breaking up (with sugar) is hard to do (sponsored)

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We've always been a water family. Even at parties, my kids passed on juice boxes. Mainly because they had no experience with them. I was pretty adamant about keeping them out of the house from the get. If the kids wanted juice? Then they best be juicing the fruit themselves.  Okay, so not really, but the labels on every single juice box I've ever seen are startling. And for whatever reason, those were the labels I was obsessing over, ignoring the fact that we had apple sauces of every flavor and yogurt to go thingamathings all over our fridge. Not to mention our daily smoothie habit, which was becoming not only increasingly expensive, but costly in the WAYTOOMUCHSUGARDONOTNEED department. A part of me knew this, of course, but was having so much fun with my kids sipping smoothies on curbs, people watching, that I made no mind.

That was until three months ago. 

It started with my mom's "cut any and all sugar from the diet" diet, which her doctor recommended because of her autoimmune disease. She was telling me how hard it's been because there's sugar in everything now. EVERYTHING. Apparently, in the 90s when everything went "lowfat" it ALSO went "highsugar" so trying to cut sugars these days is pretty near impossible. Not that I'm trying to cut sugars entirely but HOLY GROSS, REFRIGERATOR. THIRTY TWO grams of sugar in a small yogurt? What the... (Here's a great sugar-in-yogurt comparison.)

Hal and I spent one evening going one by one through the contents of our cupboard and fridge, weeding out all of the high sugar items and it was shocking. Even our mainly "organic, non processed" foods were full of added sugars.  I'm sorry but there's absolutely no excuse for a "snack" to have more sugar than a "treat." I mean, when your lunchables have more sugar in them than a big ol bowl of ice cream? Yeah, no. 

And to be clear, I'm 100% on board with treats. Sugary sweet treats are totally invited to this party. Moderation is key and I don't want to deprive my kids of all of the wonderful desserts life has to offer. The kids get a treat every day when they come home from school (I don't pack a treat in their lunch) and if they eat all their veggies at dinner, they can have a treat then as well. But now when they ask for snacks, I've made a point to keep it on the no/low sugar side, fresh fruit permitting.

Breaking habits of daily (VERY SWEET) yogurts and regular smoothie runs isn't something that comes easily, especially when trying to explain why to a child. I don't want my kids to become obsessed with caloric intake and label reading but at the same time, I want them to understand that certain foods do far more hurt than help. And that learning to stay away from them is pertinent to leading a healthy lifestyle. 

We've become so PC about weight and fearful of eating disorders that even broaching the topic of calories with our children feels... sticky. Even now, I find myself muttering under my breath "too much sugar, sorry kids" instead of confidently proclaiming GROSS! THIS STUFF IS TERRIBLE FOR YOUR BODY! HOW IS THIS LEGAL? HOW HAS IT TAKEN ME THIS LONG TO REALIZE HOW TERRIBLE THIS STUFF IS!?? 

It's criminal how much sugar we're feeding our children. But even more criminal, how hard it is not to.   Even the names for sugar have evolved to trick us further. Evaporated cane juice? Still sugar. Unrefined, yes. But still sugar.

So now as a family, we talk about it. We talk about what is appropriate snack food. If the kids want yogurt or a box juice or a sugar cereal then they can have it as a dessert option after lunch or dinner.

And those walks to get smoothies? Once or twice a month instead of daily. A special treat for the kids and for me and surprisingly, everyone's cool with it. (I've lost almost all my baby weight these last two months because I've been paying closer attention to my sugar intake. I'm actually typing this post while wearing pre-pregnancy jeans I never thought I'd fit into again. Not because of any crash diet or insane exercise program but because I've cut WAY down on my sugar intake aka smoothies.)

It's a process, for sure, and I'm in no way the perfect food mom person. My kids' favorite foods are still pizza and macaroni and cheese (both containing sugar!) which I refuse to deprive them of entirely. Moderation is, as they say, key. And sugar is, as we all know, delicious.

Still, there are plenty of ways to cut back on sugar intake without deprivation and I'm sorry it took me this long to get serious about it.

Besides, it's just as fun to people watch without the smoothie.

P.S. I highly recommend this NPR interview about sugar regulation. Enlightening stuff.

GGC

This Week on EW...

