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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I make sure they have at least one fruit/vegetable with each meal. And they get one “sweet treat” per day.
My kids generally choose fruit (thank goodness) but they also really like chips and ice cream. I just say “all things in moderation”.
Keep the junk food out! :)
Be a healthy eater and you will raise a healthy eater.
We insist our kids keep trying new things, even if they didn’t like something the first time we insist that they try it again and again. We keep lots of fresh fruit and veggies around but also lots of frozen fruits for snacking on when it’s REALLY hot. Smoothies and all fruit popsicles are also big at our house
Set a good example yourself and keep trying.
Variety and keep trying things over & over again.
I offer fruits and veggies everyday. If they turn their nose up to it, I still offer it the next time. Eventually they taste it and decide that it is pretty tasty afteer all! I just gave my 10 month old, who just started eating from the table almost exclusivly, raw spinach. If you start early they develop a wide range on likes!
I printed out lists of healthy & unhealthy snacks. My girls know they can only have one unhealthy snack each day.
To get my little one’s to eat fresh fruit regularly I would place cut up pieces in little glass bowls meant for sauces. It seemed the extra effort made them think it was some sort of special treat.
I always try to have a fruit and veggie at every meal! We also don’t have alot of junk in the household either!
What works for us is offering a variety of foods so that the kids still feel as if they have plenty of options. We ask them to try everything, but we don’t force it.
I say offer a wide variety and have them just try it.
I always a variety of fruits and vegetables at meals and for snacks. My kids didn’t always like the things they do now or sometimes decide they like different things just by being offered them several times. I think by seeing my husband and I eat them, the kids realize that maybe the vegtables aren’t so bad.
model good eating, and don’t make too big of a fuss over food. View it as fuel our body needs. limit the amount of “bad fuel” available in the house
Ugh. This is not a parenting area that has been a big success for me. Something I plan to do differently with #3. My 5 yr old lives for veggies & fruit (unfortunately it’s easy for her to OD on and have tummy troubles), but has no interest in main dishes. My 7 yr old is a pickle. It’s a project we’re working on. So I’ll be scouring the comments here for tips.
I make sure my kids drink tons of water everyday. They work so hard playing that they need to stay hydrated:)
The best thing I’ve done is to actually cook our meals. We’ve always eaten just about every meal together everyday for 20 years.
Our kids have never liked school lunch food. So I made their lunches each day.
Now my youngest 2 are students at my high school where I work….we bring in our lunches and usually eat together there.
They like eating out….but mostly crave HOME FOOD!
If you don’t buy junk food, you can’t eat it. :)
Cooking well balanced meals instead of grabbing fast food.
My kids aren’t big on veggies so I hide them in food. Their favorite is spaghetti. I add jars of baby food vegetables to the sauce.
They all adore fruit and I do make them try veggies I don’t hide.
Make sure they drink plenty of water. I don’t keep sodas in the house because they become the ‘go to’ drink instead of water.
We always say, all foods in moderation. A little Fruit Loops ain’t so bad if you usually eat whole grain snacks most of the time. Also, my kids eat every fruit and veggie God makes – they never knew that other people thought they were gross. My little girl will eat green beans fresh from the garden (someone else’s garden – I don’t do dirt) but she won’t eat a classic PB&J sandwich. I wish I ate as healthy as they do! ;)
My kids are allowed to have fruit or veggies (carrots and the like) anytime they’d like. They have to have my permission for the “junk” that seems to always be around.
The less junk in the house the less junk they’ll eat!
Salads! My daughter won’t do vegetables, but she loves a good salad, and in a salad I can sneak in carrots, celery, broccoli, and spinach with no complaints. Salads make my family much more healthy!
(I also sneak in strawberries, apples, and raisins!)
My kids have surprisingly taken to certain vegetables like broccoli and carrots. I won’t push them to eat brussel sprouts or spinach if they don’t want to. I’d rather they have a positive association with vegetables.
My very best tip is the very lamest tip: Just keep trying. Honestly, now that Ruby’s three, I’m amazed at some of the things she’ll eat that she wouldn’t even *look at* a year ago. Of course, there are still things that she won’t even look at, but at least I’ve been able to claim a few small victories. :)
My best tip for healthy eating is that you have to at least TRY everything, and if the first time is not a success, keep introducing the option–even at 7 y.o.!! Luckily, though, we have a GREAT eater!
I let each of them pick out a fruit or veggie at the grocery store and they are much more likely to eat it and they try new things.
#1 rule is you can’t say you don’t like it until you try it. #2 rule every time it shows up on the plate you have to try it because taste buds change.
I’d like to make sure that our kids eat what I cook for everyone. No special meal prep for each person that’s eating.
Best tip for good eaters? Just keep trying whatever is offered. I don’t pressure I just keep offering…and eventually, they will usually try the new food.
We have an array of healthy food choices and let them have the sweets some times, so they don’t feel like they never get them.
provide lots of different fruits and vegetables, find the ones they like and serve them LOTS.
I think your best bet is to start very young. Feed them what you are eating for dinner/lunch.
We serve a variety of foods, and luckily, my kid loves fruits and veggies!
I saw it many times as I was scrolling down, but jsut limit junk food and unhealthy snacks. If it’s not available they won’t learn that it’s a part of their diet. We also limit desserts and fast food as much as possible. There aren’t a whole lot of unhealthy choices in our home:)
We have healthy choices around here. If I have junk then they will eat it, so I decided a long time a go to make the wise choice so that they will.
We started out giving our daughter fresh fruit vs. juice so she loves to eat fruit. Of course she enjoys a good fruit juice box too. And we try to limit the sweets/sugar that she’s allowed to have so hopefully her sweet tooth will be much less than mine. :o)
Set a good example! Everything I have on my plate my baby wants to try. He’s only 9 months old, but I don’t mind giving him ‘tastes’ of zucchini!
if it is served, you have to eat it. i don’t think the kids even question this now (at least, hardly ever). no dessert unless you eat what’s for supper. it’s worked so far…
melanie(dot)myatt(at)gmail(dot)com
I don’t feel qualified to answer this question, as I’m a failure in this regard. I do try to encourage my kids to eat as many veggies as possible, but they don’t like them much—and neither do I.
Honestly, I am no expert – NOR am I even very good at it! But i’d say to be consistent in offering fruits and veggies and not giving them junk just because they dont want the healthy food you’re offering . . .
We only have a 6 month old but what I learned from my parents is lead by example. They’ll see us eating healthy and hopefully will do the same.
be a healthy eater yourself:)
We have the same rule about trying each thing on the plate. I am working on trying new foods more often myself, because I can be very particular. Modeling good behavior is key.
ADD A LITTLE SUGAR TO THEIR HEALTHY MEALS AND IT WILL WIN THEM OVER EVERY TIME! FOR INSTANCE, USE PEANUT BUTTER WITH CELERY AND CARMEL DIP WITH APPLES. IT CAN’T HURT ANY! kytah00@yahoo.com
Don’t buy junk food. Snack on fresh veggies and fruit and serve wholesome meals from the very beginning and they will not know the difference.
Lots of water and lots for fruit!
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