I love the strange looks we get when we tell extended family that our 1.5y old and 4y old kids don't drink juice. I had this exact conversation with a cousin of mine last week. She checked in with me before giving my child juice. When I told her we didn't give our kids juice this is how the conversation went:
Q: "They don't drink juice? What do they drink?"
A: "Water."
Q: "Just water?"
A: "Yep. If you want to get fancy they also drink soda water or water with lemon."
She looked judgy and baffled at how hard-ass my wife and I were about juice. But juice is straight calories in the form of sugar. There's no fibre to slow absorption like you'd get with eating the whole fruit. It's not much better, calorically speaking, than soda.
And in addition to being unhealthy, having young kids wired on sugar also makes our life harder.
Q: "They don't drink juice? What do they drink?"
A: "Water."
Q: "Just water?"
A: "Yep. If you want to get fancy they also drink soda water or water with lemon."
She looked judgy and baffled at how hard-ass my wife and I were about juice. But juice is straight calories in the form of sugar. There's no fibre to slow absorption like you'd get with eating the whole fruit. It's not much better, calorically speaking, than soda.
And in addition to being unhealthy, having young kids wired on sugar also makes our life harder.