Mike and I are not big juice drinkers and rarely had the stuff in our house before Jacob came along. Since Jacob turned around a year old we’ve been giving him bits of juice here or there mixed with about two thirds water to one third juice and he’s never known anything other then that in terms of what juice is. Our pediatrician was the one who told us of the benefits from real fruit juice (not from concentrate) so we’ve given it to him in this watered down fashion upon the doctor’s advice and have never had a problem until now….
It’s obvious that Jacob has gotten tastes of non-watered down juice from other people who believe that it’s all good to give juice to kids but the studies out there just prove that this isn’t true. Did you know that A LOT of children actually drink ALL of their daily calorie intake in juice and chocolate milk and on top of all the liquid calories still consume the same caloric amount in food intake? Think about that….that’s twice the amount of calories in a day! Drinking up your calories in sugar packed liquids is way too easy to do and its the main reason that Mike and I feel so strongly about getting our kids hooked on water with the occasional bit of juice now and then….
Today when Mike went to get Jacob “some juice”, Jacob said very clearly “i do not like water in my juice daddy” and while it was funny it was also frustrating because it obviously means that he is getting the experience of non-watered down juice from other people. I’m not trying to be picky and frankly its not a big deal if he gets the occasional non-watered down juice but what’s frustrating is that people don’t get what Mike and I are trying to do with our kids. Mike and I are both overweight (me more so then him) and its important for us to set good examples for our children and lead them on the right path…and quite frankly I don’t think packing our kids full of sugar and calorie laden liquids is the way to go. We beleive that everything is ok in moderation….we don’t and won’t deprive Jacob from the occasional fast food treat or ice cream cone….every now and then he gets a taste of chocolate milk (which we call special drink)….in the past we’ve let him have potato chips or chocolate cake….we aren’t calorie fear freaks….we’re just trying to do something here.
So, we’ll continue to do juice our way and hope that others in Jacob’s life will continue to do so by at least making it a 50/50 split of water and juice..understanding what we’re trying to do. Somehow over time juice has been branded a “kid” thing and many people hold the belief that “kids should just have juice because they are kids” but that’s not the case….read anything out by health Canada and you’ll see that for toddlers they recommend no more then 4-6 ounces of juice per day….it’s just the facts people….just the facts.
