People who didn't get sugar as kids, how did that work out?

6 days ago by TrackinDaKraken to c/asklemmy

Twenty years ago, I met a couple with a young son who decided not to let the kid have sugar. I wonder how that might have worked out for the kid now that he's grown.

I assume the kid hit 18 and went on a sugar binge as soon as he tasted it the first time.

Anyone have experience with this?

starlinguk 145 points 6 days ago

We're all fat and our teeth have been mostly replaced with crowns. And even though we're in our fifties, our attitude towards sugary food is incredibly unhealthy, because we didn't learn to eat it in moderation, we learned to take advantage of any opportunity that offered us sugary food.

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404 118 points 6 days ago

Happy, uh, cake day

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chocrates 44 points 6 days ago

You also lived during the "fat" craze. Fat was deemed bad so manufacturers filled their food with sugar so they could market it as low fat.

It's Capitalism all the way down

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stringere 10 points 5 days ago

Fuck Kellogg and the Seventh Day Adventists.

Religious zealots ruin everything.

Well, religions ruin everything but they require puppets to do the work.

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Kacarott 7 points 5 days ago

I mean I agree with the sentiment, but the seventh day Adventists were specifically making really low sugar, very bland cereals because they thought that would make people less horny or something. I don't think they are to blame for high sugar content

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jet 4 points 5 days ago

Little Debbie disagrees. https://www.nadadventist.org/...

blame for high sugar content

And you should be using present tense, they directly own about 40 brands, more if you count 7da founded companies, or so many if owned by a 7da family.

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stringere 3 points 5 days ago

Low sugar doesn't mean low carb and they promoted carb heavy diets over proteins and fats which are absolutely essential. They infiltrated organizations to push scientifically unsound bullshit which led to the obesity epidemic.

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deathmetal27 3 points 5 days ago

What did the Seventh Day Adventists do?

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stringere 5 points 5 days ago

They're directly responsible for the demonization of meat and fats which led to carb heavy diet recommendations which, in turn, caused the obesity epidemic.

Also, they're a bunch of religious zealots which are categorically a threat to egalitarian democratic societies.

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starlinguk 1 point 5 days ago

The joys of Scarsdale...

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brap 24 points 6 days ago

How dare you call me out like that.

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Bustedknuckles 65 points 6 days ago

We did no added sugar until our kids were 2. We don't regulate much anymore but it seems like they still love sweet things but don't crave it or overindulge like I used to when I was their age. A lot of neural development happens early on

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iltoroargento 29 points 6 days ago

I feel like this is a reasonable response. Early childhood is an easier time to regulate sugar intake and definitely developmentally crucial so you don't want any extra unhealthy foods complicating things.

I was raised similarly and have a pretty healthy relationship with sugar today. I just always worried about the kids whose parents freaked out about them having a soda at a birthday party when they were like 8 or something. I understand policing sugar up to maybe grade school, but past that definitely has a negative effect emotionally and can lead to kids bingeing when they're cut loose.

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CultLeader4Hire 8 points 6 days ago

Neural pathways alone, the difference between “I LOVE sugar” being written into your source code to “I like sugar” as a browser extension.

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trolololol 7 points 5 days ago

That reminds me, I avoided exposing my son to soft drinks until he was maybe 5yo. As a result he didn't like soft drinks and wouldn't touch them until he was about 12yo. Fortunately here in Australia all birthday parties also offer cordial - artificial fruit juice, but not carbonated.

Now he drinks as much as he wants, which is probably a can or 2 per week.

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iltoroargento 2 points 5 days ago

That's kind of how I was. I did go through a root beer kick in my 20s but that was still pretty tame and mostly just like sampling a couple different ones a week. I still have my favorites I'll buy six packs of every couple to few months lol but, for the most part, it's not something I seek out aside from that. I seem to like the less sweet root beers as well, so maybe that's connected.

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HikingVet 49 points 6 days ago

It's just Puritanism and has all of the drawbacks of an overreaching authority.

Those kids usally binge on sugar once they hit adolescence and are away from thier parents. Great way to create a substance abuse issue. It’s what happens every time you do shit like this.

Prohibition is a method of control that requires a hell of a lot of restrictions to work. And even then it has a high failure rate.

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cannedtuna 47 points 6 days ago

Counterpoint, I see parents giving sodas to toddlers all the time. Reminiscent of that scene in Idiocracy where a parent tries to get their baby to drink Brawndo.

