With the world juicing trend well underway – and many juice fasting – what is the right way to juice with kids? Should you or shouldn’t you get your child to juice fast?
With so many people receiving renewed health from juice fasts, which is wonderful, it seems many are considering juice fasting for their children. I have read this in news articles and in questions on forums.
Seek Professional Advice
I encourage anyone who considers these matters to speak to a qualified nutrition professional for advice.
My personal opinion is that commonsense should be our guide. We know that with a body and mind still growing and developing, the nutritional requirements of children differs to adults. Kids need to learn good eating habits to have a good food body relationship and they need to eat to grow and develop properly.
Marketers are Working Hard
But marketers are working hard to convince parents that children need to juice cleanse. Some marketing their packaged cleanse programs to children as young as two years old.
An article in the New York Post states “The parents want their kids to lose a few pounds and ‘eat healthy’ — but your body needs a certain number of calories for your heart to beat. If [you cleanse] before puberty, you can delay growth.”
Juice to Supplement
I was raised as a juicing kid and my son has been drinking a daily juice for over five years. In my view juicing is a wonderful supplement to your child’s daily nutrient intake but shouldn’t be used to replace meals and here’s why;
- Kids need calories (so do adults).
- Fresh juice has the insoluble fiber from the fruit and vegetables removed. Insoluble fiber is an essential part of our body’s daily needs. It keeps the bowel regular by adding bulk to stools and moves food more quickly through the stomach and intestines.
- Children need to learn the art of healthy eating and they do that by being part of family meal times.
- While fresh vegetable juice is densely nutritious, juice on its own doesn’t provide the full spectrum of nutrients your child’s growing body needs. Select healthy foods for your child to eat and boost their nutrient intake with fresh vegetable juice.
Our Story
My husband and I juice to supplement my son’s meals, never to replace them – with one exception which is birthday parties. Although we eat organic whole-food at home, we allow our son to join in birthday celebrations without limitation. On party days I’ll fill him up on fresh juice before he leaves home in the hope that this will limit the amount of party food he consumes.
Enjoy juicing as a family. A daily fresh vegetable juice is a wonderful habit to pass onto your children, but keep the habit healthy.
Happy Juicing
Juicingkids.com helps parents and carers create life-long juicers out of their children.
As a child I stood at the juicer with my mother and now my son does the same with me. Experience has taught me how to start a child drinking fresh, raw nutrient dense vegetable juice and then keep them doing it as a daily habit.
In our home now we make a daily vegetable juices with a little low sugar fruit added for taste. Kids need parents and carers to to guide them lovingly through this over processed and hyper marketed world of foods to teach them how to love and nourish their bodies.
www.juicingkids.com
