Using A Fruit And Vegetable Juicer to Get Your Children Into a Juicing Habit

One of the reasons we find it challenging to change our diet is that it is exactly that, CHANGE, and most of us really don’t like to do things differently. One way to make life easier (as well as healthier) for your children is to get them started off the right way, to make fresh fruit, and other raw foods generally a habit right from the start, and this really begins with juices made with a fruit and vegetable juicer.

When a baby is born it needs milk and nothing else for around six months. Many women give their babies water in addition to milk, and in recent times there has been a trend towards fruit juice. If you want to give your child fruit juice at an early age, two things are very important.

The first is that the juice should be extremely watered down (with filtered water) as natural fruit juices are far too strong for a baby’s stomach.

The second is that, if the juice was purchased, you must check the label. When you do, you may well be shocked at the small amount of nutrition in the juice. Avoid anything with extra sweetener. Yes, your baby will probably enjoy the sweetness, but the development of a sweet tooth is something you really want to avoid.

If you baby doesn’t like watered down natural juice, don’t give them juice at all. Small babies really don’t need it.

As your child grows, introduce them to a juice mixture, and not from the sweetened variety, but made with good quality fruit juicer, such as an Omega 4000 juicer or the Acme 6001 juicer. You can create a wide variety of mixtures with a fruit and vegetable juicer. (Some tasty recipes below). The addition of some sparkling water makes a very refreshing drink and you can reduce the proportion of sparkling water as the child grows, or not. Many adults enjoy the combination.

In doing this you have three objectives:

1. To give them the many nutrients available in fresh juices.
2. To instill the habit of drinking fresh juice.
3. To get them used to the taste of real juice without extra sweeteners.

Research shows that children who are accustomed to fresh fruits juices find many shop bought juices, desserts and snacks too sweet. This one difference in diet can go a long way to prevent obesity and diabetes in later life.

In April 2010 new research showed that children and teens who drink 100% freshly made fruit juice have higher intakes of key nutrients compared to non – consumers. The researchers reported that a higher proportion of non fruit juice consumers 2 – 18 years of age failed to meet the recommended levels for several key nutrients, including vitamins A, C and folate compared to those who drank fruit juice. Lead researcher Dr Carol O’Neil said ’100% fruit juice plays an important role in the diets of children and teens supplying important nutrients during a key period of growth and should be encouraged as part of an overall balanced diet’.

If diluted fruit juice is on the table for both you and your child from day one, it’s likely to be some time before resistance sets in, but at some point there will be some resistance, and there are a number of ways to deal with it.

If your child is one who always wants to do the opposite to what you tell them to (and many go through that phase)  make yourself freshly made juices but keep it to something simple like apple and carrot so that it has a nice sweet taste. Always make time to sit down together and drink it leisurely and when you are asked what it is say, ‘ This is a very special drink, I’m sure you wouldn’t like it’, keep this up until one day you make an excuse to leave your drink on the table near the child, 10 – 1 they will have had a sip while you’ve been gone. Eventually if they liked it they will ask if they can have one too and then you both can have fun.

Another thing you can do is buy yourself a special cup, mug or glass exclusively for your juice, choose one that is in the colors or a pattern that you know your child will like and that you could buy another in the same set. Don’t drink anything else out of it and when you are eventually asked ‘Can I have one like that’ you say, ‘ This is a  very special mug/glass and only for drinking this special drink out of but if you ever have one of these drinks I’ll buy a special one for you too’. See what happens.

It’s sad but true that it’s a bad idea to tell any child that they ‘have’ to drink the juice or that it’s good for them. There seems to be no faster way to put them off!

Children love to be involved in what you’re doing, so let them choose the fruit and vegetables in the store, and let them help you wash them when you get home.  Kids love playing in water and if they are doing something useful all the better. You can also let them feed the fruit into your fruit juicer which could become a juice ‘monster’ with a funny name) and make the diluted juice a very special reward for all their hard work.

*Some fruits do much better in a fruit and vegetable juicer than others. Apples, watermelon, pears and citrus fruits do well, while bananas, strawberries, blueberries, stone fruit (peaches, nectarines) tomatoes etc. do better in a blender.

Here are a few recipes to enjoy with your child.

YOU ARE A PEACH

2 Peaches

1 Pear

1 Apple

Take the stones from the peaches.  And juice all ingredients together in your juicer.

YUMMY APPLE JUICE

2 Sweet Apples

4 Large Carrots

1 Red Bell Pepper

Remove seeds from pepper if your juicer can’t cope with them. Cut in half. Juice the apples and carrots followed by the pepper.

RASPBERRY NECTARINE

1 Orange

1/2 cup Raspberries

1 Nectarine

Peel the orange and cut into quarters, pit the nectarine and juice all together.

SPARKLY FRUIT JUICE

1/2 Mango

1 Orange

1 Kiwi

Sparkling mineral water

Peel the mango, orange and kiwi, juice them. Pour into glass and top up with sparkling mineral water.

Puberty is a difficult time when children need good nutrition to help them grow and to even out those hormonal changes. By getting your child into a fruit and veggie ‘habit’ at an early age, you provide a good foundation for every aspect of their lives and increase the probability that they’ll continue eating a healthy diet into adulthood. Together you can look forward to introducing fresh juices made in your  juicer to your grandchildren.