...I'm talking about our top ten summer entertainers including The Obstinate Pen by Frank W. Dormer which has become a sort of literary cherry on top of our family evenings.

Nothing says family togetherness like a rebellious pen that spews insults. Five stars. 

***

You can read more of our summer family faves, here.

GGC

Eat Well: Beware ye' vampires!

The following post was written by my Aunt Nancy, garlic enthusiast. Thanks, Aunt Nancy!

I cook with a lot of garlic. It’s delicious, healthy, and has endless cooking potential.  I sometimes roast a whole clove while I’m roasting other vegetables.  You then can just squeeze the roasted garlic (which turns into a butter consistency) onto bread or cheese or rice or whatever it is you’re making and it has a  very mellow flavor. Aha! But today’s recipe is all about raw garlic.

Raw garlic has been used as a medicine throughout history in many cultures. It’s been touted as having antibiotic effects, boosting the immune system, and lowering cholesterol and blood pressure.  And most of these claims are associated only with raw garlic.  I’m not sure about all these claims, but when something tastes so good, why not eat a lot of it? 

This recipe is a perfect summer recipe for those who have some delicious tomatoes (are you listening, Wendy?).  Where I live (up in the mountains near Lake Tahoe) growing vegetables is a pursuit only for the optimists of the world.  We have a wide diversity of critters who love a free meal, including inch-long ants, ground squirrels, bunnies, deer and even bear.  Because we live at 6000 ft elevation, we also have a bit of weather to contend with.  We can have a frost any day of the year.  This year, however, other than some frosts in June, we have had a beautiful warm summer and the garden was thriving...until last week.  Our neighborhood suffered through a 30 minute hailstorm with large marble-sized hail.  By the time it ended, we had 3 inches of hail accumulated!  Unfortunately, the hail destroyed the vegetable garden and my tomatoes live no more.  

Sigh...

Luckily a friend had just brought us a bowlful of tomatoes from his garden down the mountain in a more moderate climate, so I decided to make this raw tomato sauce recipe that is a summer favorite.

One note—don’t try this recipe with tomatoes that aren’t garden fresh. Since this recipe isn’t cooked, the tomatoes must be flavorful.

The beauty of this recipe is that you prepare it in the morning, and it sits on the counter while you go about your day.  If you’re at home, you’ll be smelling deliciousness all day, and if you work, you will come home to a kitchen that smells wonderful!

 RUSTIC TOMATO SAUCE

8-10 Farm fresh or garden tomatoes

8 cloves garlic, smashed or chopped

1 tsp red pepper flakes

2 tsp dried oregano

1 cup fresh basil or 2 tsp dried basil

2 tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

1 cup olive oil

1 cup pitted Kalamata olives

½ cup arugula

Italian cheese for topping

2 pounds of favorite pasta

...Now for the fun.  

1. Rip each tomato up with your hands into pieces and place in a large bowl.  Warning—they will splatter. Get out that apron you have stowed somewhere and put it on so you don’t have to change your clothes before work.  (I did not follow this advice!)

 2. Peel 8 garlic cloves by smashing them with the flat side of the knife on your cutting board.  Take off the peel and chop them up (if you are not a garlic lover, you can keep them in the smashed state, put them in your bowl, and then fish them out before serving the pasta).  We, however, adore garlic so I chop it up and put it in the same bowl.

3. Add 1 tsp of red pepper flakes, 2 tsp dried oregano and either 1 cup of fresh torn basil leaves or 2 tsp of dried basil (I used some of both as I only had about 2 Tablespoons of fresh basil) and 2 tsp of salt.

4. Add 1 cup of olive oil and 1 cup of pitted kalamata olives and mash together with a spoon or potato masher.  

Now just let it sit for 1 to 10 hours.  You can refrigerate it if you’re worried about it sitting out, although in my climate it works fine. 

At dinner time, just boil water and cook your pasta (I cooked 2 pounds of pasta), dump it in the bowl with the tomato mixture, add ½ cup arugula if desired, stir it up and serve with your favorite hard Italian cheese on top. This sauce would also be delicious on polenta or quinoa, or rice or crusty bread.  I served six hungry people with this recipe and there wasn’t one drop left on anyone’s plate or in the bowl.     

Enjoy! 

Love, 

Aunt Nancy