quote:

Originally posted by Suasoria:
A counter-service lunch place I go to puts lemon and cucumber slices in their big water urn. I luuurrrve it. I don't have a sweet tooth but maybe that would satisfy the urge for flavor in water?

Or a big jug of water in the fridge with other sliced fruits like strawberries or peaches?

I've been offered fruit flavored "waters" often at the homes of some of Hubby's friends and relatives (from Mexico). I think they do that, just put some fruit in a big pitcher with lots of water.

I also think gradually decreasing the amount of sugar in the children's Kool-aid might be one way to wean them off of it.

My two cents on forbidden foods: when I was little, my mom became really health conscious. We only had cookies for special occasions, and chips and sodas and things only at picnics or parties, or other people's houses. When I got to be 11 or so years old, and on into middle school and beyond (I was a skinny kid who could eat a lot of food), if the "forbidden" foods were available, I would eat lots of it. When I got my own spending money, I would buy candy. When I got my first job, I would buy junk food. I'm not blaming Mom for my food addiction, but the allure of the forbidden is a very real thing for some of us. Also, once my metabolism changed so I couldn't eat like that anymore and not gain weight (and it gets slower all the time), I still missed being able to eat like that.

--J--

Another good drink is iced tea, which we drank a lot growing up in tropical south Texas. We weren't allowed Koolade, but my Mom installed a water fountain for us. She used to drink quart jars full of iced coffee and always kept a container of ice water or iced tea for the mailman to cool off with. When I don't want the caffeine, herbal teas make good cold drinks. There is a water here sold as Metromint which comes in peppermint, lemon mint and chocolate mint flavors. It is very refreshing and has no sweetener. I've taken the cue and made iced peppermint tea. Delicious.

Caught this on a message board and thought you guys might be interested -

For Slow Food Los Angeles members and friends:

"Fresh Mouth": Thanks to Marion Nestle for the pointer (http://whattoeatbook.com/2008/02/19/teaching-kids-to-eat-real-food/
) to a new blog titled "Fresh Mouth." Its description: "A family of 5,
1 mission to eat only fresh food or processed food with 5 ingredients
or less for 30 days. How we survived without McNuggets, Cheerios, and
even organic cookies." In the kick-off post, Eileen Dolbeare explained:

We've decided to do an experiment and teach the kids about healthy
eating and real, whole food as a way of life and not as a means to
scoring sugar. Our 10-month old son is motivation, too. He's on the
cusp of eating real foods, and we want to sustain his untainted palate
for as long as possible.

So, we start Fresh Mouth - our 30-day bender on all things fresh,
whole and reasonably unprocessed. We're not as hard core as the
locavores of late. We admire Barbra Kingsolver and her crew, but we'll
still eat chicken from the plants of Perdue. We can't go all organic
all the time because we can't afford it. So, we'll make compromises
here and there. Organic milk one week, organic beef the next. We'll
sow our seeds and grow our own herbs and veggies in the spring.

We'll take the lead from food studies prof Marion Nestle and writer
Michael Pollan. We'll eat only fresh foods and processed foods with
five ingredients or less. If we can't pronounce the names of the
ingredients, we won't buy or eat them.

We're an average American family trying to eat better and enjoy it
more. We'll convince our three little kids that fresh food is about
pleasure, rituals and family - and not about red dye #40, high
fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated oils.

Yesterday was Day 8, so hop on board. It should be an interesting
journey:
http://familyfresh.blogspot.com/

Thanks for the advice, and I will try putting less sugar in the kool aid. Also adding fruit juice to it is a good idea, thanks alot.

Here are Kool-Aid's ingredients:

KOOL-AID POWDERED - SOFT DRINK MIX - GRAPE SUGAR FREE
Ingredients: CITRIC ACID (PROVIDES TARTNESS), MALTODEXTRIN (FROM CORN), ASPARTAME (SWEETENER), CALCIUM PHOSPHATE (PREVENTS CAKING), ACESULFAME POTASSIUM (SWEETENER), SALT, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, RED 40, ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), BLUE 1.
Size: 1.2 OZ
Upc: 4300093976

This is crap, actually dangerous for children, except for the citric acid (vitamin C). Nothing but various chemicals, either sugar or another chemical, artificial flavor and colors. Adding it to juice would only be adulterating the juice with chemicals. I recommend to the parents in my classes that they never ever feed Kool-Aid to their kids.

Healthful drinks for children include: 100% fruit juices diluted with more water, low fat milk, water, soy milk.

I hope y'all don't mind. I gonna tell a litle joke.

3 fathers were at a football game watching their sons play.

