lemonade

[nailpolish]

hope this hasnt been discussed before.

dd loves lemonade, and dh says its better to give her non-diet, as its artificial sweetner, but i cant decide if diet or non-diet is best

please advise, TIA!

ive heard that although 'full fat' contains more sugar, the 'diet' type can contain other bad additives..we cant win can we! try googling for healthy drinks or something???sorry, not much help

ta evesmama

nailpolish - I agree with your DH on this one. I do not give my children diet drinks because of the artificial sewwteners in them. IMO children need sugar as they are so active. My eldest is 17 years old and is neither overweight, nor does he have any fillings. When DS was suspected of having food sensitivities, the dietician recommended 7UP as an additive free drink. HTH.

if not sure which one to give then why not make your own ....

Lemon Juice, freshly squeezed from 8 large lemons (1-1/2 cups)
1/2 cup of sugar, granulated - more or less to taste
5 cups cold well water
1 large lemon, cut into small wedges or thin cartwheel slices

Freshly made Ice cubes. Make fresh ice cubes, as they may pick up freezer odors over a period of time, if not used regularly.

In a large pitcher, combine the freshly squeezed lemon juice, granulated sugar and 2 cups of cold water; stir briskly to dissolve the sugar. Add the remaining ingredients and stir briskly again.

Does the water have to be from a well, MN?

No you can used bottles at source water...

Phew! It's just that the only bucket I've got has got dirty nappies in it...

I love homemade lemonade - last time I made it was in home economics many years ago, shall make some when the weather gets warmer.

ds1 loves "bubbles" - I ration it, but if he has it, it's not the diet stuff.

thanks everyone - i suppose dh is right. so its ok to give fizzy drinks in general? i dont like giving her cola, tahnkfully she hasnt discovered that yet and im kinda glad she likes lemonade out of fizzy stuff

ds1 has it as a treat every now and then - small cup, couple of times a week.

Fizzy drinks are not recommended for children, diet or otherwise as they can damage teeth. However, I think there is no harm in moderation

think ill try the homemade ones, thanks. then i can know exactly the amount of sugar.

We have managed to convince DS 3.5 that Sparkling water also full fat tonic are White Coke and he drinks these for preference. HTH

Volvic a touch of lemon is a lovely drink, dd calls it lemonade and it has no nasty additives or sweeteners.

thats a great idea julie does it come in big bottles?

Yes it comes in big bottles. They do other flavours too but the lemon is the nicest. It isn't fizzy though, that could be a drawback for you.

My kids have lemoneade occasionally as a treat. I wouldn't want them drinking diet pop because of the artificial sweeteners (although I drink Diet Coke myself ). I figure if they're not drinking it very often then the sugar isn't a big deal.

I don't want them drinking Coke because of the caffeine. (They don't need anything to keep them awake.)

Lemonade made with lemon juice, sugar and water is yummy (and we drink that sometimes too), but it's a completely different creature from Sprite / 7 Up.

ok, here's another perspective. i have diabetes, so always drink diet drinks. full sugar drinks are a very very fast way of raising your blood sugar. ds therefore has diet drinks as it's what we have at home (squash rather than fizzy ones normally). i agree that natural sugar is better than artificial sweeteners, but for me it's not a straightforward risk-benefit equation (well it is, but it'd come out the opposite to other people!). not meaning to rant (i think it might sound like that.....), just wanted to put forward a different perspective.

I don't have a problem giving the children sugar. They run it all off.

The problem is that with sweet-tasting (and very salty things too) things, is that the body gets used to them and gets desensitised to other flavours.

The main problem with fizzy drinks is that they are bad for the teeth because of the acid content, so it's best to have them in controlled situations rather than free access all day.

My kids get fizzy drinks when they eat out or go to parties, and that's probably about enough for them not to feel hard-done-by.

Thats totally understandable hoxtonchick. My main problem with sweeteners is that they give both me and my mother terrible stomach cramps, si I fugure my children may have the same tendancy.

Calpol contains sweeteners and whenever I have to give dd calpol (I try to keep it to when she REALLY needs it) she gets awful diarrohea.

I thought they weren't allowed to add artificial sweetners to medicine, I'm sure that's what a pharmacist told me once. Someone correct me if I'm wrong!

They do add sweeteners to the 'sugar free' medicines.

Calpol Infnat Suspension suitable from 3 months

Paracetamol
Maltitol
Sorbitol
Glycerol
Carmoisine (E122)

I've just looked sorbitol up. It is a naturally occuring sweetener but is known to have a laxative effect. Diabetic products containing sorbitol have a warning to this effect.

sorbitol info

Its like colourings, some such as annatto are naturally occuring but are known to have adverse side effects. I personally stick to ones such as curcumin rather than annato which are often found in fishfingers.