Why doesn't your child drink fresh fruit juice? (spinoff from what do your kids drink thread)

[samy23]

I was just reading through replies in the thread asking what your kids drink, and noticed not many parents answered fresh fruit juice and I'm wondering why not? We usually have a big glass of some type of fresh fruit juice with dinner, most often orange, apple or grape juice. The cartons say they count as one of your 5 fruits/veg a day, so it's similar to eating that fruit but you're just drinking it instead....am I missing something here? 

p.s im not talking about those fruit juice squash drinks where you add some to water...I know they are artificial and contain all sorts of additives/sugar..although I will admit we drink that too sometimes as it's way better than drinking soda as it's mostly water in the glass anyway, and it makes us drink more because it tastes better than plain water to us. 

[kamikazismom]

My kids drink 100% juice.  Some parents are concerned that juice has too much sugar, but I think it is fine :)

[rightkindofme]

When you eat a piece of fruit you are getting lots of sugar plus fiber, which helps your uhm "system" regulate.  When you drink juice you get lots of sugar.  There is currently a pretty big back lash against drinking lots of sugar because it is the current media-hype driven OHMYGODTHINKOFTHECHILDREN.  *cough*  Years ago it was fat, then carbs, now sugar.  *shrug*

Folks here are striving for "natural" by and large and juice historically didn't exist.  It's hard to make, keep fresh, and have out of season without a large food processing system in place.  So if you are shooting for natural, out of season juice isn't on the menu.  :)

For the record, I drink juice. ;)

[katelove]

I don't give my LO more than the occasional sip of my juice. As PPs have said, juice is all the sugar and none of  the fibre of fruit. Even 100% juice often contains as much fructose (the sugar which is most unhealthy for us) as some soft drinks. And one glass of juice has the sugar equivalent of several pieces of fruit. When I squeeze my own orange juice it takes 4-5 oranges to make a glass but I don't eat 4-5 oranges in a sitting.

There is an arguement that you are still getting some of the vitamins but many of them are destroyed  by the processing anyway and either re-added or just lost altogether. Although you may be able to retain some if you squeeze your own and drink it immediately. So, IMO, you'd (general you) be much better off drinking water and eating a piece of fruit.

But, I  do still drink juice,  although I'm  trying to cut down and I always mix it half and half with mineral water which helps a bit. But I've never given my LO juice in her own cup or let her have more than sips of mine. I guess that will change as she gets older but I'll try to keep her away from it as long as possible.

[crunchy_mommy]

Yeah, juice lacks the fiber as well as many of the nutrients present in the peel/membranes/etc. It's high in sugar, which can mess with your blood sugar, and I read some research awhile back that regularly drinking juice increases risk of things like diabetes, heart attack, gout, etc. Also, juice adds more calories to your diet but doesn't fill you up like food does... It can increase risk of obesity... And I feel it's wasteful since the unused portion of the fruit is discarded.

[jammomma]

We don't drink pastuerized juice, or any store bought juice because much of the nutrition is lost during processing and it doesn't taste as good and isn't as good of quality as the juice I make using my Champion juicer. The only juice we drink is fresh straight from our juicer, that way we can control the quality and it contains some pulp, and really once I had truly fresh juice the store bought stuff just doesn't taste as good.

[mumkimum]

My kids don't drink juice regularly.  Reason: because I pour them a glass and they let it sit out on the table all day long, until I found out they never drank the juice and didn't tell me.  Instead *I* drink the juice (and I do like a small glass of juice most mornings) and share sips with them.  

They like to have the juice but not drink it, plus I really try to watch their sugar depending on what else they eat so they don't drive me crazy.  It (the sugar) really affects my kids, including juice so I keep my eye on regulating it (water & unsweet herb teas are most popular for kids here, as mentioned in the other thread).

[tbone_kneegrabber]

It's expensive.

It makes ds a little nut-so.

It seems to increase pee accidents.

Inclusion of fruit juice seems to limit ds's acceptance of water as the go to beverage.

That being said, we do drink juice.  Especially when out of the house (ds doesn't drink cow's milk so juice is usually the option in a restaurant).  I usually water it down.  Ds thinks it is amazing that you can make MORE JUICE by adding water. lol

[captivatedlife]

Originally Posted by tbone_kneegrabber 

It's expensive.

It makes ds a little nut-so.

It seems to increase pee accidents.

Inclusion of fruit juice seems to limit ds's acceptance of water as the go to beverage.

That being said, we do drink juice.  Especially when out of the house (ds doesn't drink cow's milk so juice is usually the option in a restaurant).  I usually water it down.  Ds thinks it is amazing that you can make MORE JUICE by adding water. lol

This is basically the same here. I don't do a lot of juice because I'd rather purchase the fruit to have at the dinner table (a side of peach, strawberries or whatever) and drink water with our dinner. However, we do have a pitcher of juice in the fridge right now because I like to add it to sparkling water!

