HI Fofi,
I do think that you are absolutely right to be looking at reducing the amount of sugar in your childrens’ diet- as a retired dentist I can say that this will be of enormous benefit for the health of their teeth, quite apart from their long term health in general. Does your dental practice have a dental health educator, who would be able to give you suggestions for sugar free alternatives? You are quite right though to be educating their taste away from sweet foods, and not wanting to use artificial sweeteners, however, sometimes you need something to counteract the acidity of things like yoghurt, and for baking. I think from your posts that you are already ahead of the pack in knowing that things like honey, agave syrup and maple syrup are just as bad, and in some cases worse, than ordinary sugar! However, there are two which are good natural substitutes, don’t cause dental decay, and are low calorie- xylitol and stevia. In fact xylitol is actually beneficial for teeth. Personally, I use xylitol, its easier to get hold of, and you can bake with it, though it may take a bit of adjustment. I am told, not being much of a baker myself, that it lowers the temperature of the mix somehow so may need a higher temp or longer bake. Patrick Holford’s Low GI diet cookbook has a good few recipes including biscuits, shortbread, that tick our BSD boxes, and use low carb flours and xylitol. I haven’t calorie counted any of them yet; I will try a couple.
My experience with two children and two grandchildren is that there’s a good chance they won’t get a sweet tooth if you limit the sweet foods and in particular drinks that they have- fruit juice is a major culprit.
Kid’s breakfast foods can be a big problem, most of them are heavily loaded with sugar, porridge is your best bet. I believe shredded wheat is OK, but would need to check that out. All I can say is get reading the labels!
I wouldn’t be concerned about giving them bread, (good whole grain bread of course, not the white rubbish) the sugar in good bread is only to feed and activate the yeast, and is very low. Or make your own, or try the flat breads and waffles on this site and in the book.
Biscuits- not much alternative here other than to bake your own; I found a fab recipe for choc chip cookies on the internet, I’ll try and post it up.
Yoghurt- I’d try natural yog, and add enough pureed fruit and xylitol until they’d eat it- trial and error.
On a separate question, I wonder of we need to limit the carbs for healthy children? If they are not overweight, they should be able to deal with them. It different for us, when our metabolism is cocked up from past mistakes!