Last summer, my five-year-old son and I were walking home from the corner store as he merrily licked a giant Sour Key candy. I glanced at him, the sugar crystals sparkling off his nostrils in the sunlight. Research has shown that sugar can be as addictive as cocaine, and at that moment, the comparison was a little striking.
My boy smiled and gave the key another lick. ?I love sugar, Momma.?
Boom.
Then he added, ?You love sugar. You just wish you didn?t.?
Ouch. This little candy trip was our ritual?Friday afternoon ?special treats.? Truth be told, that summer was an endless parade of treats: Freezies and Popsicles; Starbucks dates; and who says no to ice cream in August" Not this family. When I stood back, I realized my kids and I had been freebasing sugar for months. Halloween morphs into Christmas, which is followed by Easter, and the rest of the year is sprinkled with birthday cupcakes, sugary snacks at sporting events, Girl Guide cookies and candy in loot bags. It?s everywhere. Worse, it?s in things we think are healthy: granola bars, yogurt, and breakfast cereals that proudly proclaim they?re whole-grain yet are jammed with sugar. My kids had also been chugging back lemonade at breakneck speed, and experts say liquid sugars are the worst culprits. My kids don?t drink pop, but I know many do. Your average can of Coke contains nine teaspoons of sugar?well over the six teaspoons of added sugar that?s the recommended daily total for kids. But we ingest four to five tim...