the whole season with a point of view.
[00:07:58] That is honestly flaw. It's been fear mongered, in my opinion, far too long and much too far, and that's because there is actually no science to support the idea that sugar makes the majority of kids. Hyper hyperactive, crazy, exceptionally wild off the wall. Fill in the blank. We've all heard this language be used.
[00:08:24] We have all heard this rhetoric that sugar makes our kids crazy. We have all been at a birthday party where parents say, Our kids are gonna be jumping off the walls afterwards. We have all heard the jokes that grandparents don't mind loading their kids up with sugar because then they get to give them back to the parents.
[00:08:41] And while I don't want to belittle the fact, A diet high and sugar can have short and long term complications and challenges for people in the short term. When we look at just the displacement of other more nutrient rich foods, if it is replacing or displacing the foods and the appetite that our children have.
[00:09:00] For a wider variety in their diet. Long term, we look at whether it be weight gain or obesity, heart disease, dental problems, a myriad of different complications that can come with excessive sugar intake. What I want us to be in tune with here is that restricting our kids of sugar now out of a false belief system, being one that believes sugar is making our kids hyper sugar is the culprit to why our kids are acting.
[00:09:27] Sugar is the problem, is reinforcing disordered eating habits that are also associated with short and long term complications. And so what I really want us to think about today and what I'm, you know, asking you to challenge in your own belief system here is. Your perception of sugar versus the reality, Because what we know from study after study is that sugar consumption is not associated with hyperactivity nor behavioral problems in children.
[00:09:56] And I'm happy to link several of the research articles in the show notes in case this is something that you'd like to read into further. But I want us to go into Halloween, not pandering to this fear mongering that we. May feel let alone here, but instead to realize if studies over the last decades have continued to lessen the importance of even investigating this.
[00:10:21] Because, you know, something I read had even said that like, So much of the research and so many experts consider this a case closed because within the health community, we know that the studies that are looking at hyperactivity and sugar intake are falling flat, and yet as a society and as moms, we're often hearing and feeding our children according.
[00:10:42] To a totally different message. And so I, one first and foremost, wanna make sure that you're aware of what the research actually says as you go into Halloween. But I also want to help give you some tools so you can better understand how does this play into how we food parent, particularly around a season that's very high in added sugars.
[00:11:01] So I wanna go ahead and share a quick example here because I think it might paint a picture for you that's a little easier. To understand and ultimately apply rather than feeling kind of like your sugar intake or the approach to sugar that you have in your family is on the attack. That's definitely not what I want to do, but I wanted to share because I'm sure a lot of us right now, as we have gotten back into back to school, Hopefully for some of us, we're starting to see the really high elevated emotions in the afternoon paper off and simmer down a little bit as our kids get settled into the school routine.
[00:11:32] However, one of my kids just struggles, struggles a lot after school, and it happened all last year and you know, I gave it the, she started kindergarten last year, so I gave it a, you know, a month and then I thought it would start to improve and it. And then it just went all last year. And so we tried different things.
[00:11:49] We tried was, you know, being a car rider better than a bus rider was related to this one particular child that I heard a lot more about. Was it related to different things? Did she need more emotional support at school? And all the different aspects of what maybe it could be in, you know, of course I addressed it from a dietary perspective of, and just things like that.
[00:12:08] But then we had that happen again, this. When a lot of the dynamics had changed and I thought we would be in a little bit better place with it. And I wanna address this because something I've noticed over the last couple months is as we get into this school year, it is so easy for me to either label my kid that she's hard, that she's throwing fits, that she's melting down, and to make my child the issue.
[00:12:34] Which even just saying that like hurts my heart to even like put that on. However, it's also one where it's really easy for me to fall on the trap of saying, Well, school is the issue. Schools these days push her way too hard, or, you know, it's just the dynamic of expectations in the classroom these days and all these different things that are pointing to a problem that isn't the right issue.
[00:12:58] And in doing so, we're creating an unproductive approach because we're targeting the wrong issue. So the solution that we come up with for this perceived problem is misguided. And yet what I've seen and what I've been so encouraged by and what I think really parallels to the conversation today is that if I can help set her up with an environment that meets her where she's at, and tunes in to the needs that are most needy after school.
[00:13:26] What a huge difference we see, and I'll admit it's not easy. It's not the approach I would like for after school. I would love for it to be so much more simple and carefree and not a thing, but until it's not a thing, we have to tune into that because she's not crazy. She's not intending to meltdown and school's not to blame for why she's acting crazy or why by three 30 in the afternoon every day she is melting.
[00:13:53] and it's not, you know, the one kid in her class or the bus ride home or the lunch boxes that I was sent. While it's important to factor in and to consider all these different elements, I would be doing my child a disservice if I was fixated on one of those things being the problem. When those things ultimately, as we found in my family, at least, have not been the problem.