But sugar can cause a slew of problems in kids like childhood obesity, diabetes and hyperactivity mood swings due to changes in blood sugar levels. The sugar industry has done its best to convince people it’s harmless while packing cheap foods full of it to make it taste better. Countries that consume large amounts of cheap foods like the US have higher obesity rates.

Blah blah moderation and all that, but when all you can afford is the cheap shit it’s harder to avoid sugars. Kids finding they might have a sweet tooth when they get older is a tiny concern.

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meejle 19 points 6 days ago

FWIW, it's a myth that sugar causes hyperactivity. But it's been shown in studies that parents who believe the myth are more likely to perceive their children's behaviour as hyperactive when they've had sugar.

I think there is evidence that some artificial food additives can have that effect in some people, though.

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cannedtuna 6 points 6 days ago

You’re right, it should probably say mood swings due to changes in blood sugar levels instead as that’s more accurate

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binarytobis 5 points 5 days ago

My mom kept the fridge stocked with sodas when I was a kid, mostly because I had friends over often and she wanted them to feel welcome. I usually drank soda because it was convenient; quick, cold, no dishes. Over years I downed thousands of sodas. It didn’t even occur to me that I didn’t even like it that much.

Now I drink so much water. I’ll have a soda a few times a year, but if I’m thirsty water is king. I feel like a kid who got caught smoking forced to smoke a whole pack.

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trolololol 2 points 5 days ago

My family growing up went to having 1l of coke for everyone to share on Sundays, when shit was super expensive, to 600ml or more per person per meal over about 10 years when it got cheaper. I got myself to the point that I would go to a friend's house, and feel thirsty and refuse to drink water, which was the only thing available. That's when I noticed my family had a problem.

I didn't quit cold turkey, but when I reached 26 I remember drinking soft drinks less than once per year. Best decision ever. My mum didn't go over weight not sure how, but developed diabetes. Only then she switched to diet coke, but kept drinking that like I drink water.

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binarytobis 0 points 5 days ago

Zero calorie soda tastes good, which makes me not trust it at all.

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HikingVet -11 points 6 days ago

Well that doesn't sound like a good faith argument.

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cAUzapNEAGLb 19 points 6 days ago

Dosent to me at all

They didnt even really counter your point, they gave another perspective to form a stronger argument of what your message was already saying

Parents should teach and guide their children moderation, especially for such common and addictive substances like sugar, especially when without moderation serious health and quality of life damages can apply

If a parents goal is to raise healthy humans with a high quality of life - they should be teaching and guiding children into moderation, not prohibition and the shame that goes with it, not hedonism and the shamelessness that goes with that

Its not that sugar is some fearful substance that should be prohobited outright, but its also not a substance without issue and should be moderated and controlled if modersation is not yet possible for such a still-developing human

There are many such substances that need this parental guidance, sugar is just the most obvious one to younh parents - a toddler probably/hopefully isnt hitting a 40 or a roach

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HikingVet -7 points 6 days ago

They didn't address my point at all and went for the extreme opposite. As if it was a gotcha.

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cattywampas 14 points 6 days ago

I'd be interested to read some real literature on this. Obviously moderation is the best behavioral choice in the context of life and society, while no refined sugar is obviously the best choice for health.

But if you had two groups of kids, one who was given no sugar and one who was given too much sugar, I bet the former group ends up healthier the vast majority of the time.

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dingus 4 points 6 days ago

I think the real issue is simply that excess calories (and sugary foods are highly dense in calories) leads to obesity. And obesity in childhood lends itself to continued obesity through adulthood, thus higher rates of things like diabetes and high blood pressure.

I think the whole argument about sugar itself is a bit of a moot point. It all comes down to whether or not you let your child become obese while you are still under their care.

I grew up in a household with a lot of sugar. I turned out just fine. Two of my siblings struggle a lot with obesity, and one has been overweight since childhood.

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BCsven 10 points 6 days ago

I've seen the opposite be true. Family members that grew up with Candy/Sugar never left it behind and have impulse control issues that led to substance problems.

Those that had very limited sweet stuff, are able to moderate, or don't enjoy sweets as much, and haven't had substance issues.

I think the key factor in substance issues tgough is the persons genetic predisposition and trama.

