What do you drink at your meals and throughout the day?

[mleigh23]

Okay.  I know this sounds so dumb.  but what do you normally drink at each meal?  We normally drink tea sweetened with sugar.  I am definitely wanting to stop this but my children are a little picky.  We drink water but get tired of it quickly.  We have added citrus to it but our children are a bit skeptical.  We also drink kombucha occasionally.  I know I definitely need to start making it again.

So, do any of you have any tips for other things to drink.  Or just tips in general.  Also, I would love some tips on trying to get my children to eat.  I have a 4 year old that only eats certain things and then an almost 2 year old that hardly eats anything but loves his raw milk. 

Thanks in advance.

Marnita

[Jenni1894]

For breakfast my kids (8,5 and 2.5) like hot tea or milk.  Usually raspberry or green.  

Lunch is water.  Dinner is milk.

I have water bottles in the fridge that the kids help themselves to when they are thirsty.   YDD isn't a big fan of water.  But if I add some ice cubes, she's a happy little lady.  Or if I let her use ODD Hello Kitty bottle, she's happy.  lol 

Often I will make iced raspberry or green tea to serve at snack times.  

As far as getting them to eat.  I never really had this problem.  My kids usually eat whatever I put in front of them.   I serve what I serve and if they don't like it, then that's to bad.   My kids have no sensory/food issues though.   Other than certain dislikes.  DS doesn't like mushrooms, ODD olives, YDD likes everything.  lol  I have found that if you make the food cute and fun, they'll eat.  Break out your cookie cutters and cut the PB&J into a heart or other cute shape.  

If I serve something new, or something that all of a sudden someone doesn't like, well, it may not be a popular opinion, but I make them try at least a bite.   And if that goes over well I'll go for another, or have them eat one bite per their age.  And then poof it's gone! 

[mleigh23]

Thanks so much for replying.  Do you sweeten the raspberry or green tea at all?  I'm not sure how my boys would react without sweetener?  I would love to not have sweetener but it's also hard for me to enjoy it without any sweetener too.  I normally sweeten my raspberry tea with a little honey.  But, I'm hoping to cut out any type of sugar for at least 30 days to try and get it out of my system.  It's also hard because we live right beside my in laws and we are up there every day.  and we normally eat one meal or snack up there every day.  They don't eat traditional foods only and their tea is sweetened way more than mine. And, they have all kinds of processed foods there.  Also, my father in law doesn't eat most green vegetables and that scares me that his attitude toward vegetables might rub off on my children.  The good thing is that we grow vegetables for market and our children see the veggies out in the field.  but my oldest little boy has really started not eating well at all.  He used to eat all kinds of veggies and all types of meat.  Not anymore.  All he likes to eat besides fruit is PB&J sandwiches and chicken nuggets but not the ones I make at home.  I hate constantly giving him sweets whether its natural or not. 

I do try and make him take one bite of the food I put on his plate and sometimes he does and sometimes he doesn't.  I hate having to deal with huge fits at dinner every night.  He does eat eggs most mornings.  I guess its not that he doesn't eat any veggies but that I sometimes have a hard time getting him to eat.  He would rather be playing or watching something.  And my youngest son doesn't eat much still.  He loves his raw milk and loves veggies most of the time.  But he has to play with it (touch it and feel the texture and stuff) before he eats it if he eats it that is.  Now if it is something he loves, no.  He doesn't have to feel it or anything. 

It's just aggravating trying to get them to eat things they don't normally eat.  Sorry for making this post so long.

Thanks again for the advice.

[Storm Bride]

We drink water with most meals, and the kids like a glass of milk occasionally (I don't like milk much, and rarely drink it). Other than that, they like herbal teas (just Tetley), with no sweetener. I think their favourites are berry teas, peppermint tea, and anything that's a cinnamon/spice type of blend.

For treats, they get hot chocolate or hot spiced apple juice in the winter, and occasional juice in the summer.

We also do smoothies. I haven't made one in weeks, but sometimes, I make one every day.

