“An eye-opening 2008 study in the journal Pediatrics found that today’s youths take in 10 to 15 percent of their total daily calories from sugar-sweetened beverages (like soda, sports drinks, and fruit drinks) and 100-percent fruit juice. Further, kids’ average daily caloric intake from these beverages increased from 242 calories to 270 calories over the past ten years and continues to rise. Most of these drinks contain empty calories, meaning they provide simple sugars but little else in the way of nutrients. What’s more, although highly calorie-dense, beverages do not trigger the same satiety mechanisms as solid foods. This means that your kids are unlikely to feel full from drinking lots of soda or juice and therefore will not innately compensate for the extra liquid calories they slurp up, which can result in weight gain in the long term.”
I am an art teacher and every day I see my students consuming so much junk food and unhealthy snacks. I wonder why parents buy this junk and give it to the kids? They care about the cars they drive and put the most expensive fuel in it, but buy junk food and put it on kids plate or in the lunch box. Solution?
Solution is simple instead of buying all the junk food for your kids like chips and candies full of unhealthy ingredients make them homemade plant base snacks like raw chocolates, raw cookies, smoothies and raw ice cream made of organic fruits and veggies as well as nuts and superfoods. You probably already have the supplies like blender or food processor and some bananas, strawberries, apples and spinach.