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Viceversa 0 points 6 days ago

What is trama?

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BCsven 15 points 6 days ago

Like trauma but U weren't involved

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Viceversa 4 points 6 days ago

Thank god!

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UnderpantsWeevil 7 points 6 days ago

Those kids usally binge on sugar once they hit adolescence and are away from thier parents

Was an absolute soda chugging fiend in college, until a root canal brought me down to earth.

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starlinguk 2 points 6 days ago

Bingo!

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zabadoh 48 points 6 days ago

I'm thinking there must be a study somewhere.

And indeed there is, where they studied people who were born just before and after the end of WW2 sugar rationing in the UK:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39480913/

Those people are into their 70s and 80s now, so the long term health outcomes are well documented:

...we found that early-life rationing reduced type 2 diabetes and hypertension risk by about 35 and 20% and delayed disease onset by 4 and 2 years, respectively. Protection was evident with in utero exposure and increased with postnatal sugar restriction, especially after 6 months, when eating of solid foods likely began. In utero sugar rationing alone accounted for about one-third of the risk reduction.

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solarvector 9 points 6 days ago

Thank you. I know I shouldn't be surprised this doesn't have more than 10% of the upvotes for anecdotal "I didn't get sugar when I was a kid, so my adult onset diabetes and obesity is clearly my parents fault." But, I'm a little disappointed.

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DarrinBrunner 8 points 6 days ago

But, it's not really what I asked. I asked for experience, not studies. I like the anecdotes.

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zabadoh 1 point 5 days ago

There's whole news ecosystems based on information based on anecdotes, as opposed to data driven studies.

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schipelblorp 3 points 5 days ago

Surprised Hershey isn't astro turfiing us with made-up horrors of sugar deprivation.

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olafurp 4 points 5 days ago

Hats of to you for finding the study, and hats off to the one that conducted it. These are some pretty big numbers for a short period of not feeding them sugar.

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Nouvellalia 46 points 5 days ago

Backstory: I'm not strict. I'm not a task master. I don't helicopter. I don't spank. I don't yell. I rarely punish, and they are always meant to build, not tear-down.

My kids got a little candy as a desert after dinner when they were small, no sodas. After 5 or so they were allowed a little candy as desert after dinner and lunch. We always stocked big bulk versions of their favorite candies. They got to choose these bulk candies.

I rationed till 6 and then they were allowed to just grab whatever they wanted after a meal, with the understanding that if they consistently went wild with it then I would go back to the job to help them regain control.

They also understood that if they tore through the candy or snuck candy, that was understandable, but we would have to stop getting the bulk candy because too much candy hurts us and we would do what we needed to ensure we are safe and healthy. If control can't be gained with it home, it can be gained once a month at the store by simply not buying it. We would still get candy, but far less often, maybe at a stop for gas or whatever.

They were allowed to eat as much as they ever wanted on special occasions, Halloween, parties, last day of school, vacations, etc. They learned early on how unpleasant it was to go too far with this.

Finally, they were allowed any time to say "I think I want a little candy, can I grab a few (candy type)? And I would make a judgement call based on the days intake and other factors. Surprisingly, they very very rarely used this, even though I mostly always agreed.

Other than having to say "ooh that was a bit much, be more careful next time" sometimes early-on, they became completely hands off with candy and always kept it within reason for their size. If they were unsure, they would ask me to look at what they got. If it was to much, they still got it, always with a "that's ok, next time get less. remember it's not what we do on occasion that matters much, it's what we do every day. So let's make sure we don't do this every day."

I anchored all this to measurable metrics they could understand and see, calories. IDGAF what dessert you eat, you get ~100 calories each meal to spend. That's 6 pieces of gum whenever and however you want them, 6 jolly ranchers, two Oreos, etc.

I essentially mirrored control for them while still letting them have control and a wide choice themselves to exercise within that dynamic.

I knew they would be good when we were at the grocery with my best friend picking up meat for bbq and games all day. When we got to the register he said
"ooh, hey guys get whatever you want" gesturing to the prodigious impulse buy candy display
"We have candy at home"
"But there is so much stuff here. You can get different candy"
"Hmm"

Shocked, I chime in "guys, this is a special occasion, you can eat as much of whatever you want. And, (friend) is paying." Thinking maybe they didn't realize it was a party day, or they were worried about cost.
"Well, we have what we want at home. So, we'll just get some there."
"You can have that too, and get something here. it's a party."
"We're good, but thank you."

