— Karina S

Okeydoke well, uh, you know, regarding sugary foods, uh, I recommend, uh, slowly backing off on those until you can get down to, uh, a level where there's still some sweetness, uh, to pro provide that satisfaction, you know, for the, for the palate and, and the brain and, and, uh, you know, allows one to, uh, to experience that satiation that comes along with a nice cookie or, uh, a slice of quick bread. And, you know, I'll, I'll put this into a larger American context by saying that many of these recipes that we work with and that we, uh, enjoy when we go to a, a restaurant or a bake shop, are on a global scale, very high in sugar. And in other words, uh, it gives us the opportunity to cut back significantly on the sugar, yet still have significant sweetness that provides that enjoyment. And as a starting point, you might drop the sugar by say, 25%. Uh, I will typically end up at about, uh, 50%, you know, of the original quantity in a cookie or a quick bread. You know, keep in mind that, uh, sugar plays other roles, uh, especially in baked goods, uh, besides providing sweetness, um, there's, you know, it holds onto moisture. It, it affects the texture. So, you know, you can ratchet down slowly, uh, in, you know, incrementally and see how you like those changes, and then test out, of course, how your audience reacts to the changes. But of course, don't say anything that, that's the on the slide part. And you know, over time, of course, if we're eliminating outside sweets and then just focusing on this new level of sweetness in hopefully the main eating environment, you know, at home, then, uh, the consumers, the family members and friends can start to get used to that change. Okay? Now, when it comes to incorporating vegetables into things, uh, I recommend simply, uh, you know, adding it to the table, um, in, in, with whatever preparation you're making, if you're making a, a, a meat based lasagna, start to incorporate some vegetables into that meat-based lasagna. Uh, and you can start to, over time again, cut back on the meat content. Uh, if you have something, uh, that is, uh, stew like, uh, or creamy soup, like you can incorporate vegetables by grating them or pureing them so that they're less noticeable to the consumer. And, uh, you know, th that's a technique that I've used a lot with younger children, um, that are, that didn't grow up in, in my household. Uh, when I make, for example, Japanese curry and rice, uh, which typically calls for large cuts of a few different vegetables, I'll grate that and let that cook down in the sauce so that at service time, what they're enjoying is all the flavor that you've created in that dish, but they can't see anything and they don't notice the texture, and therefore, there's nothing to talk about. So that's gonna be the on the sly component, uh, for these simmer dishes. And so those are a couple of ideas that I hope you can, you can try out, and I, I'm certain that you can find a balance in there that'll work for you. And then, you know, also, uh, consider an ongoing discussion around food and long-term health, as well as the, the more immediate, you know, short-term benefits of some of these changes to a diet. And I think education should be a part of this bigger, uh, environment of change, you know, at home and in the, in the broader lifestyle that we wanna support even outside of the home. And, um, again, you're, you're bound to find some balance in there that works for all of you.