[00:14:17] So how does this story relate to. And I want you to think about it like this because when sugar becomes the problem, when at all those scenarios I, I ran through at the beginning of all these different dynamics that we find ourselves having around Halloween parties and trick or treating or trunker treating or whatever it might be when we make sugar the problem in each of those situations, we are pandering to a culture that has created disordered thoughts and behaviors around food, specifically foods.
[00:14:48] Halloween candy and then it spirals into the disordered eating or a future of chronic dieting because we don't know how to handle these types of foods and these generational patterns and messages and belief systems that we've come to adopt as our own and ultimately reflect on our kids is making it so our kids don't know how to handle these foods either because we've made sugar the problem rather than pinpointing.
[00:15:18] What the real problem may be. What we have at stake is Halloween offering us this amazing opportunity to equip our children and what is really going on. How do we identify the things that are maybe triggering and maybe causing them to act out? We teach them to identify the culprit in different situations and what really is the issue so that they know how to.
[00:15:45] Because if we just pinpoint sugar as the problem, we're only feeding into a problem that doesn't exist for our kids, and we're painting a future reality for them that they're going to continue to struggle with because candy is going to continue to be there. Halloween is going to continue to happen each year, and so if we paint this picture for them that sugar is what's making them crazy or that candy is bad, or that any of these things are toxic, but we don't tune in to our specific child.
[00:16:15] We are sending them into these situations and these scenarios that they're gonna have to face their whole life with the wrong tool. We wouldn't ask our child to write for us and give them a spoon. So if we don't begin to question this perception versus the reality with our own children, I think ultimately as adults, we're gonna keep being frustrated and we're gonna keep missing the mark for what is that problem.
[00:16:38] We're gonna feel like the mom that I felt like last year when I felt like I just kept missing the mark with what was going on with my daughter. Because I felt like we were exhausting all options and we were trying a ton of things, but we weren't pinpointing the real problem. And ultimately, I wasn't helping shape her with the skill sets that she needed to cope in the situations that she was just finding herself in.
[00:17:00] I couldn't blame school. I couldn't blame other kids. I couldn't blame the bus. I couldn't blame all these other things that we had no control. But what I could do and what I encourage you to do is to tune into your child and to find what do they need to be supported in, in whatever environment they may be.
[00:17:17] Well, yes, I use the example of my daughter in school and we found things that help support her after school. By pinpointing the true problem. When it comes to Halloween, you also need to look and see what is and isn't working for them. If you notice at a birthday party, a Halloween party trick or treating, trunker, treating, whatever it might be, if you're observing problem.
[00:17:37] I beg you, please do not be blaming sugar first and foremost, because as I mentioned, the research does not justify that perception being the reality. There is research that does show for some children, particularly those who have hyperactivity, like adhd, they may be impacted by sugar and more. So what we're seeing in the research is it's the food dyes in these sugar sweetened foods that kids can be sensitive.
[00:18:06] So I'm gonna share more on the next episode about how I would address both offering non-food or non candy options for Halloween trick or treating and things like that, as well as food die free. But I wanted this episode to proceed that episode because I don't want us to be vilifying candy as the problem.
[00:18:27] I don't want us to assume that what we have to. Is serve a non candy alternative as a Halloween offering to our trick or traders, or that we need to serve something that's low in sugar as the solution to our perceived problem. Because if you take all of the episodes that I'm doing in October and put them together, you're gonna see that it's so much more about the relationship that our kids develop around these foods and the tools that we give them and the skills that they build each year.
[00:18:55] That really matters. It matters a whole lot more than just the amount of candy that they eat on a given day. What I want to wrap up with today is what can you do knowing that majority of children are not having behavioral issues because of sugar, but as a dietician, of course, does what we eat impact the way we act and our blood sugar regulat?
[00:19:15] Of course it does. And so what can you do and what do you need to consider with your unique child? Because first and foremost, if you do have a child who has ADHD or you do have a child who you know has been diagnosed with a food color sensitivity, then there's going to be some added measures. That you're going to need to take, particularly at times like Halloween, and particularly with the things that you're either offering or allowing them to eat, as I mentioned that I'll cover in the next episode.
[00:19:40] But for the wide majority of the moms that are listening right now, I want you to think about what can you do to pinpoint the right problem? Take the focus, take the emphasis, take the vilification off of sugar, knowing that that is not what's gonna cause your kid to act wild on h. But take a look at their environment and all the other things that are playing in so you know that you're pinpointing the right problem, and ultimately you're helping offer them the right solution and equip them with the right skills to know how to behave properly in a variety of environments.
[00:20:15] So first, when I, when we talk about what your role is as the parent, which we talk about all the time on this show, I want you to think about. What, when and where they're eating on those given days. Because again, whether it's trick or trading or Halloween party, the timing of day may change. What's being offered may change, but you as the adult and with the more mature perspective can be thinking about what are we going to be eating when we are at X?