He was just, floored. I was beaming. Not because they executed control, they were well into that, but because I knew I had their needs beyond met, and through their lives even when I cease to be able to help them, they would be able to meet their needs better than I ever could.

My oldest is in their 20s. My youngest in their teens. All of them regulate junk of any kind, sugar, media, etc, easily. This is one area I fucking aced as a parent.

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OldChicoAle 12 points 5 days ago

A pretty big area to ace :)

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Nouvellalia 7 points 5 days ago

Thank you, genuinely.

You have to pick where you spend your resource points. We only get so many. Add to the good stuff you were given, minimize the bad stuff you were given, and pass it on. You'll never get everything, but that's ok, the next generation will do this too.

Look 7 generations out, each direction. You're small, but be a reliable stitch.

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nutbutter 3 points 5 days ago

What's helicopter?

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mrnarwall 5 points 5 days ago

I think in this context it means to be a "helicopter parent". One that hovers over their child ready to act. I compare it to a smothering style of parenting

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BeUnique 29 points 5 days ago

I wasn't allowed to have sugar because I was hypoglycemic as a kid. I'd get a burst of energy and then crash out. It almost put me in a coma once and I had to visit the hospital a few times.

I'd still sneak candy anytime I could!

As an adult, I don't even associate candy with food. To my brain, it's poison. I'm not like obsessive or anything but I don't really eat sweets to this day even though I haven't had any blood sugar problems as an adult.

I do eat some things with some added sugar of course but that's about it.

Once I was dating a woman that had diabetes and to support her, we both cut out added sugar and carbs for 1 month. That was a crazy experience! I literally went through physical and mental withdrawals! Eventually my sense of taste became so different that I remember baby carrots tasting like they were dipped in sugar water! Once I stopped the diet it took weeks for me to start tasting things normally again.

Oh, speaking of sugar and taste, I had a similar experience with everything tasting like sugar when I came home from a 1 month vacation in Spain where I ate pretty normally. The amount of sugar added to everything in the US is fucking gross!

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Zarxrax 25 points 6 days ago

There are cultures where sweet foods are less common or less extreme. They eat American sweets and complain that they don't like it because it tastes too sweet, or they will complain that America sweetens foods that they normally don't expect to be sweet.

I grew up having constant access to sweets. While I have never been obese, I do struggle with addiction to sweets and it is a constant challenge to try not to overdo it.

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Tja 12 points 6 days ago

Sweet American bread. Ugh.

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captainlezbian 4 points 5 days ago

I'm an American and yeah, bread shouldn't be this sweet. Aldi has a good whole wheat that isnt sweet though

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meco03211 3 points 6 days ago

Don't talk shit about my Hawaiian Buns.

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captainlezbian 10 points 5 days ago

It's not that. Hawaiian buns are a product meant to taste sweet. We're talking store brand wheat bread type breads.

And on that note, sweetened peanut butter is dessert food, not a sandwich filling. Unsweetened is the best.

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meejle 25 points 6 days ago

Ate loads of shit for years as soon as I left home, now type-2 diabetic. 😬

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Humana 24 points 5 days ago

My parents were very anti-sugar/processed foods and extremely controlling of our diet, there was a lock on the pantry door and everything (which is how I learned to pick locks 😉). All of us went wild in adulthood. All of us are obese except my sister who runs a half marathon per day. The funny thing is my parents never ate healthy, they would devour desserts at work and hide candy in their bedroom closet. My dad still drinks a gallon of chocolate milk per week

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Virtvirt588 19 points 5 days ago

Yeah, that's usually what bans do for you in the long run. And while the bans are in effect, the policy makers are hoarding all of it to themselves.

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mic_check_one_two 11 points 5 days ago

Yeah, my wife still has food hoarding tendencies, because of her parents. Her mom was strict about mealtimes, and her dad was a habitual snacker. So any snacks she got for herself would inevitably be locked away and eaten by her dad.

So now she has food stashed all over the place in our apartment. I’ll start vacuuming, and find a box of cereal under the couch. I’ll make the bed, and find a candy bar under her side of the mattress. Or the cat will casually wander out of the office, carrying a piece of food that dug up somewhere.

