Worried about DD added sugar!

[TheGirlWhoLived]

So dd is recently 13 and has what I would say is an addiction to sugar! Her normal (unfiltered by my nagging) day goes like:

coco pops or porridge with golden syrup for breakfast
something from canteen with packed lunch (flapjack or shortbread etc)
then sweets bought from the shop after school (half bag haribo or kinder bueno that kind of thing) and bubblegum
after dinner she often wants more sweets or an ice cream etc

her normal food is very low in sugar and is healthy homemade dinners lots of veg etc

i just wondered how this compared to your dc of roughly the same age please!

Bump for the morning crowd!!

I understand it’s tough at school, but why are you buying shit for her to eat at home?

Yes that's too much.

Porridge slightly sweetened is ok but coco pops isn't a great breakfast for a 13 year old.

Especially as she's presumably about to enter or in puberty.

Where is she getting the money? What happens when she wants sweets at home?

Does she need something more substantial after school like a piece of toast with peanut butter?

@Labradoodlie she has coco pops or porridge. Occasionally I buy coco pops because it’s a bit different, the rest she buys herself on the way back from school. Just wanted to get a sense check on what other teens have! It’s only recently built up to this much. She has plenty of non-sugar options but is heading towards the sugar time and time again

I don't know, I'd say that's pretty normal for a teenager really.

Of course on MN, teenagers eat boiled eggs and wholemeal toast or porridge with flax seeds, but I used to work in a supermarket and we had a constant stream school kids in everyday buying donuts and crisps and sausage rolls.

@Whataretheodds she has pretty limited food intake as she won’t eat things like sauce, cheese, or peanut butter etc. she has things like a bagel with butter and an orange after school too, she’s well into puberty and hungry all the time!
she eats heaps of fruit and veg, frozen mango after school too. Dinner is at 5 usually and is something like jacket potato, mixed veg and home- breaded chicken breast

@margotrose thats what I can’t work out, when I was a teenager I definitely had sweets most days but I can’t remember if this was normal or not! She won’t eat the other sort of crap (sausage rolls, cake, fizzy drinks, donuts etc) so she’s slim, active and relatively healthy - she just seems to run purely on added sugar 😁

I would say that's totally normal!

The school stuff will be limited sugar as they have strict guidelines to follow.

She needs wholegrain and protein.

What time is her evening meal?

What about stopping buying coco pops and providing some nuts and seeds for the Porridge: healthy fats, and vitamins.

Maybe not in MN world, but I’d say that’s pretty standard for a teenager.

Could you encourage her to have porridge with fruits in instead of the golden syrup? I just add a bunch of fruit to give flavour and naturally sweeten it. Berries, mango, pineapple, passion fruit all make it delicious! Frozen fruits work too to keep costs/wastage/time spent chopping fruits down, though fresh is extra delicious!
Add nuts and seeds (I add almonds, walnuts, cashews, chia and flax seeds) for extra protein and goodness too.

Do you think she has any nutritional deficiencies like iron? This can cause sugar cravings. Is this more of a recent thing? I ask this because as a young child although I liked sweets, I never really craved or ate it much, however, I started eating lots of sugar food and not much else - this was result of iron deficiency and once it was corrected I no longer craved sugary food.

That might be a good shout @Lavenderflower
she takes a multivitamin when promoted but she doesn’t eat an iron-rich diet. Broccoli and green beans she eats in abundance but absolutely no red meat or anything akin to kale etc!

I’d says it’s completely normal but not ‘good’.

Having said that, I was always ravenous as a teenager and regularly would come home and have scones, cream and jam before dinner (which I’m hindsight is terrible 😂).

Maybe pick your battles with breakfast but otherwise she’ll probably grow out of it.

It's normal but could be worse eg energy drinks

pretty normal for a teen.

we encourage dc to have dried fruit instead of pure sugar. and other bettwe swaps.
also we provide plenty of fresh food and veg as snacks. if I pre-cut them they actually eat them

we do not limit what dc can buy from their own money. they need to be able to join in with friends and not stand out too much.

coco pops nowadays are so low sugar they are almost a health food, so I would not sweat those.

My dd is the same age and sounds similar. She's slim and doesn't eat huge amounts but does seem to love sugary things. She is an avid baker which doesn't help.

My DD is 13 and similar. I remember being a teen and always really craved sugar or junk food. I don't know why that is. As a adult I don't have a sweet tooth at all.
No advice but I think it's pretty normal.

Yeah it seems normal here too. My 14 year old DD will no longer even eat breakfast! She's never liked it, but it comes to a point that can no longer impose my wishes on her. At the weekend she'll have eggs on toast in some form occasionally but she wakes up much later, so that's normally very much brunch time We have healthy snacks iikel veg sticks and Hummus and she likes to make her own smoothies at home. But she also buys crap food from Tesco on the way home and always has a pudding every night. She's very slim and relatively active so I don't worry about it at all

Honestly @TheGirlWhoLived her diet sounds better than many teenagers!

I really wouldn't worry - she'll grow out of it.

Well this is all very reassuring, thanks 😁