In his recent column, Dr. Paul Norton, a Milwaukee area pediatrician who specializes in developmental and behavioral pediatrics, addressed the association of sweets and hyperactivity. His conclusions should have children everywhere jumping with joy!
Call him a modern myth-buster, call him doctor, but don’t call him late for dinner! Dr. Norton asserts that through no fault of its own, sugar has been demonized. It is true, Norton confirms, “Sugar probably plays a role in diabetes and obesity, no one knows if sugar is more deleterious than other carbohydrates.”
However, even more perplexing to him is the popularity of low-fat foods “without any real evidence that they prevent illness.”
Fad diets hailing pure protein, or anything else of one type of food would be just as bad, if not worse than eating as you normally would without employing the moniker of "diet."
Those of us trying to lose weight and trying to do the healthy thing for our families can follow these simple nutritional tips, without buying a book or giving up that one dip of ice cream on a Sunday afternoon:
- Diets with lots of fruits and vegetables seem to be better than those without them.
- People who eat fewer calories do better than those who eat a lot of them.
- What should you avoid? Too much food. Eat, but not too much and eat mostly plants.
- Foods closest to their original form when harvested, etc. are the healthiest for you.
Throughout his practice, Norton has seen a variety of diets children have put themselves on, such as a child who did not eat a vegetable until the age of 12, another that restricted their intake to exactly 10 different foods and that was all. Amazingly enough, they were all doing fine healthwise.
Norton has bumped into a nutritional deficiency or two, but the most prevalent is an iron deficiency – and he still has no clinical evidence that it is very detrimental to children.
To all of those parents who insist that sugar makes their children hyperactive, Norton cites a study done in Iowa that found there was no difference between eating sugar and eating artificial sweeteners.
So, what is a parent to do about nutrition? That doesn’t mean we can let them eat as much of anything they want, does it?
No! The most essential part of maintaining health is to be able to recognize what a serving size is and limit our children (and our selves) to the recommended serving sizes. Remember the adage: Everything in moderation. For more information on this subject, please read Tracy Rose's article, Childhood Obesity; or visit: the USDA's My Pyramid site. The site has wonderful freebies on it, including coloring pages for the kids, free posters, tips for families and even classroom materials!