[mleigh23]

Thanks. We are going to try a couple things and see what works.

[IsaFrench]

my youngest hardly ever eats any vegetables .... i used to fight, i no longer fight, ... we drink diluted (half water) 100% apple juice with lunch and dinner .... i assume she's getting some nutrients (vit. C ?) from that ....

i have 3 kids, they all look very different in built and have different food preferences  .... so, to me, now, after 12 years scratching my head about what is/was the best option i "should" provide as a mother feeding her family ....... what i put on the table, in the end, isn't exactly exactly what made the difference on how they grew physically ...

[mamacrosland]

We drink mostly water and raw milk.  We don't buy juice anymore (haven't in over a year), but they get it at my parents' (annoying!).  We drink herbal tea every once in a while with a little raw honey.  DH and I drink coffee.  We use either cream from my raw milk or half and half and a little bit of organic sugar.  Eventually I want to stop drinking this, but it might take a while.  About a month ago I quit drinking soda (a long-term addiction!). 

[incorrigible]

Mostly water. I also make up what we call "Vitamin Juice" a few times per week, and we drink that like one might drink juice. And sometimes we drink Kefir. Ds absolutely craves Kefir if he's been playing sports or something. Vitamin juice is based on Susan S. Weed's "Nourishing Herbal Infusions". But, the only thing any of us likes by itself are mints...so I make mixtures, based on our current activity and eating habits. It almost always has spearmint in it. lol And it usually has stevia leaves in it as well. Not the super processed bleached stuff you get in the store, but just dried leaves (ok, like a single dried leaf. And it's sweet like sweet tea). Aflalfa and oatstraw are common. Raspberry leaf is something we hate unless we're craving it (which tends to follow our hormonal patterns), so maybe that. I don't add anything "medicinal" just "nutritional". The kids enjoy it, and tend to ask me to make it if they've been feeling run down at all...as it is great at counteracting the afternoon "blahs".

Oh, and people keep giving us random things that we occasionally get into.. Like the elderly neighbor brings over whatever her grandkids didn't eat when they visited. She is really sweet and trying to do something nice, so I just let the kids have whatever it is as a treat, and they give anything too junky for their tastes to friends that eat that kind of thing regularly (and then their friends families pass us things that were "too healthy" and their kids wouldn't eat). I think we have like a year's supply of hot cocoa, and a drawer in the kitchen full of root beer. 

[GreenVariety]

Depending on what you read/who you talk to you should not drink anything 15 (or more) minutes before or after a meal to give the digestive juices a chance to do their work. Drinking dilutes. Some drinks dehydrate... you get the idea.

We stay away from sugar and pastaurized anything in our family (although I do get a cranberry concintrate...organic to add to kombucha which is cultured). I have suspected fructose malabsorption and there is lots of documentation on pasturized juices or dairy causing problems (there is also information on the other side and my intent is not to debate). Sally Fallon and many paleo and primal advocates avoid all pasturized juices because of how it affects the body. So we stick to kombucha and water mostly. Ginger kombucha is a favorite for my son and husband. If you want I'm sure I can dig up some quick links but won't bilboard the discussion otherwise. 

Food Renegade and Mommypotamus have some great stuff. Food Renegade has a fermented lemonade (which I am going to be making here shortly as I am 18 weeks pregnant and loving probiotics and lemon right now).

My husband does drink cold pressed coffee in coconut milk in the mornings (we make our own coconut milk ~ check out mommypotamus for a good tutorial). He also drinks a gluten free beer when it's in the budget now on occasion. I will also make lemonade with honey (or maple syrup but I suspect sorghum would work too), Ascorbic Acid and water if the little one needs extra vitamin C. I do get vitamin C from tapioca so that it's not a corn source as most are Genetically Modified or are from China now.

Another wonderful option is bone broth. Incredibly healing and yummy. Also boosts the digestion. This is a GAPS diet trick.

[GreenVariety]

saw this today thought I would share - http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/video-fermented-hindu-lemonade/