But, they also think I'm weird when I tell them that Kian cannot have more juice, cannot have xxx whatever to drink. He and I have a little orange juice (or which ever juice we bought that week) in the morning with breakfast, and that is it. He loves water and asks for it often. If he asks for milk he can have it, but I don't offer it. I always just give him water unless he specifies. (Side note is that I stopped buying cow's milk for him this month so Kevin is the only one who has it in the house, and Kian drinks rice milk with me. He gets plenty of calcium and protein in other ways.) This is odd to many people who repeatedly fill their child's cups (and *gasp* bottles) with iced tea, koolaid, and juice.
[Please note, that at holidays, birthdays, special things, I do let him have other drinks and other foods that I normally say no to, he's not deprived.]
Anyways, the point of this is to talk about the hidden calories in drinks. People really do not pay attention to what their are drinking a lot of the time. They will down a snapple or soda with dinner and not think twice. Many people try to lose weight and don't understand why they can't lose that last 5 pounds. Nix the sports drink, the glass of wine at night, the Pepsi with dinner and voila! You will have lost it.
Reading the label and understanding that one bottle of Snapple, Arizona tea, Sobe, whatever it is, is not just one serving-it's two! That means you might think you're only drinking 150 calories, but that's a serving size and your bottle is 2 servings. If you down that thing in one sitting, or with a meal, you're taking in an extra 300 calories you don't even think about. One day spent with my mother I watched her drink 2 huge fancy coffee/latte things and yet not eat all day. She kept saying she wasn't hungry. Then I realized and said "that's because you just drank your days' worth of calories. You took in your calories in liquid form instead of food form, (and also missing vital nutrients in the process)".
Most drinks do not provide the vitamins and minerals and nutrients needed, especially those ones that contain little or no real juice. Not to mention the ridiculous amount of sugar in these drinks. Going to the dentist often for cavities? Check your drinks! A can of coke or Pepsi has 12 teaspoons of sugar-twelve!! I watched Supernanny measure it out for a dad one day, he finally got it and got rid of it for the kids. Soda tends to be acidic, weakening the enamel on the tooth, and also full of sugar, which then attaches to that weakened tooth enamel, causing lots of dental problems. Not cool!
So, this is why my child drinks mostly water. This is why I limit his juice intake and decline other drinks. This is why pediatricians are telling parents to follow the 4 oz of 100% juice per day. That is not much, it's one small juicey juice box. Most kids are getting 4 times that each day. This is why we're seeing obesity rising in children...well that and the crazy amount of video games and tv time they get. I know that I am a 'health nut' or 'food fanatic' or whatever else you want to call me, but the more I learn and know about our bodies, and how food can help, heal, restore or break it down, the more careful we are with what we put in it. I know there's going to be a day when my children eats tons of garbage at school or with their friends or when they're on their own, but at least right now I can start them off right and hope it sticks with them!
And I realize I jumped from hidden calories in drinks to healthy eating back to drink and all over the place. I had to really stop myself, I could have gone on all day with this healthy eating post. I should pick a day and implement healthy eating/living ideas...