Daddy # 1's son took a hand off from the quarterback and ran 97 yards for a touch down. His Dad jumped to his feet and stated. We raised him on his Momma's breast milk ain't he a dandy.

Daddy #2's son was playing defense and intercepted a pass and ran 45 yards for a touchdown. His Dad jumped to his feet and shouted, we raised him on carnation milk ain't he something!

Daddy #3's son took a handoff from the 1 yard line, where he tripped and fell, As he was falling, he fumbled the ball. The opposing team recovered in the endzone for a touchdown. His daddy stated. We raised him on Milk of Magnesia, aint he the S#its.

Daddy #4's son recovered a fumble in the end zone and ran over a hundred yards for a touch down. His Daddy jumped up and said-We raised him on prune juice-look at him run.

I am actually a bit scared of soy.....

The meat and dairy lobbies have done a really good job attacking soy over the last decade or so. There is legitimate concern about the proportion of soy we get in our diets, and the overreliance on it as a crop monoculturally because of pesticides and GMOs. It is also a common allergen.

BUT: if you avoid highly processed foods, aren't allergic, and are careful about choosing organic soy then you probably needn't fear the boogeyman that has been created.

Bottom line, it's a great food with some pretty awesome health benefits if you're not into getting cancer, osteoporosis, etc.

A soy yogurt a day keeps the doctor away...but there are also rice milks (which I prefer) and nut milks too.

I want to second the "you can have juice/sprite/whatever junk drink I'm offering"--*after* you drink this glass of water.

Our simple answer to the quandary is just to never have sweet drinks in the house. It has always been this way, and the kids are so used to it they hardly think about it. But I realize it's not so simple if they're already accustomed to sodas or whatever. And, of course, my kids gorge themselves on sweet drinks when at other peoples's houses.

On occasion, we *will* have juice and even occasionally something awful like kool-aid or (non-caffeinated) soda in the house. In those cases, the children are allowed to have them, but only after they drink what I think is a reasonable amount of water--they get their hydration from the water, and the sweet drink becomes sort of like a "dessert" or treat, rather than "what they drink."

They are also allowed to drink milk--both organic cow milk and organic soy milk--but generally choose water instead.

I imagine gradually tapering off the amount of sugar added should help. I personally am so accustomed to drinking water that commercial sweet drinks make me want to gag. I do like a little lemon or other fruit flavor once in a while. I'll have to try cucumbers--that sounds good!

Wanted to add--we also drink fresh pressed juices on a more or less regular basis (mostly depending on what is locally in season because only very fresh produce tastes good as juice--store-bought apples produce weak, tasteless juice, for instance). I generally don't think that packaged fruit juices are very much better than sugar-sweetened drinks. They are generally so heavily processed that all the good stuff is destroyed and all that's left is fruit sugars and a little weak flavor.

One of our favorite drinks around here is fresh-pressed farmer's market apples (not much available this past Fall, alas, because of the drought) of various varieties mixed with carrot juice and a clove or two of garlic. The garlic gives it a nice "kick." This is a terrific energy drink--more effective, tastier, and WAY healthier than caffeine and sugar.

The disadvantage, like so many other "slow foods," is that it does take time to prepare this drink. On the other hand, we also consider that an advantage, because it drives us to drink more water while we're waiting on our "sweet" drink to be prepared. And, by the way, fresh-pressed juices are so potent they can substitute for a light meal or snack on occasion.

Oh, and one more thing. Another advantage to preparing this drink is what it teaches kids about gratification. Instead of the instant, thoughtless gratification of a soda or kool-aid, it requires some investment of thought and time. We have to consider first whether it's worth that investment before we bother. Besides, the kids enjoy tossing bits of apples into the juicer and helping to press the lengths of carrots through the chute.

I don't think that allowing even rare "treats" of chemicals and sugar is a good idea. Why let any of this unhealthful stuff get inside our precious babies? Children get along just fine without sodas, sunny delight, kool aid, etc. Just go cold turkey, don't buy it anymore, don't ever serve it or permit it, and they forget about it. And you can insist that friends and relatives not serve them junk, too. Would you let anyone give your child a cigarette? or a beer?

When out in public, sometimes people such as a shoe salesman would want to give my kids a lollipop. I would say fine, as long as I can send you their dental bills; they always withdrew the offer. I did make the kids good desserts, such as apple crisp, or other yummy treats made from fruit.

As they grew up my kids really didn't want all that stuff. In fact, older DS once ate a bunch of junk at a neighborhood birthday party at about age 6 and threw up all night. His stomach couldn't handle it because he didn't get it at home. He never tried again. He's 42 years old now and still doesn't eat or drink sweets or junk food.