Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
A leading childhood nutrition researcher and an experienced public health educator explain the hidden danger sugar poses to a child's development and health, and offer parents an essential 7- and 28-day "sugarproof" program. Though he has long studied the effects of childhood obesity, USC professor and Program Director for Diabetes and Obesity at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, Michael Goran, found something shocking when he and his team started to look at the sugary foods kids love: the nutrition labels on apple juice, flavored yogurts, and sodas weren't telling a complete story. His testing revealed the products had more sugar than advertised and different types of sugar than were being disclosed. Goran realized: today's children aren't just consuming more sugar, they're consuming more types of sugar than ever before, ones that are uniquely harmful to growing livers, hearts, and brains--and their parents don't even know it.
Most of us know that sugar can wreak havoc on adult bodies, but few realize how devastating sugar is to children in particular and how early this damage can begin to happen. In his research on the effect of sugar on kids' present and future health, Goran has found that sugar doesn't just cause childhood obesity, it can cause health issues in kids who are not overweight too, including fatty liver disease, and prediabetes. And it is a likely culprit in the behavioral, emotional, and learning problems some children struggle with. Often these dangerous effects go unnoticed and not necessarily linked to excess sugar in the diet.
The news is dire, but there is also plenty of hope. We can prevent, address, and even in many cases reverse the effects of too much sugar. In this guide to "sugarproofing" kids, Dr. Goran and co-author Dr. Emily Ventura, an expert in nutrition education and recipe development, help parents identify the sneaky sources of sugar in their children's diets, determine whether their child might already be suffering from a sugar-related disorder, and adopt doable solutions to protect their kids from a high-sugar food environment. With a 7-day and 28-day challenge to help families right-size sugar in their kids' diet, along with more than 40 recipes all without added sugars, everyone can give their children a healthy new start to life.