what treats to offer grandchildren on sugar free diet

Indie_Kid

Have you posted this on the old style board? I'm sure they can give you some ideas.

I echo the above - ask for a list.

KARO

littlerock wrote: »

My daughter in law is very fussy about what her children(my grandchildren) are allowed to eat.The banned items include absolutely no sugar in any form, no artificial sweeteners or colours, no synthetic flavours colours or additives, no preprocessed food, no fried food . No crisps. Only sour dough organic bread, 100% full fat milk, unflavoured organic yoghurt. only milk and water to drink . Plus my granddaughter will not eat potatoes.

The trouble with such a list of edicts is that it will also mean basic items like gravy or stock, and margarine, would have to be organic and natural. OK if you're used to buying Marigold Swiss buillon powder or Biona Margarine, but a bit daunting if not.

I would ask the mum what they DO eat, and ask for some meal and ingredient suggestions, but I think it a little rude if someone is expecting a relative to completely re-stock their larder because of their own food whims.

sheramber

Grapes

batons of cheese or cheeses portions. My grandson loves the Babybell cheese rounds.

Cheese strings.

KARO

If she won't allow processed foods it's possible that Babybell might be on the banned list, too

littlerock

I do think there is a happy medium to be had. I am not proposing sweets for breakfast or turkey twizzlers but such a restrictive set of ingredients does make catering quite tricky. And at the risk of saying I told you so, I was raised in a family without any dietary restrictions (but non smokers), and I raised my son the same way, as my sister did her children. We all like good and eat good fresh food, but my sister likes full fat cheese for example, my brother likes chocolate and I like ice cream. Does not seem to have done us any harm as we are all in very good health in late middle age , and my son and my nephew too. I do wonder if the obsession with eating healthy is really to encourage those (ignorant) people who eat very poor diets. I used to have a vegan friend and she was really obsessive about healthy eating, but she smoked! When I asked, out of interest, how she squared this with being a vegan, she stopped being my friend.

lessonlearned

I had to adopt a very similar diet regime for both my sons for health reasons, my eldest had severe asthma - nearly died - and was regularly hospitalised. His asthma would be triggered by any kind of processed food, additives, colourings etc and my youngest had excema, no cows milk for him until he was two.

Luckily I could spot an asthma attack coming because my sons lips would start to swell within seconds of eating offending foodstuffs, his airways would be constricting at the same time. It soon became very obvious which foods were total no go areas. Same with second sons excema flare ups, we could always trace the culprit, - in his case eggs, chicken and cows milk as well as preservatives and additives.

My MIL repeatedly tried to thwart my efforts, despite seeing how Ill my children could become. In the end, My husband, her son, banned my boys from staying at her house and when we visited we usually took the boys food with us.

I know she thought I was a crack pot, but I was more interested in my boys health than her good opinion.

My care paid off, their immune systems got stronger, DS2 is excema free and Although DS1 does still need an inhaler, his asthma is well controlled. They are now strong and healthy 30 somethings so I feel vindicated.

I guess it depends on how much you enjoy cooking but if you cook from scratch then food treats can still be healthy as well as delicious. There's loads of info on the web.

Now is a good time of the year because there is a great variety of in season produce right now, fruit, veg and salads are at their best. Grill or oven bake instead of frying, sweet potatoes make a good substitution for white potatoes,, they can be roasted, mashed, made into,wedges etc just the same.

Your list of ingredients may sound restrictive at first but once you do a bit of research you will find loads of healthy delicious alternatives to sweets, crisps and processed rubbish.

Please discuss this with your dil and let her help you work out an eating plan. And I agree make some of the treats of the non food variety.

littlerock

I fully accept that certain medical conditions respond well to diet and would never deny that but so far as I am aware my grandchildren have no specific weaknesses or medical conditions that require a special diet.

Incidentally can anyone tell me why white potatoes are banned? Is there some negative side effect from eating them that I am not aware of?

lessonlearned

They belong to the nightshade family, along with tomatoes, aubergines and bell peppers - some people cannot tolerate them.

Also white potatoes are very starchy, like white pasta or white rice, and they are not good for people who are diabetic because they can cause insulin spikes.

its good that your grandchildren have no medical conditions that warrant strict dietry measures but obviously your dil has her her reasons. Maybe there is something in her family that is making her extra cautious.

Either way she is probably dojng the right thing by ensuring that her children get the best optimum nutrition whilst she is still able to have some say in the matter.

GwylimT

littlerock wrote: »

I fully accept that certain medical conditions respond well to diet and would never deny that but so far as I am aware my grandchildren have no specific weaknesses or medical conditions that require a special diet.

Incidentally can anyone tell me why white potatoes are banned? Is there some negative side effect from eating them that I am not aware of?

They're sugar bombs. All she is requesting is a healthy balanced diet.

Armchair23

As I think someone upthread said why are treats always food related ?