How much sugar?

This is what I've been grappling with for the last little while.

I've worked very hard to ensure that I nurture my family with food which nourishes them.  I've educated myself according to our specific needs.  I've read widely and listened to health practitioners advice.  I think I could consider myself I bit of a nutritionist and have considered that if I chose to study something at this stage of my life it would be Nutrition.  I was encouraged last week in my small home group when a friend spoke up and said, "You should be a Nutritionist Cathy!".  It was very encouraging considering she doesn't know me well yet and would not know my past and desires in relation to nurture and nourishment.

All appears to well on the homefront, however herein lies my struggle:

As we leave our home and participate in the community more and more, as we are doing in Canberra, we are being confronted by a culture of food sharing and eating which is substantially different from our own.  At least it appears that way on the surface.  When I speak to many mothers about my struggle we seem to share similar concerns.  The main one of which is the amount of sugar which is consumed in everything we eat.  Mothers are trying to bake with half the amount of sugar, struggling to find healthy options to fill a lunchbox, to share with friends.  They are trying to find something on a table of food which is nourishing rather than simply pleasing when we share food.

I am committed to making a concerted effort to stop eating sugar in our household. Fortunately I have some friends who are doing the same.  And by sugar I mean fructose as well as sucrose.  We are now only eating fructose as a whole fruit with all the fibre surrounding aiding the digestion of the fructose.

I'm enjoying the fact that my appetite control mehcanism is now clearly working.  I feel full regularly and rarely have that sense that I need to eat something - just to satisfy.  I'm enjoying lots of different foods with my girls including savoury toppings for toast, treats which aren't full of sugar ie profiteroles and some little chocolate almond cakes we recently baked.  There are more: we are on a journey and will discover as we go.  No doubt I'll share some of our new recipes here to share with you.  Are you already on this ride?  Are you ready to join us?

I'm delighted that my husband is keen to join us for the ride and that we now have a reason not to spend our money at the ice cream shop.

It's taken me a while to really get onboard with this notion.  I was first introduced to this research when my 21 month old baby J was just born by our neighbour.  Now I feel it is time for us.

I'm still struggling with the fact that my children will choose to eat sugary foods when they are offered, however like many other things 'I will let that go'.  I will continue to nourish them at home with quality foods, guided by information that comes to hand and trust that as role models, my husband and I will be remembered as parents who led our children towards paths of good health and responsible eating.