[00:20:41] Fill in the blank, A birthday party, Halloween party trick or treating, whatever it is. If you know that majority of the things that your child's going to be eating is probably candy or sugar cookies, Or a snow cone or a cupcake or whatever it might be, something that is higher in refined sugar than it's your job in what is being offered before that event.
[00:21:01] To be filling them up with the protein, the fat, and the fiber, that's going to help balance out their blood sugar, because if they're having low blood sugar because they haven't eaten, A sufficient meal or what I talked about in back to School Bootcamp as more of like a level three snack or a meal. Then yes, their energy levels may crash eventually because they haven't had satiating enough snack or meal ahead of time.
[00:21:25] Additionally, I want you to think about when. When are these events happening? Is this already way past their bedtime trick or treating? Well, maybe that's the problem. Maybe it's that you're starting trick or treating too late, or maybe that it's that you did another lap around the neighborhood when you really should have stopped after one.
[00:21:41] And so it's the tiredness or the the timing of when these different things are happening. It may be that this birthday party or this Halloween priority is interrupting the structure and routine that you have for your day. And so their nap was changed and either completely omitted or altered, so they had to be woken up, which we all know don't wake a child because that's always hard to recover from.
[00:22:03] It might have been that you had to feed them at different times, so they didn't eat as well in advance of these parties because the win of your day was off. But you need to tune into this so you can help come up with the ways to cope for what may happen. Sometimes we're surprised and thank goodness because that's great when we get to actually enjoy whatever this event is and our child doesn't melt down.
[00:22:25] But we also need to think about where we are and all the elements that are at play and maybe triggering our child in that environment. Because if we talk about the what and the win already being kind of off for what would be routine and normal, then we think about all the other aspects. Like I mentioned in the beginning, the loud noises, the flashing lights, this Halloween particularly can spook kids out, which can just make them feel a little off their rocker in and of itself.
[00:22:51] It might be that they have a scratchy costume on. Or that they're just frustrated because their mask doesn't fit right or whatever it might be. But all these other factors are things that as adults, with a more mature vantage point, we can assume may be the problem. But if we target sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar, not only are we vilifying the wrong problem.
[00:23:14] We're perpetuating disordered relationships with candy, sweets, and treats, and we're missing the opportunity to empower our kids and how to handle all these situations that candy or cupcakes or whatever the sweet and treat might be are just going to be for forever more. And so I want you to walk away from this today thinking about.
[00:23:33] The situations that you maybe feel a little uneasy about or the parties or events that you know are already on your family's calendar and you're looking at them, and if your autopilot assumption is that the sugar's gonna make your kid crazy, I wanna ask you to just take a minute. Either right after you get done listening to this, look at your calendar and identify what those events are and what is your proactive approach going to be.
[00:24:01] Don't go blaming the sugar when another mom goes blaming the sugar. Send her this podcast episode kindly after. After the party. But think about what do you need to be offering your child to help them stabilize their blood sugar for the duration of whatever you're going to go to. Maybe it's that you need to bring some snacks with you so you know there's other options available for them outside of just candy.
[00:24:21] If you're going to a party and you don't know what's gonna be served, maybe it's you thinking about when. and making sure that you're really intentional about bedtime and the night leading up to it, or in getting in a good nap before a late night of trick or treating. Maybe it's you making sure that even if you have to shift your meals and snacks a little bit, you make sure that when they're getting opportunities to eat is gonna help fuel them so that they're feeling their best at this given event.
[00:24:46] Or maybe you're thinking about. and like I had to with my daughter after school, I had to really think about what aspects of her environment at home were going to help support her to make that transition successfully from a long, hard day at school into the safety and security of home. But it still required some added support with where she was and the noise levels and this sensory experience for her.
[00:25:14] It is easier to blame the sugar. Then to have to work through these steps as the adult and as the parent. But what I also know to be true is that you will find the overall experience continues to not only be a better one for you, but also for your child. So to wrap up, if this is something that you feel like is Pandora's box and I'm really just scratching the surface of something that, you know, you need a lot more help and intentionality.
[00:25:42] You won't transform your relationship with food an over controlling nature around candy or your family's relationship with foods like candy by Halloween. This. By taking this information in this episode to heart and by taking that next step, and investing is something like the Meal Times made easy method, where you'll get the tools and you will understand how to pinpoint the appropriate problem and how to tailor it to your family in a way that is going to help you restore your relationships with food and to delineate your roles in feeding.
[00:26:14] So that this, what, when, where becomes an autopilot for you and the perpetuation of potentially disordered eating styles that either maybe ones that you have been born and raised with, or that you already see yourself imprinting on, your child can be stopped and reversed while they're still young and while you still have this amazing opportunity for influence with.
[00:26:36] So if this is something that you think would be helpful for you, make sure that you're checking out Meal times Made easy.com. You can get all the information there. You can log in and get started right away so that you can start making progress by this Halloween and in all the days and weeks and months to come.