My 8-year old stepdaughter doesn't react well to having a lot of sugar, she gets hyper and mean. We try to restrict the amount of sugar she has at our house, and she's not allowed to have any sugar at night (eating sugar at night means she can't get to sleep).
I'm trying to come up with healthy drink alternatives to water. She claims she doesn't like water because it has no taste and is always begging for juice. As far as I know, most juice has quite a bit of sugar in it. She also does not like to drink milk.
I want to avoid aspartame, sucralose and saccharin and artificial sweeteners. I've tried making Kool-Aid with Truvia or Stevia and that seems to be OK because it has some flavor. However, I'm wondering if anyone else has any other suggestions.
Any other ideas? Good juices to buy? I've started watering down the juice a bit. The other issue is she drinks juice and pop all day long at her mom's house. She seems to crave it at ours!
I've heard that water with slices of cucumber is really good - never tried it though.
I usually add some lemon juice to my water. I water down my son's juice a lot! Unfortunately, he gets it full blast at school and camp so he knows the difference.
How about iced tea? You can buy decaf tea bags. Just brew and serve. I grew up in a family that drank alot of tea. There's always a gallon in the fridge. You can use the Truvia/Stevia to sweeten if you want. My 1 year old loves tea. He doesn't drink it all the time, but I think it's a better alternative to juice.
When I make a gallon, I just boil a small pan of water and add 6 -8 tea bags (the regular sized bags) to the water and I turn it off when it boils. Pour the "concentrate" into the gallon pitcher and add cold water and stir. Takes about 5 minutes.
Also, you could make "sun" tea. Just add the tea bags to a glass container and leave it outside in the sun. Your daughter might be a little more apt to try it that way. Good Luck!!!
Maybe try buying a juicer? Let her pick her favorite fruits and veggies to make the juice and then she drinks what she makes.
Try watermelon or canteloupe agua fresca. Basically, you puree melon and a tiny bit of lime juice, add water, and then strain the whole thing. It's very cool and refreshing, not too sweet. I'm addicted. The New York Times published a couple recipes maybe a month or so ago for it.
You can also try various iced herbal teas with a little bit of honey in them. This is still a little sugary but you can control how much sugar. I also like the cucumber water.
It's a bit pricey, but she might like the Vitamin Water 10. It's sweetened with Stevia & comes in all kinds of flavors. My kids have had a few sips of mine and love it, especially the orange flavored one. Since it's more expensive than buying juice, it might be best as a once-in-a-while treat! One other thing that I've noticed is that my kids will happily drink plain water if it's ice cold. If I fill my daughter's Foogo (stainless steel) thermos in the morning with ice & water, it stays really cold and she'll sip from it all day. Good luck!
My kids LOVE Roaring Waters from Capri Sun. It says it is a "water beverage". Low cal low sugar. It tastes to me like watered down kool aid but the girls LOVE it. There's tropical fruit, strawberry kiwi, berry and maybe some other flavors. Find in the juice aisle near the regular Capri Sun. It's nice because it's in a juice bag like other drinks. Also, Honest Kids is another low cal low sugar water beverage. My girls don't like it quite as much as the Roaring Waters--but girls in my scout troop like it. Again, it's in a bag so it's portable and like a regular drink. In both cases, the girls will drink them at room temp but prefer them icy cold....Good Luck!!
We drink LaCroix water at our house. (It comes in cans -- usually in 12-packs -- at the grocery store.) My 11-year-old has liked it for several years now. It's carbonated and no sugar. (Neither of us really likes water but we do like this.) You could also do seltzer water with a lemon in it. She might not like these options, but you could try.
Good for you on controlling the sugar. I'm on the same road so this post helps others, too. I'd forgotten about this until reading your post.
My neighbor put me on to putting fruit that is very ripe, almost overripe, into the bottom of a pitcher and add water. Let it sit overnight & the water gets the flavor from the fruit without being juice. He says you can use the fruit on a few refills. I had it has his house and it really was good, he had grapes & peaches in it while we were there.
D.
i know this may sound funny but... over in the baby part of the store where the baby juice is they have GRADUATES FRUIT SPLASHERS fruit juice. It has 40% less sugar than the leading 100% fruit juice*, and you cant taste the different i even drink it it is made with PURIFIED WATER so you mite try that good luck
