This is a compensated review by BlogHer and Juicy Juice.
All righty, people of the interweb: I have a parenting confession.
Ready?
Here we go.
My child doesn’t really like fruit.
I mean, he tolerates it. He’ll eat bananas or strawberries or pineapple. He enjoys the occasional mango or peach. But he’s not so big on grapes. Or blueberries. Or cantaloupe. Thank goodness that he usually has a great attitude about trying fruit, but as a general rule it’s just not his favorite food group. He’ll eat vegetables all the live-long day, and I always say that he’s never met a bean or pea that he didn’t like.
But the fruit? Not his favorite.
So, as a mama who wants him to be strong and healthy and whathaveyou, the burden falls on me to make sure that he’s getting all the vitamins and nutrients that he needs. I want him to learn how to make good food choices, to look at option A, option B and option C and be able to determine which option is healthiest.
And in cases where he’s not completely carried away with what’s available – like if he were to, say, find himself in the midst of an endless array of fruit platters – well, I want him to know how to make good substitutions. And I want him to understand that fruit-flavored candy is not in fact the same thing as actual fruit.
It’s good to have some nutrition goals, don’t you think?
We’ve always liked Juicy Juice in our house because it’s 100% juice – no added sugar or high-fructose corn syrup – and now that the little guy is seven and has some definite food preferences (including the fact that all fruits are not his friend), it’s nice to know that I can give him a small glass of Juicy Juice and it counts as a serving of fruit. He loves almost every flavor we’ve ever tried. And when BlogHer contacted me about sending me some samples of Juicy Juice punch and sparkling apple juice, I was totally on board.
We actually had ourselves a little taste test when the big box of Juicy Juice 100% (punch) and Sparkling Juicy Juice (apple) arrived at our house. Since Alex’s 3 1/2 year-old cousin was spending a few days at our house at the time, he decided that he wanted to join the fun, too.
The verdict?
Alex, who’s 7, still loves Juicy Juice 100% punch best of all. It’s what he’s used to. But the sparkling apple juice intrigues him. It comes in a really cool can, and I have to say that it is TASTY. There’s a fizz like you’re drinking a lemon-lime soda, but the taste is definitely apple juice (it’s 70% real juice, 30% water).
When J sampled the punch, he immediately said, “TASTES GOOD!” Alex tried the sparkling apple juice and said, “It’s good – but it’s just a little bit sour” (it’s much more of a green apple flavor than a red apple flavor). Then he took back-to-back sips of the sparkling apple and the punch and said, “If I could drink something with these two flavors together, I would call it ‘PARTY!’”
So I think we’ll be trying the sparkling berry very soon.
If you’d like to win a $100 Visa gift card plus a Juicy Juice prize pack, leave a comment that answers this question: What’s your very best tip for raising healthy eaters?
Mine? Make kids try everything on their plates. We have a rule in our house that you have to at least try every single food, and if you don’t like it, fine. But if you do? All the better.
Be sure to check out the BlogHer.com Juicy Juice 2010 Round-up page for more chances to win. And no giveaway post would be complete if I didn’t direct you to the BlogHer.com Juicy Juice 2010 official rules.
Happy Juicy Juice-ing, y’all!
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Don’t keep a lot of junk food in the house.
We’ve started keeping lots of fresh fruits and vegetables around the house and I’m amazed at the good choices they’ll make when they have the options.
My best advice would be to lead by example. If they see you eating healthy foods, they’re more apt to try it.
By example. If we don’t eat badly and there’s not bad stuff in the house, what option do they have? (That’s not to say I don’t have some Oreos hidden above the fridge :))
I, too, am a mom who made them try everything. I made it age-appropriate. For instance, when they were three, they had to try three bites of something, and so on.
We try to limit the sodas that the kids have…and increase their water intake. So, the rule at our house is you can only drink cokes & such at suppertime and only AFTER you’ve had water.
