Wilson - I QUIT SUGAR KIDS COOKBOOK : 85 easy and fun sugar -free recipes for your little people

Mums and Dads around the world want to ease their kids off sugar. But how to do it?

Since I first quit sugar back in January 2011 (goodness, its been that long!), more than 200,000 people have followed my program and successfully come off the white stuff, experiencing a wellness, energy and natural appetite they havent had since, well, they were kids.

The challenge now, for both myself and parents out there, is our children - getting them well, energised and happily sugar free. Its a challenge the I Quit Sugar team and I are fully up for!

The food we eat and the way we eat it has changed radically in the past generation. So much so, kids today dont experience the kind of wellness, energy and natural appetite (free of sugar highs and lows) that I believe theyre entitled to. The sugar industry targets kids, aware that if they can shift childrens palates now, theyll have captive consumers for life. Kids tend to gravitate towards - actually theyre lured - to snack foods, foods with crunch and foods that come in packets, AKA foods that come laden with sugar. Parents are busier than ever and resort to food thats easy to dump into a lunchbox without fuss. Again, food brimful of sugar.

Yes, how to get our kids off sugar?!

Ill be getting my hair cut, buying loo paper at the supermarket or climbing out of my local pool and a parent will come up to tell me how deeply concerned they are about their kids eating habits and the way sugar is impacting their health and behaviour. Sometimes theyre in tears, totally fed up and feeling like failures. It brings me to tears.

Parents feel guilty that theyre doing the wrong thing by their kids.

Parents feel powerless to change their situation. The competing food messages, the hidden sugars theyre not told about, the way their kids are sold to, the kids parties they dont want to shut their kids off from...

Meanwhile, our kids are feeling addicted. And compromised.

All of which has motivated me and the I Quit Sugar team to write this book.

I dont have kids; I have nephews, little friends (my mates children) and godchildren. And Ive spoken to a lot of parents in toilet paper aisles and pool change rooms over the past few years.

My feeling is that things can be simpler than were making it... and kinder.

As many of you who have done my 8-Week Program know, going sugar-free is not about miserably following a mean, restrictive diet.

Eating sugar free is about abundance and crowding out. Its not about bad foods and banning certain items. Instead, we focus on eating a whole stack of other (sugarless) snacks, treats and meals such that there simply isnt enough room left for the sugary stuff.

With kids this means making savoury foods fun and exciting.

Eating sugar free is about dense nutrition. Quitting sugar isnt just about eliminating sugar. Its also - at its core - about taking things back to the way our grandparents ate, before the advent of Type 2 diabetes and obesity, and the rest. Its about eating whole foods. Its about getting as many nutrients into our gullets.

For kids, this means injecting meals with veggies (without them necessarily noticing!) and plenty of great protein and healthy fats.

Eating sugar free is about eating less ingredients and packet free. Sometimes I feel this is the simplest advice I can give: when choosing what to eat, go for the version of a food with the least number of ingredients. Plain oats are better than breakfast cereals with 27 ingredients, for instance. Another way to go about things: avoid things in packets. When you go sugar-free it mostly cuts to this same chase.

And perhaps most importantly...

Eating sugar free is about being gentle and kind. We dont do harsh edicts. We make this fun and positive.

We ease our kids into this, encouraging their good habits.

I dont necessarily recommend kids do the 8-Week Program. Instead, I suggest kids are weaned off sugar slowly and with absolutely no fuss or stigma. Making it fun helps. Getting them more engaged with good food helps even more. Giving them healthy takes on food they love is another proven trick. This book focuses squarely on these principles. All recipes are injected with as many veggies as we could get away with, most are designed to be cooked with your kids and all of them are fun. We also invited a few sugar-free parents in our orbit to share a tip or recipe or two, just to mix it up a bit.

So how to get our kids off sugar? Fret less and start cooking...!

Much wellness to you and your family,

PS If youd like to know more about quitting sugar, and to try out more kid-friendly recipes, check out IQuitSugar.com.

Thank You

Yeah, we reckon so.

Lets start here: Kids aged four to eight should be consuming no more than three teaspoons of sugar a day . These are the recommendations from the American Heart Association.

That sounds reasonable, and manageable, right?

Well, heres the scary truth.

* A glass of apple juice contains 8-10 teaspoons of sugar (the same as a can of Coke).

* The average bowl of cereal has three teaspoons of sugar.

* A slice of white toast with jam has four teaspoons of sugar.

Our kids are eating 3-4 times the recommended daily intake, and thats before they leave the breakfast table!

Why should we be concerned?

Well, heres what sugar does to kids:

* Sugar alters the palette . Studies have shown that sugar strips the body of vital nutrients, and in particular zinc. Zinc is essential in the development of taste and palate in young children.

* Sugar causes mood disorders . Kids who eat diets high in refined sugar are more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety and mood disorders.

* Sugar makes kids fat . 25 per cent of Australian children are overweight or obese.

* Sugar causes behavioural problems . High sugar diets inhibit the bodys ability to absorb vital nutrients, resulting in the body being deficient in micronutrients. These deficiencies (particularly iron) have been linked to behavioural disorders like ADHD - in young children.

* Sugar inhibits the immune system . Sugar destroys the functions of bacteria, fighting white blood cells and wreaking havoc for up to five hours after ingestion. It also interferes with the absorption of Vitamin C, one of the essential nutrients for immune function.

* Sugar makes kids aggressive . See the box below for the hard facts.

Did you know? Sugar has more than 20 different names!

These days sugar is masked by an extensive list of tricky words including barley malt extract, sucrose, fruit concentrate, fruit puree, fruit pulp, glucose, lactose, fructose, sorbitol, mannitol, corn syrup, honey, malt, malt extract, maltose, rice extract, molasses, golden syrup, invert sugar, fruit pulp and fruit extract. If you see any of these names on a packet leave it on the shelf!