Naturalpath

I read in the San Francisco Chronicle the other morning that the Strategic Alliance for Healthy Food and Activity Environments, a non-profit Oakland, California-based group of nutrition and physical exercise advocates, just completed a study about the actual fruit content of the most highly-advertised children's food and drinks.  They looked primarily at products linked with fruit, either through the product name, phrases on the label, and/or pictures displayed on the packaging.  They specifically looked to see if indications of fruit represented any link to actual fruit contained in the product.  The results were not surprising...  Two-thirds of the products reviewed contained little or no fruit, and were high in added sweeteners (such as high fructose corn syrup).  The Strategic Alliance concluded that the package labels and advertising regarding both fruit and sugar content were confusing not only for children, but for parents too. 

Good fruit options for kids?  Slice up a nice, real piece of fruit.  Not an easy option? Look for organic dried fruit with no preservatives or artificial colors added. 

Do your kids like fruit juice as much as mine?  I read also that fruit juice often contains nearly no nutritional value -- just loads of sugar.  Since apple juice is a staple in my house I switched to unfiltered fresh apple juice (or bottled in a pinch).  I'd been diluting it with water since the kids were little, but now I've taken advice from Sarah Snow (Discovery Health Channel) and started diluting apple juice with Celestial Seasonings Orange Spice Tea.  The baby doesn't like it, but my older kids do.