I’m really working hard to teach moderation, and what kinds of foods you can eat an endless amount of vs. what should be a treat.
We also have the rule about at least trying everything on the plate. Our kids have started eating all kinds of things because of repeated exposure!
Variety! The adults I know who don’t eat well are the ones who are very picky. I think kids need to learn to enjoy a lot of different flavors and textures as early as possible.
We give our kids fruit & veggie juice. They don’t know the difference & they are drinking some of the fruit & veggie servings!
I try to set a good example for them. I also keep fruits and veggies that are easily accessible around for quick snacks. If the “junk food” is not there, they will not eat it. :)
I think having healthy options around the house and not having junk food available is the best way to raise healthy eaters
My best tip is to get the kids involved in planning a weekly menu at home. They feel empowered to help make the choices for what we’re going to eat, and then they also learn what goes into making a meal healthy and balanced.
And if I can sneak a second tip in, I have a calendar on the microwave which they see every morning, so they know ahead of time what we’re having for breakfast, school lunches, and dinner. That way there are no last minute complaints of, “I don’t like that!”
Start immediately! As soon as they can eat solids, give them whole foods. No junk ever. My 5-year-old nephew went to a birthday party and didn’t know what the cheese puffs were.
I read the sugar content on everything and limit what they can have.
Try and try again. Keep the bad stuff out of the house and make it fun! Let the children take part in creating the meals and they will feel more “ownership”!
Keep healthy options around. Make your children try something at least once. Don’t let them decide that they don’t like something or can’t eat something healthy without trying it once. Occasionally, allow for a treat to reward them for eating well!
We’re trying to get started early with the healthy eating by giving our toddler lots of fruit and veggies and whole grains and to limit the snackier foods in favor of more fruit and vegetables. So far it seems to be working, he loves pretty much everything that grows from a plant, but he’s not a big fan of meat.
I never make a separate meal for the kids at dinnertime. They eat what we eat. They are exposed to lots of different meals and have to eat them because I don’t provide a “kid friendly” option. Both my kids are excellent eaters.
Give your kids lots of choices and encourage them to help you cook. They’re more likely to eat it if they made it. Expose them to every kind of food early on.
Start early with the good stuff, eat the same things as the child (lead by example) and offer treats in moderation. Those have seemed to work well for us.
Oh, and the “try at least once rule” is golden. The other day my daughter put up a huge fight about there being spinach leaves in her salad (she’s 4). I made her try one leaf. She ended up loving it so much that she went through the salad and pulled them all out and ate them first.
We’ve always made the kids try new things. More often than not, they find that they really like the new thing!
The kids eat what the adults eat (this keeps the adults aware of their diet and healthy eating too) and everyone should try something at least once.
Best tip– I don’t cook separately for the kids. Period. They eat what we eat because momma ain’t a short-order cook. There are some tears (particularly when peas, (oh, the horror) are on the table. I don’t buy canned vegetables– I stick with frozen. They just taste much fresher.
Like others have said, don’t cook separate meals for them. They eat what you eat, so make sure you eat healthy too. Don’t force food on them but offer it many times in a variety of ways and eventually they’ll start to develop a taste for it.
I’m not a mom yet, so I have no advice. But I’ll be reading through these comments for tips!
1 – be a healthy eater
2 – act like there’s no alternative. after all, we don’t ask them if they’d *enjoy* using the potty, we just potty train them. Likewise, I don’t ask my kids if they’d *like* to eat healthy foods; I act like it is their normal — so it is.
My kids have always loved fruit, but are picky about the vegetables.
At any given dinner, we have a meat, one or two vegetables (Roxie likes peas, Austin likes carrots, Josh likes mashed caulitaters (a whole head of cauliflower cooked and mashed with an equal amount of potatoes… delicious).
However, we ALWAYS have a bowl of sliced bananas, grapes, sliced Pink Lady apples and three or four yogurts for them to choose from.
I’ll also put a small juice glass beside their dinner drink filled with their favorite flavored juice… usually white grape hits the spot.
