3 healthy kid-friendly drink options

Milk and water are the go-to choice for many parents when their kids are thirsty and need a drink.

In fact, there are so many other drinks on the market that are aimed at kids – but just because a drink has a cartoon character on the side or comes with a cool straw doesn’t mean it is a healthy choice for children!

Unfortunately most commercial drinks for kids contain excessive amounts of sugar, colours, and other additives that our kids don’t really need.

Here we share our insight into what is in those drinks, and give you some tips for making a healthier choice.

3 yummy and healthy kid-friendly drinks

1. Juice

It seems like a healthy choice, right? But a lot of juice for kids is made from concentrate and contains whopping great amounts of sugar (for instance one cup of apple juice contains 6.5 teaspoons of sugar), and it lacks the fibre that you would find in the fruit itself.

Always try to offer real fruit to kids as much as you can. Keep the fruit bowl well stocked and let them know that this should be their first port of call at snack time.

If you want to give your kids juice on occasion, try diluting it with water or soda water.

Make your own healthy juice punch at home in the blender or food processor. Bring together 1½ cups of fresh fruit (think watermelon, strawberries, kiwis or pineapple) with the juice of 2 limes, a tablespoon of honey and a handful of ice. Pour into a jug and top up with cold water or soda water, and mix well.

Or check out our Hydrating Juice (pictured above) recipe here.

2. Milkshakes

If you are ordering a child a milkshake in a café, don’t be shy to ask them to use half the normal amount of syrup and ice cream. The kids won’t notice the difference but you will be drastically reducing the sugar content.

If your child isn’t too keen on plain milk, add a bit of flavouring to their milk. Think a tablespoon of cocoa and a squeeze of honey added to their milk and blended; or try making them a healthy hot chocolate on the stove with the same ingredients.

Our Healthy Kids CHOCOLATE Smoothie is also designed to be mixed with milk and tastes just like a healthy chocolate milkshake!

3. Smoothies

They seem like the better choice as they don’t have the syrups like milkshakes, but commercially prepared smoothies can also be a sugar bomb.

Some juice bars add juice concentrate to their smoothies, while others add ice cream or large amounts of sweetener. A popular ice cream bar sells a banana smoothie which contains almost 13 teaspoons of sugar in one small container.

If you are ordering a smoothie, ask for it to be made with real fruit, milk, ice and honey only (if it needs sweetening).

Make the kids a healthy smoothie at home just as you would when you make your own Healthy Mummy Smoothie (minus the smoothie powder).

Try a watermelon strawberry smoothie (pictured above) for 2, made with a handful of fresh strawberries, ½ cup of chopped watermelon, 1 cup of milk, and 4 ice cubes.