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makyo 23 points 6 days ago

My good friend was heavily guilted growing up when they wanted any food their parents deemed unhealthy, especially sweets. Guess what, they developed an eating disorder and nearly died from it.

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CultLeader4Hire 10 points 6 days ago

Orthorexia is real and highly inherited like other eating disorders

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LittleBorat3 18 points 5 days ago

I wasn't raised without sugar but with very little and with the understanding it's not food.

When I was given some marshmallows as a kid I wasn't sure if this edible or Styrofoam type packaging material.

Doing fine today, for a couple years I am not eating candy. No jam no snacks, black coffee, soda in the zero version here and there. Fruit is the only way perhaps I get sugar.

Late 20s I got some tooth issues despite not eating sugar. Not sure how that happens, carbs I guess.

I never missed anything prefer salty spicy foods or umami.

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TBi 4 points 5 days ago

Do you drink a lot of sparkling water. I’ve heard the carbonation is part of what causes tooth decay.

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maturelemontree 4 points 5 days ago

That's crazy, that's the first I heard of that. What I remember from my college classes covering food is that processed grains are on of the most common issues with tooth decay.

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Soggy 3 points 5 days ago

In that carbonic acid is present, sure. Seltzer water is 100 to 1000 times less acidic than typical cola and doesn't feed the cavity-causing bacteria so it's a pretty small part of the problem.

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Okokimup 3 points 5 days ago

My understanding is that carbonation isn't a problem, it's the acidity that you get in colas, even the sugar-free variety, that can damage teeth.

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innermachine 2 points 5 days ago

Saliva breaks down starch in your mouth to sugar! Spit has the enzyme amylase, so the longer u chew starchy foods the more sugary it becomes before u swallow!

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InvalidName2 18 points 5 days ago

My aunt and uncle would only very rarely allow my cousins to have sugary foods, though it was treated largely a form of abuse. My aunt and uncle were morbidly obese junk food junkies, their house was always full of candy, cakes, donuts, little debbie snacks, pudding, icecream, you name it, they had it, but my cousins weren't allowed to have any except in very rare instances. They'd take the kids out to trick or treat, my cousins would come back home with a giant bag of candy, but they'd only be allowed to have 1 piece each -- my aunt and uncle got the rest. One time my aunt asked the family to make homemade milkshakes for her birthday, but then insisted my cousins could not have any.

Growing up, the cousins maintained a healthy weight and honestly other than the fact that we'd sneak them sweet snacks whenever we could, they didn't seem to have a particularly problematic issue with food.

However, they both put on an enormous amount of weight once they left home for college. Last I saw, which has admittedly been awhile (pre-covid), they were both morbidly obese.

Granted, I'm in the USA, so even folks who were normal weight as kids and didn't grow up in abusive homes or have restrictive diets end up becoming obese / morbidly obese from poor diets and overeating as adults.

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thesohoriots 17 points 6 days ago

I was allowed sugar, but it was cut way back. For example: my parents would take a box of lucky charms for the appeal, then cut it with a Costco size box of Cheerios. Shitload of Cheerios in a bowl, one sad marshmallow. When I got to college and they had bins of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, etc., I went to town and got hit with what I call the Freshman 40. No diabetes, thank god, but my upbringing’s food control fucked me up and continues to do so.

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DrBob 16 points 6 days ago

Freshman 40? It used to be the freshman 15. Inflation is everywhere.

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crazycraw 3 points 6 days ago

apparently localized around waists in some cases.

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404 4 points 6 days ago

Cheerios is like 18% (multigrain) or 22% (honey) sugars by weight though. Lucky Charms (original) is at 37% and regular cornflakes at 8%, for reference.

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lemmy_outta_here 16 points 5 days ago

I got some, but my parents wouldn’t buy me junk food or sugary cereal. I had sweets on special occasions or at other people’s houses.

My sweet consumption is still pretty low, but not zero. I over-indulged a bit in my early twenties but i got over it. I have internalized their lessons and am now teaching my kids the same.

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mic_check_one_two 14 points 5 days ago

Sort of a weird way of doing it, but my mom didn’t allow sugary breakfast cereals. Adding sugar to cereals was fine, but the only cereals we kept in the house were the basic ones. Rice crispies, bran flakes, Chex of different varieties, etc…

I actually prefer the unsweetened cereals now. Most cereals are cloyingly sweet by my standards. My go-to is usually plain Weetabix or bran flakes.

