I had to admit I didn’t have a clue what the correct answer was and I asked my children what they thought was the better option. This got us talking about which beverage is better i.e. the least unhealthy option.
Fruit juice can be made with real fruit and contain natural
healthy sugars, though how much fructose is too much I don’t know. Fruit juice
can also contain a low percentage of fruit juice and large amounts of water,
sugar and flavourings.
Soft drinks are loaded with sugar and artificial colours and
flavours. Some soft drinks, such as cola, also contain questionable chemicals
(as might other beverages via preservatives and additives).
Flavoured milk is also choc full of sugars and artificial
colours and flavours.
At a guess we’d have said fruit juice is the better option,
yet, without knowing the exact amounts of sugar each beverage contains it’s
hard to say.
We also talked about flavoured ice pops vs ice creams. We
guessed that ice pops would be better, coloured pops worse, followed by ice
creams, and lastly ice creams with additives such as chocolate, sprinkles, lollies,
cones, etc.
Home made lemonade, cordials and lemon verbena tea were
beverages I recommended my children could have, suggesting they stick to water
during the day and come home to a refreshing home made beverage. At least sugar
levels can be personally altered and we know what's in them because we made them ourselves.
Since then I’ve looked it up and found the best to worst
beverages regarding sugar content are: fruit drinks, orange juice, energy
drinks, flavoured milk, sports drinks, then soft drinks. Surprising?
The point is this got us talking and thinking and working this topic out together. Now my children and I are more mindful about the un-healthiness
of certain beverages and we had a fun conversation about sugar content in drinks and foods. They've come away having learned something which is the point to parenting; to teach your children how to navigate the world.
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