Juice
If your child really enjoys juice and you want to
accommodate, make sure to buy organic. Because
fruit is so thin skinned, it absorbs pesticides
at an alarming rate. A container of fresh,
organic juice can be very expensive, so step over
to the frozen foods section and get a can of
organic concentrate. Check to make sure there are
no added sugars or preservatives, of course. A
can of this juice costs between five and six
dollars at my local store, but by drinking it
only at breakfast it lasts a good week. Also,
experiment with diluting the juice more than it
says to on the can until you hit the point where
the kids notice; you can usually get away with at
least one extra can of water. In the summer I put
the juice into our popsicle mold and we have
sugar free popsicles!
It’s important to know that, like any other food,
the less processed your fruit is the more it will
benefit your system. Fruit juice, for example,
may claim to provide “one serving of fruit per
serving” but it doesn’t have the fiber the whole
fruit contains. This means that you get all the
fructose the fruit contains, without the fiber to
slow digestion and prevent blood sugar from
spiking. In other words, whole fruit has a low
glycemic index and fruit juice has a
significantly higher one. Young children
shouldn’t have undiluted juice at all, as the
glut of sugar affects their systems even more so
than adults. It is recommended to dilute any
juice they drink in a ratio of one part juice,
three parts water.
The same goes for vegetable juices, the fiber is
gone, and what preservatives and additives lurk
in that “healthy” beverage? Check the label and
you may be horrified by the amounts of sodium in
many commercial vegetable juices. A good
alternative is to buy your own juicer, but be
sure to check how it’s
rated, first.. Look for
one at a pawn shop or thrift store; you can
ask them to hold it for you, then come back
with a carrot and try it out. You might get
a few weird looks but it’s better than
wasting money on a broken machine. You can
also get together with friends and chip in
for a new juicer and enjoy fresh, organic
veggie juice for a treat (be sure to save
the pulp for a few surprising recipes!)
Green on a Shoestring:
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