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twoleggedmammal 2 points 5 days ago

We did that too. Even when you add table sugar to cereal, you’re probably not scooping on the 5 teaspoons of sugar that you get from one of those individual cups of Frosted Flakes. It’s outrageous how sweet they makes this stuff.

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Grimtuck 14 points 5 days ago

I wasn't allowed much sugar as a kid and I still have all of my teeth and no fillings at 48. Only repair work is from not wearing a gum shield when kickboxing.

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atomicbocks 12 points 6 days ago

I have a healthy relationship with sugar following a childhood with limited access because sugary things taste too sweet to me now, as well things like almonds and carrots taste sweet to me.

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FedX 12 points 6 days ago

Yeah, I'm in that boat. I did have some sugar, but it was extremely rare, and IIRC got phased out more as I got older. I don't think it was ever a hard rule of "no," but more of a "have very little except maybe on special occasions." I never developed much of a taste for sweet things to the point I quite often find muffins for scones unreasonably sweet. When I was doing mountain bike races, I had energy chews and bars. In hinds sight, that was probably a poor nutrition choice for my metabolism, and I now I simply have roasted and salted pistachios, with a sugar free electrolyte mix before and/or after the ride.

I also very much seem to be the exception here. Probably my experience more comes down to my own eccentricities. I have the eating habits and body type of a distance athlete; healthy but low weight, diet consisting largely of slow-burning foods like nuts, fruits and starchy vegetables. I am still figuring out what diet and training routine works best for me, but sugar, even as a mid-ride fuel is a hard no-go for me. I like putting in the work to be able to do extreme sports like mountain biking and snowboarding at a reasonably intense level all day long. I listen to my body and I know without a shadow of a doubt touching high sugar and certainly processed foods is not worth it by any means.

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Snapz 9 points 4 days ago

My understanding is that, less than the sugar itself, a big issue with early exposure for children is more the presentation and marketing - sugary food is rarely beige.

The colorful presentations, often with cartoons and rainbows, tends to attract kids, pump dopamine and breed addiction until you need all the junky foods to compulsively feed the monkey. Bad early habits turning into lifelong health issues.

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Generica 9 points 6 days ago

Opposite here. I was born in 1969, so I was a kid in the seventies. My mom was a stay-at-home housewife who packed my school lunches. Often it would consist of a sandwich made of just margarine and sugar on Wonder Bread with the crust cut off (cut diagonally), with either a Jello chocolate pudding or a Ding Dong back when they were wrapped in foil.

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crazycraw 9 points 6 days ago

margarine and sugar?

on bread?

so like how does that work out long term ?

are you o k?

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Bustedknuckles 6 points 6 days ago

When I was a kid, we did cinnamon toast: wonder bread toasted and slathered with margarine, covered in enough sugar to form a slurry with the melt, then sprinkled with cinnamon. More crunch came from the sugar than the toast. I'm kinda fat now

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dingus 3 points 6 days ago

I used to love this as a kid.

Now as an adult, I found a fun substitute. Slice some cucumber. Then add cinnamon, salt, and whatever sugar substitute you like. It's not quite the same as the real thing, obviously. But I haven't had the "real" version since I was a kid. It's a nice throwback that satisfies the want for a desert-like item with few calories.

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DarrinBrunner 2 points 6 days ago

We had a shaker of cinnamon and sugar mixed. It was an old jar with a metal lid that my dad punched holes in.

I don't eat sugar, or margarine, or bread anymore, but I still remember how good it was.

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DarrinBrunner 3 points 6 days ago

I'm four years older than you. I got better lunches than you, but not too much better. Margarine was supposed to be better than butter, so that's what we got, too. Coffee was thought to be bad, so my mom switched to Postum. She worried that I was eating too many eggs when I learned to make them myself. My mom somewhat tried to be good about food for us. We didn't get the sugary cereals, we got corn flakes, and rice crispies, but we put sugar on the cereal anyway, and she didn't stop us. She didn't keep soda, candy, or other snacks in the house as a rule, that was just for "special occasions", etc.

What we had was playing outside.

I gave up sugar completely about eight years ago, it was the single best health choice I made.

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Lumidaub 7 points 6 days ago

Slightly off-topic comment coming in.