We don’t have a dinner (even lasagna or spaghetti) without a bowl of fruit on the table.
Being a picky eater myself : ( I struggle trying to get my daughter to eat good foods. I try trying them in front of her. My son eats everthing. The one thing that my daughter really loves is fruit and fruit juice so I try to keep a lot of that around the house and I buy the fruit juice blends that have the vegatables hidden inside as well.
Keep offering the foods even after years of rejection. Their taste buds change and eventually they will probably like most of what they refuse.
My boys love fruit, so I try to incorporate at least one with each meal, even if it’s dessert. Mixed fruit salad with some whipped cream on top is one of their favorites! We also love juice.
I too make my kids try everything, if they’ve tried it and don’t like it then they don’t have to eat it. I don’t keep soda or a lot of junk food around the house either.
Yep, try everything…4 years old? 4 bites…10 years old? 10 bites.
Lots of options and getting them involved in the kitchen!
I grew up eating three meals a day and snacks were always fruit or raw veggies. Only time we had “junk food” was birthdays and holidays. I found this rule of thumb to work good with our kids too.
Model healthy eating and have plenty of good snack choices available. “Treats” are a different category and more rare.
Don’t buy the junk…if they are hungry they will eat what is available (same goes for me!!!!)
We try to limit the junk food!
They can’t leave the table until they’ve eaten their fruits/veggies. Pretty soon they just give up the fight and do it naturally!
I serve veggies first as our “appetizer.” The rest of dinner comes after we’ve finished our first course. ;)
From the very beginning with our little boy, we only introduced healthy fruits and vegetables. He LOVES them all and has never rejected a one. We went through one period where he ate one avocado each day. AMAZING! I usually like mine in the form of a dip and on a tortilla chip. I think he is teaching his parents better eating now!!
I tell my daughter eating healthy will make her grow big and tall and make her bones strong. It usually works!
My oldest son is not a fruit eater either. After reading an article somewhere (can’t remember) i started cutting his fruit and putting it on toothpicks. He thinks it’s great and eats with no problem!
My best tip is simple, yet profound:
Don’t buy junk food, and your kids won’t eat it.
My girls both LOVE them some fruits and vegetables, but my younger daughter definitely has the inclination to eat her weight in junk food given the opportunity….. So, she just isn’t even the opportunity! :)
Start early. My son is a very picky eater and I feel like we didn’t offer him a lot of variety in healthier options early on (mostly for convenience sake) and I think this has led to him not wanting to eat the foods he should.
expose them to a variety of foods early and often. now my 3 yr old’s favorite snack is cucumber slices.
My kiddos have to eat something healthy (fruit, carrots, etc.) before they are allowed to have one junk item (donut, cookie).
I try to serve foods that are healthy at each meal. I do allow them a sweet once a day, if they ask for it, but not around meal time. I limit the amount of “junk food” we keep in our house.
Keep the junk out of the house, let them help you cook the good stuff, and try and make it many different ways! Make dessert and sweets a special treat, not an everyday routine.
my niece alternates between either of her grandmas each day while my sister teaches.
one or both of them gives her french fries, which infuriates me! she is two and a half!
*perhaps* -only maybe- i *might* be projecting as my sisters and i were fed anything we wanted as we were the only grandchildren on my dad’s side. lucky for us, we also inherited their fat genes and have all three struggled with our weight since the womb.
and since i’m only the aunt (who has lived with she and my sister since the day she was born, thus making me a co-parent and my sister’s husband), my rule is:
don’t feed ‘em crap.
p.s. did you spit alex out of your mouth? because…
I make sure they get fruit in every day. They don’t like veggies a lot, so I focus in on what they do like – Fruit and cheese. It’s not the best, but it’s better than it could be. Also, I get the baked chips and 100 calorie snacks and they love those. It’s not uber healthy, but it’s better than its fried/high calorie counterpart. :)
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