A Sugar-Free Family

This afternoon while shopping at Trader Joe's I encountered a family whose diet is strictly sugar-free. The mum was clearly British and the dad was American. There were two or three kids.

The mum and dad read the labels as they shopped. As the kids would pick up a package of cookies, the mum would tell them, "We won't be getting that but thanks for showing it to me." I noticed that the kids would repeatedly pick up stuff that was sugar-loaded and they would be corrected. On no occasion did they whine or cry, but only gracefully comply.

I shared my astonishing observation with an employee who was at the demo booth and she said that she had also taught her two daughters to live the same way. She said that the girls were allowed to have dessert a day. After dinner when she offered the girls dessert, one declined it, saying she had one earlier when she got home from school. They apparently learned the art of moderation with a food that is proven to be highly addictive and even worse than heroine in that it can take much longer to go through withdrawal.

Oh my, if more families would do this, what a wonderful place the world would be to live in!

I'm reminded of a time back in junior high that I had a classmate who never ate sweets. She had a good attitude and didn't seem to feel deprived. Instead, she was very bright and even-tempered and content. I wish I had learned early on the value of self control, especially in the area of the sweet tooth. I believe I would be a lot further ahead in life than I am.

I also know of someone who had difficulty as a young person in school. He later discovered on his own that he was sensitive to vanillin which when he eliminated it from his diet, it solved some hyperactivity issues for him.

I know of another case where the mother eliminated artificial food coloring from her son's diet and it made the difference of failure and success for him. He is now successfully employed and fulfilled in what he does.

It would behoove us to become more keenly aware of the effects of foods and substances taken into our bodies. We should never take them for granted. We are as invincible as our habits enforce.