I wasn't not allowed sugar but in moderation. What was heavily restricted was TV. Anytime I wanted to watch something I had to ask and tell my parents how long it was going to take so I had to carefully choose. I presume this was to prevent me from mindless consumption and being glued to screens.

It just made the TV more interesting, so when our parents were out, my sister and I would watch whatever, just to be watching TV and feel like the other kids. My dad tried several times to implement ways to make the device inaccessible to us but (I'm pretty sure) I inherited my stupid brain from him so he probably got annoyed at having to deal with those implementations every time (not that he watched more TV than he allowed us but he regularly taped [on actual VHS video tape] educational content for work).

Also, unfortunately, my ability to choose for myself what to do came at about the same time as all sorts of screens becoming central to our lifestyles and all my parents' efforts was for naught.

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HobbitFoot 6 points 6 days ago

Had a parent who had limited sugar as a kid. I had soda as a kid and other sweets. Looking back, we ate more vegetables than a typical family and only ate whole wheat bread, but nothing unusual.

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Scuzzm0nkey 6 points 5 days ago

My parents (80s/90s kid) thought that sugar caused hyperactivity so I was very severely limited on what I could have. Candy for rewards at school was always sugar free and provided by my folks, when I trick or treated I was only given Halloween night to go buck wild and then the remainder was set aside as a one-a-day treat after dinner assuming I was good that day. I think the whole sugar>hyperactivity thing was debunked but they never really changed their tune on it. Once I was able to buy my own food I developed a bit of a sweet tooth, but I ironically am far more dependent on caffeine than sugar in my daily consumption. In my 40s now, not unhealthy or overweight and if I ever get around to improving my diet it will be reducing my alcohol intake.

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kbal 5 points 6 days ago

I didn't get to eat much sugar as a kid. It was fine, never a big deal really. I do remember the first time putting actual sugar on my breakfast cereal just to try it at age 18 or something but it just seemed weird, unhealthy, and overly sweet. I hadn't thought about it since several decades ago, but now that I remember I thank my parents for it.

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Flaqueman 5 points 6 days ago

My brother and I turned out just fine and even today I barely eat any sugar. Although we were not forbidden. My parents just didn't buy candies.

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Drewmeister 2 points 6 days ago

Yeah, i am also fine. It was interesting to see so many comments where people binged as soon as they were able. Makes me wonder if it's just cus sugar is delicious, and the craving for it is similar regardless of upbringing.

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felixwhynot 5 points 5 days ago

I had no sugar except on weekends as a kid. I think I eat less sugar than the average American now, and I’m over 40. I also did a “Whole30” in my 30s and I think that had an effect on my palate as well

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corsicanguppy 5 points 5 days ago

That's a thing I saw in Sweden and Iceland: sugar/candy is allowed, but only on Saturday. It's a nice, well-delinileated bit of moderation that isn't an outright ban. I suspect it's a recurring theme throughout countries in the area.

And it seems to do very well. I think the Nordics are doing very well on obesity and diabetes, for instance. ... I mean, if we wanted to point out another way the Nordics are just killin' it.

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HootinNHollerin 4 points 6 days ago

How many went on to try crack

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Oka 7 points 6 days ago

Sugar, not even once

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Frozengyro 4 points 6 days ago

My family didn't restrict sugar per se, had candy and soda regularly, however we never had desserts, sugary breakfast, or things like going out for ice cream. As an adult, I rarely crave sweets. Maybe a night or two a month I'll want a piece of candy before bed. And every few months I'll get a shake/ice cream. I'm not sure if it's a learned thing or were predisposed to not crave it.

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RecursiveParadox 1 point 6 days ago

Same.

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CADmonkey 2 points 5 days ago

My kid is somewhat strange in that she doesn't want sugary stuff. She doesn't like things that are "too sweet".

A child who grows up without any sugar might just be an adult who has no sugar cravings.

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SethTaylor 6 points 5 days ago

Can't blame them. Most sugary stuff these days has so much sugar it tastes like acid. Best case scenario it tastes like plain sugar.

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JigglySackles 2 points 6 days ago

I wasn't limited, but we also didn't have it in the house often. I wasn't taught moderation with food. Probably because I was extremely active so large portions didn't have the same detrimental effects as they would have on a sedentary person, and it's been a problem my entire adult life since I can't play multiple sports, ride a bike everywhere, and have a morning paper route to bike.

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