Water and Milk Healthier for Kids

  

Offer Water Every time Children Eat

Sixty per cent of children and teens ages 2-19 are drinking one soda or other sugary drink on any given day-- sugar, water, a little flavor, chemicals, and a little fizz, according to federal statistics.

  Pediatrician, Dr. Natalie Muth states,” "For children, the biggest source of added sugars often is not what they eat, it's what they drink." Kids get about 17 percent of their calories from added sugars. About half of those calories come from drinks.

Kid Friendly

  How can we have more water and less sugar? Nutritionists note that toddlers and preschoolers need about 16 ounces of milk a day.  After that, plain water can be the beverage of choice. Two to five cups of water a day are good depending on children’s size and what they are eating. Children ages 5-8 should have 5 glasses; 7 glasses 9-12; 8-10 glasses 13+.   How do we do that?

The WIC program provides milk to families with infants.

  Offer water every time children eat. Dr. Vincent Iannelli asks,” Why not give them water or milk and a piece of fruit.? That is better for nutrition and their teeth. A medium strawberry has only ½ gram of sugar. Families can provide water during mealtimes and snacks rather than sugary juice or soda. Drinking water rather than soda is cheaper, caffeine free, sweetener free, and will become a habit.  Some suggestions to encourage drinking water include: providing everyone with really cool and safe reusable water bottles. Put cucumbers slices in the water to add flavor. Lemon may be too acidic on teeth. Send children to school with a water bottle. Choose water when eating out.  It is much cheaper.

  Nutritionists suggest families set a good example. Eat a small snack and drink water or skim milk with our children. Have our snack at the kitchen table rather in front of the TV, phone, or computer to be aware that we are eating. A very tasty milk snack is a smoothie of milk and a few strawberries. 

Detectives

  

Read Nutrition Labels - BYO Beverages

 Young children can be taught how to read numbers on nutrition labels looking for all the words for sugar-- real or artificial-- salt, and chemicals. Usually chemical additives have very long names. Children can look for the number of sugar grams and become very aware of what they eat. These little food detectives can compare labels to find the lowest amounts of sweeteners and salt in all kinds of food.

   One gram of sugar equals 1/4 teaspoon. One Coke has about 10 teaspoons of sugar. One eight -ounce glass of orange juice also has 10 teaspoons of sugar. Milk has a little over 3 teaspoons of sugar and many nutrients. Google images has pictures of sugars in drinks. Search for “one gram of sugar visual.” For more see grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and wnmufm.org.

WIC Photo: Stephanie Booth, Creative Commons, some rights reserved

Water faucet photo: mitwa17/Creative Commons

Transparent Water Bottles: Creative Commons (Attribution 3.0) Categories: Vector Background, Vector Food File Format: EPS - bottles, package, transparent, water

Taking a Second Look in Kids’ Lunch Boxes

Whole Apple Slices - NOT Processed Apple Sauce

Let’s see, pack the school lunch box, check: peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole wheat, check, one cup apple sauce, check, fruit punch, healthy lunch, check. 0pps, not so fast. Nutritionists and physicians would like families to take a closer look.

  That lunch we just sent off with our little darlings may have a whopping 75 grams of sugar. The American Heart Association suggests children have about 17 grams of sugar a day.  One rounded teaspoon of sugar or a sugar cube has about 5 grams of sugar. If we look at our lunch again, we just packed 15 sugar cubes in our children's noon meal and sent them merrily on their way. What??

  Dr. Jim Surrell colorectal surgeon whose special interest and expertise in nutrition and weight loss programs led him to write his book” SOS Diet Stop Only Sugar” helped provide information for this column.

Sugar Detectives

  With one of every three children over weight and on their way to type 2 diabetes, what can we feed children that they will eat and still be low in sugar?  Both Dr. Surrell and experts with the American Heart Association have excellent suggestions. First, start early not giving babies and toddlers food with sugar added. Read the labels. 

There are many names for sugar. If fructose, corn syrup, sweetener, dextrose, fructose, honey, or molasses, just to name a few are near the top of the ingredient 

Be A Sugar Detective

list look for alternative foods.

   The more processed the food, the more sugar content.  One packet of flavored oatmeal has 13 grams of sugar. One cup of regular oatmeal with unsweetened almond milk warmed in the microwave with a few berries 

or natural applesauce with no sugar added has much less sugar.  Older children can be trained to be sugar detectives by reading ingredient labels and adding up the sugar grams.

ABC Guide

  Dr. Surrell has a simple ABC guide in his SOS” book:” A- Avoid excess sugar!; B- Become a label reading detective!; C-Choose low sugar and high fiber!

  Let’s go back to that school  lunch. What can we do? Learn to substitute. Pack peanut butter with no added sugar as a dip for a sliced and cored medium apple (14 grams of sugar) tied with a rubber band around it.

Follow the ABC Guide

  Dr. Surrell’s other high protein, low sugar suggestions include: hardboiled egg, cottage cheese, Swiss, cheddar, Colby or string cheese, handful of dry roasted peanuts, cocoa or  plain roasted almonds, cashews, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, whole grain crackers, red or green vegetables like crunchy snap pea pods, and water. For safety include an ice box to keep food cold. If teachers ask for snacks, some of these might be sent to school.

  For more healthy suggestions see Dr. Surrell’s “SOS” book, grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com,wnmufm.org /Learning Through the Seasons live and pod casts.

Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos

Sketch: Mark Nowicki