Fresh & Healthy against Sweet and Deadly The Cost to Children’s Health Diabetes Awareness Month

Walk into any supermarket or your local grocer and you will find shelves laden with unhealthy products ranging from fresh fruit juices(most are laced with sugars) to bright coloured candies and crisps- addictive and generously coated with crystallized sugar. Children who are given the opportunity to select load up their carts/baskets as they are first attracted to the packaging to which they connect with the images seen  in advertisements. 

 Words -  Shanthi Wijesinghe

My personal observations are of parents cautioning children against such products and off loading them at the check-out counter much to the chagrin of their off spring! “Why did you ask me to take what I want?” is their quiet question accompanied with raised eyebrows. Those in my generation will connect with a myriad of delicacies. We stuffed our faces no doubt but we were not encouraged to follow a sedantry lifestyle. All those sugars disappeared with climbing trees, jumping rope and games played during the day. Mothers of our time complained we were too thin and needed ‘fattening up’. In today’s context that phrase is unthinkable.