I had no idea that there was so much sugar in all this stuff. Check this out. What do you give your kids to drink? Do they drink a lot of pop, juice or these “vitamin” drinks? I know when my boys were small the drank an awful lot of kool aid. It was what we could afford and I could control how sweet I made it. They didn’t drink pop all that much but I did let them have it if they wanted some. It wasn’t like it wasn’t allowed. They also drank a lot of juice boxes. I just never thought about there being so much sugar in juice. It’s supposed to be good for you right???
So, what do you and your kids drink most of the time? Do you limit pop or “sweet” drinks?
Us Girls..Our Views 
I was a mild version of a health nut before I became a parent, so I never did consider juice to be “health food” for kids (nor for myself). At home, they have liquid yogurt for breakfast, skim (white) milk for lunch and dinner, water for everything else. I will let them occasionally have chocolate milk or mango juice (Miss A’s elixir of choice) when we eat out. And their school gives them 100% fruit juice with their afternoon snack (though my kids don’t always drink it).
I don’t do juices or sodas myself, so I have no difficulty “depriving” my kids of them. It just doesn’t come up.
I have one kid who gains weight easily, and another who is sensitive to sugar. Neither has a “need” for anything in juices that can’t be supplied in other ways. So I just don’t go there.
For breakfast our 7 & 9 year olds get a glass of apple juice. They normally have cereal and milk for breakfast. For lunch they pack themselves a Capri Sun. Dinner it’s either milk or water. No sodas (or pop for you Midwesterners).
Hunter gets his juice in the morning time. Only morning! He loves Grandma Vicki’s lemon water that she buys. When we go out to a restaurant he loves to get either a kiddy cocktail (like a shirley temple, no alcohol of course!) or a root beer. He drinks water throughout the day. Not really a milk drinker. On occasion he likes chocolate milk.
I used to be a Dew-aholic. Like a 6-can a day Dew-aholic. It was bad. But a couple of years ago, I quit that, and never really went back. I still drank soda, maybe a can or two a day. But now, as of about September, I don’t drink it at all, except when we go out. Then it’s a treat, and I get full-on, full-sugar, full caffeine crap. Especially at a certain restaurant in town. I don’t know what they do to their fountains, but the Pepsi they serve there is better than any in town.
Meanwhile, it’s water first, last and almost always at home. I drink milk, too. Josh is pretty much a milk guy, although if I have juice in the house (occasionally), he’ll drink that. And he’ll go for a gatorade or a soda if you offer it, but as a matter of course, every day, he drinks milk.
Steve, however, goes through the diet crap like nobody I know. It’s ALL he drinks, except for coffee when he goes out. And juice when we have it in the house. But otherwise? It’s Pepsi Max and Diet Dr. Pepper. A couple cans a day. Drives me nuts.
Both of my kids are huge milk drinkers. When they were toddlers, they got their one glass of juice a day. I really limit the pop. I just don’t see why a 4 year old or my 7 year old needs to drink it. My 11 year old does get to have it on occasion, and with the fun of kiddy cocktails, they both drink more than I’d like. They do drink Capri Suns or flavored water along with the plain stuff.
It’s funny but Christopher never asks for pop. He always goes for the water flavored Capri Sun. He also likes those little bottles of orange juice but I don’t always have those on hand.
Trin and Bailey love their root beer but I don’t usually have that on hand either unless I know we’re having a gathering.
I think you also have to compare the kinds of sugar that are in these things. Soda has high fructose corn syrup. The corn industry will tell you that it’s exactly the same as regular sugar, or the sugars that are in fruit juices, but I believe they are different. I don’t know HOW they’re different, but I think they are.
I can tell you that, when I was into my Dew addiction, they came out with the “throwback” series of Mt. Dew. It was made with regular sugar instead of HFCS. I bought a case, because finally, it tasted like the Dew from when I was a kid. And you know what I discovered? That I could drink one can in a day and be completely satisfied. But when I drank “regular” Dew, the stuff with HFCS in it, I needed another immediately after the first. And then a second, a third, and so on and so on. I was completely addicted to the “new” Dew, but the old stuff, not so much. I really believe the difference was between the HFCS and regular sugar. I think my body processes them different, or at least notices a difference.
I totally agree with you on the kind of sugar it is. I think HFCS is awful and I bought a SodaStream because of it. It’s soooo bad for you and so is the Aspartame in diet pop. I wouldn’t drink diet pop for anything. I think if you really want a pop, you’re better of drinking the regular stuff. Unless it’s a 6 pack a day or anything. That’s another problem in itself if you do.
I agree with you on the “throwback” series. I tried the MD down there and I liked it. We bought a wack of teh throwback Pepsi they sold up here for a time. Just for occassional treat. Boy does it taste better…and I don’t get this weird sick feeling from it!
There is a Kosher version, made wiothout the HFCS, but it is hard to get. Special order it.
I LOVE the throwback Pepsi!
We never ever have pop in the house. The only time we do, is when I’m planing some sort of get together (BBQ, birthday) Bailey mostly drinks milk and tea. There is sugar in the tea, but I have control over that. I used to put a cup in a gallon of tea, now it’s more like 3/4 cup. He drinks a ton of milk-2%. I almost always have OJ (Simply OJ-the only kind!) in the house, because that’s what I love. I can drink a half gallon in a day. I bye fruit juices for Lilly, but I always dilute it half water. That saves on juice, and sugar intake.
I do get a pop when we go out, which is maybe once a month, maybe! It’s almost always, Sprite. Bailey does love his Rootbeer!
That’s so funny. While you were writing this, I wrote above how Trin and Bailey love their root beer. LOL!!
LOL What is it about Root beer?? It’s my very least favorite pop. An ice cold orange crush is really good on a hot summer day!
I don’t know. I like it maybe once a year but those two LOVE it.
We usually have milk for SL. That’s the most sugar (lactose) she drinks, except when we eat out. We do have cool-aid, but use stevia to sweeten it. We also have pop in the house, but it’s for an occassional treat, or for when company comes over. Most of the time, it is hard to finish off a can.
Funny you should post this, when my friend posted this on FB.