[raksmama]

Although my son drinks juice  every now and then I don’t buy it for home on a regular basis at home for many reasons.

1.       I think it is  better to quench thrust with water and that is a habit that one has to develop early. If you grow up drinking sweet drinks (even if they are from natural fruit) you will not develop a taste  for plain water. I know many adults like this.

2.       There are just lots more nutrients and fiber in the fruit itself

3.       I am trying to limit the amount of sugar in our diets. My son does have a sweet tooth so if he for example, has cookies made with good ingredients, it is okay, but if he would have juice along with them, it is too much sugar.

4.       I think most people eat too much sugar. Even too much natural sugar is not good. I think it is healthier to eat low glycemic.

Edited by raksmama - 7/7/11 at 11:53am

[choli]

We make fresh fruit smoothies, including skin, etc. All the fibre and nutrition of the whole fruit in an easily consumed form. That is in the morning, the rest of the day it is water or unsweetened tea for us.

I was not brought up on juice or soda, they were way too expensive to be bought on a regular basis so I never picked up the habit. My girls never picked up the habit either, as I never buy them.

[homemademom]

I agree with all of this. 

We'll do green smoothies once a week or so (a little fruit for sweetness and some spinach or other greens), but it contains all the fiber of the fruit and my kids share it, so they're not each downing the equivalent of 3 servings of fruit at one time.

Originally Posted by jalilah 

Although my son drinks juice  every now and then I don’t buy it for home on a regular basis at home for many reasons.

1.       I think it is  better to quench thrust with water and that is a habit that one has to develop early. If you grow up drinking sweet drinks (even if they are from natural fruit) you will not develop a taste  for plain water. I know many adults like this.

2.       There are just lots more nutrients and fiber in the fruit itself

3.       I am trying to limit the amount of sugar in our diets. My son does have a sweet tooth so if he for example, has cookies made with good ingredients, it is okay, but if he would have juice along with them, it is too much sugar.

4.       I think most people eat too much sugar. Even too much natural sugar is not good. I think it is healthier to eat low glycemic.

[Bokonon]

My kids drink water and eat fruit.  They drink apple juice a few times a week.

I don't give them fresh fruit juice because they would rather eat the fruit and drink water.  And I think that is just fine.

[MAMom]

We avoid juice in general for many of the reasons PP's posted.  If my kids want something other than water, they drink seltzer or herbal iced tea, esp. in the summer.  But most always for our household water is the beverage of choice.

Even the AAP takes a stance on limiting juice, and I don't consider it the most progressive of organizations  -- The Use and Misuse of Fruit Juice in Pediatrics

[littlest birds]

Originally Posted by rightkindofme  Years ago it was fat, then carbs, now sugar.  *shrug*

Folks here are striving for "natural" by and large and juice historically didn't exist.  It's hard to make, keep fresh, and have out of season without a large food processing system in place.  So if you are shooting for natural, out of season juice isn't on the menu.  :)

For the record, I drink juice. ;)

Sugar IS carbs...  There are only two things on your list.

There may have been a lot of trends, and it may be hard to decide which information is accurate, but that doesn't mean all of it is equal.  It's pretty much a question of whether our epidemic "diseases of civilization" are caused by fats or carbohydrates.  I think the case is stronger by far for sugar and flour to be to blame, with a lot of interesting politics having muddied the water and influenced dietary recommendations.

Personally, I am a lean person who eats a very high-fat low-carb diet and my kids eat substantially more carbs than we do.  I actually think kids' bodies do well with more sugars than adults.  Fruit is fine daily for the kids, but I still don't buy juice.  I think it is a poor investment of my grocery budget.  I confess I'd rather my kids have access to chocolate syrup and homegrown raspberries to top our low-sugar (with egg yolk and cream--yum!) homemade ice cream--a good honest satisfying INDULGENCE--than juice.  When we do eat sugar it ought to be special fun stuff.  The kids have a modest "teatime" treat most days.  I'm not sure how weird that is considering I eat low-carb   

[nicolelynn]

I use to be idealistic about this when I was TF and not have juice. But I had a gut yeast infection and contrary to ALL the naturopathic stuff I'd read my DO said to DRINK fruit juice because the yeast doesn't like acidic environments. I also took the medication finally at that point, but I did start drinking OJ again with breakfast everyday (I've loved OJ since I was a kid), and I got better. Go figure =).

Now that we are about to bring our 3 foster-adoptive kids home I am not going to be idealistic about this. They don't drink much water, and while I bought them each a neat water bottle and will attempt to change this, we live where it gets 120 in the summer. They come from where it is usually 20 degrees cooler and aren't use to this climate. So I am going to not freak out about giving them pasteurized organic milk and fruit juice because they DO drink these and NEED to stay hydrated. They are also on the thin/light side and need the calories. They do love fresh fruit as well so at least they do get the fiber, etc from that as well.

I won't give it to them all day long, but a glass or so per day, sure. Hopefully they will slowly grow out of it and and start drinking more water.