Saturday, May 22, 2010

What do You Think About Juice?


Around here we just don't keep juice in the house. Don't get me wrong, the kids love it. I just don't get it. No real reason besides the fact that they don't miss it if it's not here. They love it at other people's house though we've discovered that Abby totally gets the runs when she drinks it. I mean it's BAD.

But I was wondering if it might be a good way to sneak in a fruit. I mostly found out that most juice is junk. High in calories and sugar, usually not enough of a fruit benefit to really benefit. I think I've found that they are more bad than good. And my whole quest here is to find stuff that is more good than bad. I'm certainly no angel. For real.

I think I have found a juice that is more good than bad. It's made by Mott's, the apple sauce folks. The one I got is called Mott's Medley in the tropical flavor. I actually thought it might be good with a little rum. For me, not the kidlets. :)

It includes 2 servings of fruits and veggies. First ingredients being water, apple, grape, and carrot juice. Mostly recognizable ingredients. It's still got 140 calories and 29 grams of sugar. So it's kind of a tough call. But for right now, since I am aiming to make improvements (and I'm trying to up the fruits and veggies around here), I'm going to take the sugar down for the produce benefit. I don't even know if that's the right answer. What do you think?

6 comments:

  1. first, let me say, i love the blog. so glad you're doing this. as for juice, i agree that most store-bought juice is bad (for the reasons you've already stated). but, there are obvious, good alternatives: fresh juice extracted straight from real fruit and veggies with the assistance of a juicer (we bought an old school one for $5 used way back when and it works marvelously) and smoothies (processed in a blender). my five-year old son loves the mechanics and "science" involved in these projects AND the juice. Our favorites are: 1) apple, carrot, and tangerine (i like to add ginger for myself) 2) apple, spinach, beet, and carrot. for smoothies, we use milk, coconut water, and/or the kinds of fresh extracted juice above to liquify frozen fruit (usually some combo of bananas, blueberries, mango with raspberries, strawberries, and pineapple). we also add protein powder, flax seeds, and spirulina or other "green-food" powder. We don't add sugar OR honey. a little goes a long way. my little guy loves the taste and fun of helping with these creations and makes up all kinds of names. give these recipes a try and let us know what you think! --Mollie Callahan (Oberlin, OH)

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  2. I'm with you - if we're at a kid party and someone offers up a juice box, I let my daughter drink it, but we just don't buy juice and keep it stocked in our house, so she rarely gets any. Poor kid. ; )

    Loving your blog.

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  3. Okay, so my friend at work and I were talking about the juice dilemma (we're cardiac nurses so we are both big on the healthy eating thing). And our question is which is worse, juice or some sugar free drink like crystal light? Sugar vs. chemicals? Poor kiddos can't just have water all the time.. any thoughts?

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  4. mollie, i think i'll try some of that tomorrow. we're going to try smoothies. i think the kids will like to help make those.

    and sparkle, i think i'm going to try and get a nutritionist on here to answer that one. i was thinking that over just the other day. my son doesn't drink much water at all, but will down it if there is crystal light in there. of course, i know it can't possibly be good for you, but i just wonder if the benefit of water is better than the downside of the chemicals. i wonder just how bad it is. i'm going to find out. i'll keep you posted.

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  5. Just found the blog! Love it. :)
    As for us, we do a little (bottled) juice with meals (starting when the kiddo was about 2yo). Other than that, he always has a sippy of water handy. We have a juicer and my son loves to use that for fresh fruit/veggie combos but I'll admit it's kind of a pain.
    Unless the juice is freshly pressed I doubt it has much nutritional value.

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  6. We do water-juice in the sippy cup about twice a day. 3/4 water, 1/4 juice. She occasionally gets a juice box. We try to buy the Earth's Best as they are pure juice, no sugar added, and are very small. Most juice boxes are huge.

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