Health Consequences When Parents Fail To Do Their Jobs and Some Easy Recipes

Recently both CNN and CBS reported a movement in the United States to regulate sugar. A pediatric endocrinologist named Rob Lustig noticed a connection between sugar and metabolism, liver damage, and obesity. When too much sugar is consumed, the body’s hormones do not function normally to indicate fullness and one can still be hungry while overeating.

Sugar has been around for a long time. So why should some people think that the Government should step in and be an age restriction such as 17 and warnings on it? The sad answer is that the lack of parenting in society. It used to be that parents took the time to pack nutritious lunches for the children. Parents know that candy is not allowed in schools and instead pack a few cookies. However, some children whose parents are too busy may just give their children a couple of dollars to buy lunch. These children with a few dollars are free to buy candy from a convenient store or from their friends.

It is not to say that children cannot be responsible if given a few dollars for lunch, but the parents must instill proper values such as eating three balance meals per day. However, in today’s society, parents do not spend the time to eat meals with their children. If they do, are they imparting value of good nutrition or are they themselves eating unhealthy food just to satisfy their hunger with fast food?

Parents are completely responsible when their children are obese, unless there are medical reasons resulting in obesity. Disciplining and guiding children on eating behavior is not easy. Parents have to decide what a child eats, when a child eats, and how much a child eats. We recently had iPhone size pork chop medallions only to hear my pre-teen son whine about the smallness of it and how he was going to be hungry after he ate it. My reply was that he had plenty of choices after dinner if he was still hungry, and that he could have fruit later on. In Asian culture, that same piece would have been cut up and sauteed in vegetables, which would have been fed to a family. It is no wonder there are so many commercials nowadays for prescription drugs to combat clogged arteries.

Further, parents could have the pediatrician guide a child. This may be a problem for parents who do not have money to take their children to an annual checkup. However, the words of a doctor may linger better in the ears of children when they are told that doctors know all about the healthy of one’s body. For years, our pediatrician insisted that if our children did not want to eat the meals that we prepared, they should go hungry. There was a constant struggle with what the children will eat.

A Few Nutritious Solutions

1. Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich or Peanut Butter, Jelly and Banana Sandwich or SunButter and Jelly Sandwich or SunButter, Jelly and Banana Sandwich Whether a family is on a budget or too busy, it shouldn’t be too difficult to make a nutritious peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The peanut butter combined with bread provides complete protein that you would not otherwise have independently. To make it even more nutritious, use whole wheat bread and peanut butter that has no sugar added.

Alternatively, the more nutritious method is to use SunButter instead of peanut butter. SunButter, which is made from sunflower seeds, is even more nutritious than peanut butter, and if you give it to your children, they do not have to sit away from "nut-free" tables. SunButter is high in vitamin E, copper, niacin, and magnesium. The only negative is that it is not cheap.

2. Quaker Oatmeal Bar To Go

Each bar has calcium, iron, vitamins A and B6. Although there is a controversy whether breakfast is the most important meal of the day, a child is less likely to eat unhealthy food if he or she has had breakfast.

3. Mixed Nuts and Dried Fruit

If inner city kids can buy Nikes, then their parents should be able to stock up on nuts and dried fruits and make a healthy snack that will replace sugary or fried snack. Make a batch of pecans, walnut, peanuts, raisins, dried cranberries, dried cherries, and dried blueberries and put 1/4 c. in a snack-size plastic baggie.

4. Granola Mix Recipe From Cooks.com

10 c. old-fashioned oats

2 c. coconut

1 1/2 c. raisins

1 1/2 c. chopped dried fruit

3 1/2 c. chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)
1 1/2 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. oil
1 1/2 c. water
1/4 c. molasses
3/4 c. honey
1/2 tsp. salt
3 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. cinnamon

In large saucepan combine brown sugar, water, oil, honey, molasses, salt and cinnamon; heat until sugar is melted. Pour over all the other ingredients except raisins. Stir until well coated and bake a 300 degrees in a 13 x 9 inch pan. Bake for 30 minutes. To make it crunchier, bake for 15 minutes and cool in a dry place. It will last for 6 months. Recipe makes 20 cups.

Next time you hear people wanting to regulate sugar for the entire society, it will be better to educate parents instead of creating a society full of worst offenders of sugar.