By Kendall Hyatt
I have failed time and again, as recently as this morning, to push away the influence of sugar on my parenting.
As a mom of an eight-year-old son and a five-year-old daughter, I claim to want to protect my kids from access to too much sugar. Doing so, according to Stanford psychiatrist and addiction expert Dr. Anna Lemke, can help create an environment for kids that is less conducive to developing physical dependency on sugar. Yes, I get this; I am all in. Or so I thought. But there I was earlier today in a coffee shop with my husband, lifting a gorgeous tin of peppermint hot cocoa to eye level, saying aloud, “A souvenir for Julian?” Julian is our sugar-loving son. My husband nodded, acknowledging my suggestion. I see now that my subconscious mind successfully recruited an innocent bystander to further its agenda: Buy sugar!
My husband does not have a problem with sugar. Me? I have been in residential treatment five times in ten years, desperately fighting to overcome my food obsession, binge eating, and food addiction. Between the ages of eleven and forty, I was at war with myself, at times wondering why on earth I was still living, doing, and trying to recover after all of my fruitless striving.
But now, I have to tell you, my life is different. My life is new. I am still living and doing, but have ceased fruitless striving.
A short time ago, in the most wonderful twist of fate, I started to eat sanely. After 30 years of being sucked into and clambering back out of that nightmarish vortex called chocolate, I have been living free from sugar cravings. I haven’t put even one morsel of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup to my lips for 15 months. My body has released 50 pounds from my top weight. My mind has released 100, and I no longer wake up in a fog of fatigue, dread, and self-hate. At nearly 42 years old, my Food Addiction is in remission.
Free from the bondage of bingeing, my head and hands are free to share with you my heart’s calling to a) share the benefits of life sans sugar and b) raise awareness about Food Addiction.
What I cannot share with you today is how, as a parent, to navigate this food environment with ease. I can’t do it, not yet, and certainly not by myself. But one advantage I do have is that I’m awake to the reality that I help shape the tendencies and habits of the two kids in my care. I have a desire to change, even when my subconscious pulls me back into a long-standing attraction to well-packaged decorative treats.
The fact is that we parents do influence the health and well-being of our kids. The latest nutrition science shows that there will be consequences for exposing our kids to added sugar.
Everyone knows sugar is unhealthy, but do you know that sugar is dangerous enough that the US Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) recommend no added sugar whatsoever for children between the ages of two and ten (my own kids’ age range), framing excess sugar as contributing to the early onset of diet- related chronic disease.
Yes. Added sugars displace nutrient-dense food during rapid brain and body development. The DGA says to “avoid added sugars during infancy and early childhood” and also says “no amount of added sugars is recommended for 11-18 year olds. The language in the current literature that really makes my eyes pop open is from the UK’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN). Refined sugar exposure increases a “lifelong preference for sweet foods.” If I myself had not experienced the crippling mental obsession that accompanied my preference for sweet foods for the last 30 years, I might have shrugged, yawned, and driven to Starbucks for a glazed doughnut. But I did; I did experience an involuntary “preference” for sweets intensely and often. And I never want that all-consuming craving back into my system again. Moreover, I’d really like to lower the chances of my kids being physically overweight, mentally anguished, and spiritually bankrupt.
If, before I had kids, I had read the latest from the SACN, I would have learned that my sugar ingestion and that of my partner affected my children even before they were conceived. The 2026 guidelines now specifically recommend sugar reduction for women (and men?) of childbearing age, due to evidence that overweight, obesity, and food addiction impact 3-5 subsequent generations. Here’s one way to sum it up: Health begins before conception. Mind-blowing, isn’t it?
So, are you awake? Are you inclined to procure for your existing or potential children doses of a substance that can lower their chances of long-term good health? If you are, you’re not alone. You are just like me: still learning.
I am motivated today—by years of sugar-induced depletion, depression, brain fog, bloat, self-hate, and mental obsession—to steer my kids away from Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. My life has been so much better without all of that. My current life is one of energy, contentment, clarity, and comfort in my body. I have dignity, mental freedom, and a connection to love. These are things I most definitely want to provide for my kids.
In my case, it was not information that powered the transformation. But information gave me access to the truth. The truth is, what I put into my body affects me, my children, and any children in my future.
If you would like to read an excellent book about addiction, read Dr. Anna Lembke’s Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence. If you want the latest on preconception guidelines straight from the horse’s mouth, visit the website for the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition in the UK: https://www.gov.uk.
If you find that you cannot stop eating—and you want help—visit foodaddictioninstitute.org, foodaddiction.com, or foodaddicts.org.
There is hope to learn the truth and be open to transformation, in ourselves and in our families.
Kendall Hyatt is an author, speaker, wife, mom, and human being in recovery. She can be reached for questions at kendallayershyatt@gmail.com.