A couple of months ago I decided to take a hard look at how much sugar my kids were eating each day. I knew it was probably too much, but I wasn’t quite sure. We tracked it for a day and realized, oh yeah, we are going way over.
It’s not that we are just going crazy with things like candy and soda and all the things that just scream SUGAR. It’s that sugar is hiding everywhere! The yogurt, the granola bars, oatmeal, applesauce…
We started to work to lower our sugar intake. Some things are really easy and others are really difficult. One thing that I knew we could eliminate and drastically reduce our daily sugar was juice. Yes, my kids were drinking water, but they were always asking for juice. I can’t blame them – what kid wouldn’t choose fruit punch over water?
Get Your Kids Off Juice
I knew that cold turkey-ing juice and telling them to suck it up wasn’t a route I wanted to go, so I took my time at the store one day scanning all the labels. I thought for sure I could find a juice with close to no sugar but I didn’t.
I came across a new alternative and decided to try it out, it was Vitamin Water Zero. Regular Vitamin Water has plenty of sugar, but Zero has, well, zero. It also has no artificial sweeteners and includes some vitamins and minerals.
My kids love it and have not skipped a beat switching from regular juice. Besides having juice here and there at a friend’s house or an event, we have been totally juice free. It’s on small step toward lowering our sugar.
Here is the downfall, it is much more expensive than a bottle of your average juice. For me though, it’s worth the cost. There are plenty of other things I am paying more for like organic chicken and fresh fruits and veggies. Some things are worth the money if you can afford it.
If you buy in a 12 pack on Amazon (affiliate) it breaks down to .73 a bottle. I usually pay $1 or slightly over in store and the lowest I’ve ever seen on sale is .88. Amazon is definitely the way to go here.
We will probably never be a sugar-free home and I’m OK with that as long as it is in moderation. Cutting out our juice has been one easy way to cut back and I’ll be continuing to find simple little hacks to reduce it even more.
If you have tips, I’d love to hear them!
Liz is a just a mom trying to keep it real about how little she sleeps, how often she gets puked on and how much she loves them. You can find her here every day writing about real-mom moments.
