Where does the food police rank.............................?

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Fruit Shoot H2O?

DTDs have just been to a party & the options for drinking were Classic fruit shoot, Fruit Shoot H20 or bottled water. They wouldn't go for water as all there friends had classic fruit shoots, but were happy with the H2O version.

This got me wondering, would a fruit shoot H2O actually be better than squash, which currently makes up about 30-50% of what they drink (remainder is water or milk).

I would not feed anything with artifical sweeteners in it to my kids I loathe detest and hate them.
Squash we prefer is the Rocks cordial - sugaryes but you make it weaker and limit it. High juice is ok too.
mostly we prefer watered down smoothies or water...

I though all squash had sugar or sweeteners in it?

It's the sweeteners that are the problem, not the sugar. Sugar might not be good in large quantities, but sweeteners are awful.

We tend to give dd water or diluted fruit juice, although she likes Rocks squash (sugary, but nothing nasty).

Sweeteners are definitely the problem. We have loads of squash with sweeteners in the house as dh is diabetic and prefers cold drinks to tea etc. DD rarely has them though, I give her watered down fruit juice or water. She will have fruit shoots on occasion though, if we are out or at a party or whatever.

NdP - sweeteners don't count as flavourings as they have their own category and have E-numbers. Flavourings don't officially count as additives when it comes to food labelling and are not assigned E numbers.

Saying something is preservative or colouring free to cover the fact it has other nasties in it is fairly common practice in the food industry, unfortunately.

Righhhhhhhht CheesyFeet. Thanks for clearing that up [quietly boggling emoticon]

I don't 'get' why people think sugar free is better - if there's no sugar in it but its sweet, then what precisely is there instead?

Companies marketing products with sweeteners to kids should have their marketing cheifs publicly strung up with fruit winders.

It is a pretty safe bet that if something says "Creamy" on it, it has no dairy in it, etc etc. "Low fat" means high sugar and salt. "No added sugar" means sweetened with loads of apple juice, and/or artificial sweetener. "No artificial flavours" means "yes, everything else is artificial".

where do you guys get rocks squash from?? I give my kids high juice because of the aspartame in other squashes but it costs us a small fortune so am constantly on the look out for alternatives

Sainsburys sell Rocks Organic. It's a bit expensive but worth it IMO.

cheers glt, what size bottles do they sell it in?

Exactly, NQC - I don't exactly think label reading is rocket science. We need also to ask "what has been done to this product to get it to the state in which I am about purchase it?" Its not hard and small decisions at the supermarket/corner shop are what can help build a healthier future for our children.

rockd is found in the organics sections.

It comes in glass bottles of 740ml. Same size as a wine bottle.

I read a report recently by a nutritinist (Times I exxpect, only paper I get a lot, could be First mag) that said the jury was still out on H20 type drinks.

DS1 loves j20- thinks the funky logo'ing is cool, and loves the taste, but always seems to get given fruit shoots at parties. Yuck. tasted one once- never agin, foul. Wouldn't buy myself.

Often buy the 'go' drinks as just fruit juice and water, and similar style bottles (sports caps useful for carnival)

I think people think sugar-free is better because it won't rot their kids' teeth, but they forget that it will then contain disgusting sweeteners instead.

People go for the sugar-free because the manufacturers tell them that it's better, and many people don't bother looking into it any further.

this is what the boys drink atm; haven't had any hyper issues yet, and ds1 is very receptive to additive issues

Luckily i've never been pressured to buy any 'crappy' drink other than lemonade or various fruit juices. Do boys pressurise more than girls? Does living in a village mean somehow my kids are less susceptable than more street-wise urban kids?

Have had food police blue flashing light in handbag at the ready for supermarket shopping but not needed it yet...mind you, dd1 just started secondary school so have to relinquish vice-like grip on such matters. Still, you do the best you can for as long as you can then hope they make the right decisions for themselves.

I find my sad look of ooh poor child when the boys tell me that X gets choc chip cookies for their healthy snack works a treat LOL! Dh wills ay 'And so you know how much mummy loves you when she doesn't give you that don't you?'

'And so you know how much mummy loves you when she doesn't give you that don't you?'

(and eats them herself when you're in bed)

Not me.... dh will ahve snaffled them first, if worth having

think its a bit unfair to say people don't bother looking, fortunately most people on here are educated into the dangers of aspartame etc. It is not widely publicised and some people just don't have the capacity to question or 'get it'.

that sounds really patronising andf its really not meant to be, what I'm trying to say is that some peole have just never questioned it as they haven't accessed the information which leads you to do so.

No, granted - not everyone would 'get it'. I was referring to MNetters I suppose. But if you can read the "No Added Sugar!!!!" and be seduced by it then turning the package round and reading the label isn't a huge step. But maybe that is the educational/social divide: those who turn it round and those who don't.

But dh used to buy squash and show it to me saying 'I got the no added sugar one specially'. he also used to buy fruit shoot's and absolutely worst of all Lucazade. (OK - he no longer does any of these).
But you can't say it's just an educational/social divide thing as we both have the same levels of education, similar social background (if anything he is slightly posher), and both our mothers cook from scratch as do we. Also he works in advertising so SHOULD be even more clued up than I am about their tricks