I received an article from our school district's food service director. She sends home articles every couple of months to all elementary children. There are usually some great hints about nutrition, exercise, foods, etc. This week the topic was nutritious drinks for children.
Here are some good reminders, especially with the holidays approaching.
Many children drink the following drinks:
Here are some good reminders, especially with the holidays approaching.
Many children drink the following drinks:
- milk,
- fruit juice,
- diet soda,
- regular soda,
- sports drinks.
Which do you think are the healthiest choices?
It certainly isn't soda. Try to get your child away from soda. Totally. It has no nutritional value at all and contains lots of sugar, sodium and often, caffeine. Diet soda is not any bettter as it also contains caffeine and sodium, plus artificial sweeteners. In our house, we allow small sodas if at a restaurant, only if each daughter has already had a glass of milk or water earlier in the day. Most often, my youngest will choose chocolate milk or ice water before soda. It is my teen that wants the soda....so....we no longer buy soda for the house...in fact it has been many years since I have had soda in the fridge other than if we are having a backyard BBQ. Even then, I only buy 1-2 bottles of soda and offer other choices.
Limit juice! Keep juice drinking to just 8 oz. a day. I did this for my children when they were toddlers and preschoolers. I used to see many moms allowing juice in sippy cups, and allowing the toddler to just carry around that sippy cup all day. Mom would just keep filling it with juice! There are many problems with that: most juice is not 100% juice, it can lead to tooth decay if that is the only drink your toddler is drinking, it fills them up and keeps them from eating more nutritional foods. At my house, we only drink juice in 6 oz glasses. I rarely drink juice, my youngest no longer likes most juices, my oldest has a glass with breakfast. If you want to try weaning your child off of juice, try this method: mix with sparkling water and decrease the amount of juice in the mixture each day!
Go for flavor! Many children don't like plain milk or water. You can add chocolate or strawberry to the milk. I checked with our pediatrician when my oldest was 4 and going through a stage where she only wanted chocolate milk. He said to buy Ovaltine which does not contain caffeine and to limit it to one meal. She chose lunch time. At other meals she had plain milk. For water, you can add slices of lemon, lime or oranges. My family likes doing this in the summer months. There are good, unsweetened carbonated waters on the market also (seltzer and club soda) in kid-friendly flavors like wild cherry, lemon-lime or mandarin orange. At our house, we buy bottled water that is flavored spring water. We use these on our hiking trips, long car trips, or to the beach. We tend to buy the new Vitamin Water in flavors like lemonade, fruit punch, strawberry-kiwi, grape. One of my personal favorites is the Adirondack bottled water flavored with lime.
Encourage water drinking by purchasing bright colored water bottles and label with each person's name. We finally purchased the large bottles from LLBean to keep with our camping supplies. We sometimes bring them on easier hikes as well. They tend to be a bit bulky for backpacks but if each girl is hiking with us and the trail is flat, they are easy to carry.
So...this holiday season, reach for some nutritious drinking choices for your children......you might even want to try some of these tips for your self!
It certainly isn't soda. Try to get your child away from soda. Totally. It has no nutritional value at all and contains lots of sugar, sodium and often, caffeine. Diet soda is not any bettter as it also contains caffeine and sodium, plus artificial sweeteners. In our house, we allow small sodas if at a restaurant, only if each daughter has already had a glass of milk or water earlier in the day. Most often, my youngest will choose chocolate milk or ice water before soda. It is my teen that wants the soda....so....we no longer buy soda for the house...in fact it has been many years since I have had soda in the fridge other than if we are having a backyard BBQ. Even then, I only buy 1-2 bottles of soda and offer other choices.
Limit juice! Keep juice drinking to just 8 oz. a day. I did this for my children when they were toddlers and preschoolers. I used to see many moms allowing juice in sippy cups, and allowing the toddler to just carry around that sippy cup all day. Mom would just keep filling it with juice! There are many problems with that: most juice is not 100% juice, it can lead to tooth decay if that is the only drink your toddler is drinking, it fills them up and keeps them from eating more nutritional foods. At my house, we only drink juice in 6 oz glasses. I rarely drink juice, my youngest no longer likes most juices, my oldest has a glass with breakfast. If you want to try weaning your child off of juice, try this method: mix with sparkling water and decrease the amount of juice in the mixture each day!
Go for flavor! Many children don't like plain milk or water. You can add chocolate or strawberry to the milk. I checked with our pediatrician when my oldest was 4 and going through a stage where she only wanted chocolate milk. He said to buy Ovaltine which does not contain caffeine and to limit it to one meal. She chose lunch time. At other meals she had plain milk. For water, you can add slices of lemon, lime or oranges. My family likes doing this in the summer months. There are good, unsweetened carbonated waters on the market also (seltzer and club soda) in kid-friendly flavors like wild cherry, lemon-lime or mandarin orange. At our house, we buy bottled water that is flavored spring water. We use these on our hiking trips, long car trips, or to the beach. We tend to buy the new Vitamin Water in flavors like lemonade, fruit punch, strawberry-kiwi, grape. One of my personal favorites is the Adirondack bottled water flavored with lime.
Encourage water drinking by purchasing bright colored water bottles and label with each person's name. We finally purchased the large bottles from LLBean to keep with our camping supplies. We sometimes bring them on easier hikes as well. They tend to be a bit bulky for backpacks but if each girl is hiking with us and the trail is flat, they are easy to carry.
So...this holiday season, reach for some nutritious drinking choices for your children......you might even want to try some of these tips for your self!
3 comments:
Soda also leeches calcium out of bones. Not good stuff.
Thanks for sharing the drinking advice. My grandchildren come over a lot, I usually have fruit juice or milk, but they always go for the refrigeration water spout which is fine with me!
Hi Susanne: Thanks for the reminder that soda also robs us of calcium...I had forgotten about that!
Connie Marie: your grandchildren sound like my own 2 daughters. Every time we go to the beach house (grandpa and gramma's on cape cod) they head for that awesome built in ice cube dispenser and water! I sure don't complain...sure beats soda!
Post a Comment