I’m trying to find out a few things about sugar substitutes. Are they safe? As I’ve been cutting sugar out of my diet, I’m also wondering about this same thing for my children. Just from making a few diet changes, I’ve lost ten pounds and have seen a surge in my energy level. Now, I’m not having a problem with letting sugar go — but what about for my kids?

Take these Capri Sun drinks, for example. Everybody uses them — when you’ve got a bunch of thirsty kids outside, it’s a pain having to dole out cups, ice, and pour drinks. Juice boxes and pouches simplify this task enormously. But when I checked the sugar content recently, they have 26 grams of sugar for a 6-ounce pouch. This is more than a Coke, which has 39 grams of sugar for 12 ounces.

My problem — I needed to plan a super simple menu for my son’s birthday party, which was held yesterday at a pool. Since most of my friends have 3 or more kids of all ages — you get a few of us together, and you have a ton of kids. We had over 30, ranging in age from one-year-old to college student. And everybody needed a drink of course.

So I brought some water bottles for the parents and older kids — but for the younger ones, I bought the Capri Sun Roarin’ Waters drink, which tasted good and had only 9 grams of sugar. Then I noticed that it was sweetened with Splenda. Hmmm …. maybe it wasn’t such a great idea. Is Splenda safe for adults? Safe for kids? What is that stuff?

I’m just beginning to explore all of this. If any of you are further along in living healthy, please enlighten me. How do I get my kids to cut down on sugar? I know it’s addictive, and it’s leading our country to an epidemic of obesity and diabetes. It’s easy for me to drink water or Diet Coke, but what about kids? Have you read the sugar content on the side of an apple juice container lately?

I dropped off my second grader at Sunday School a couple days ago, and it was their end-of-summer party. The kids were being served chocolate iced doughnuts and red fruit juice in pouches. I’m thankful for her generous teachers, but I’m sure the sugar content was astronomical.

Where do we start to improve?