Sugar is one of the main contributors of child obesity but sometimes it’s hard to believe how much sugar is in everything! When it comes to our little ones we want them to have the best possible upbringing – this includes everything from what they do to what they eat. Of course if they fancy a McDonalds meal every now and then it wouldn’t hurt but imagine if they wanted it everyday – then an occasional treat becomes something else.
Now that I have become very conscious of what I eat and try to eat healthy, I’ve seen how much sugar is added to our foods. Even foods that people consider ‘healthy’ such as those delicious Nakd bars made with real fruits and nuts are super high in sugar (dried fruit is incredibly high in sugar).
You know those lovely little packs of raisins you like to give to your little one’s or add them to their lunchbox?
Yeah, you should stop that… or just give them dried fruit occasionally.
I used to be guilty of giving LO lots of dried fruit too. People tend to forget that fruit can have an incredibly high sugar content. Okay, it’s fruit is healthy and yes it is a natural sugar blah blah but at the end of the day… it’s still sugar. Your body doesn’t know the difference between artificial sugar and natural sugar and if you’re diabetic your blood glucose levels will shoot through the roof if you have too much of either of them. Sweeteners on the other hand is a different story. Your body doesn’t recognise it as a sugar so it doesn’t affect your blood glucose levels hence why lots of kids drinks are now labeled as ‘sugar-free’ as the sugar has been swapped for a sweetener. Stevia and inulin are the new “healthier” sweeteners people are reaching out to. They are naturally derived from plant extracts making them a better option because they’re not artificially made. I’ve not seen stevia used in kids drinks apart from The Berry Company‘s new kids range called Berry Kids.
The Berry Kids juice drinks
We were lucky enough to try out all three flavours of the new range; there was Super Duper Fruit Punch (the red one), Berry Good Lemonade (the yellow one) and Cheeky Little Berries (the purple one). I wanted to save the drinks for a special day out but unfortunately with mummy brain I completely forgot to bring them with me when we went to Mudchute Farm for Halloween. Luckily, when we got home I remembered to give them to LO and he gave them all a try with his cousin Lils.
While LO and Lils sipped away on their juice drinks, I took a look at the ingredients list because I am a bit arsey like that and don’t like giving my little dude things with too much stuff on the ingredients list hence why I stopped buying juices and stuck to just water, squash (he does get the odd fizzy pop – tut tut! This has stopped recently though) and milk. I asked LO what which drink did he enjoy the most and he told me “the red one”. When I asked what did the drink taste like… he replied “it tastes like… sweeties!” – I guess he liked it a lot. Happy days! Lils really enjoyed the drink too – he told me his drink tasted like strawberries. That made me want to try it so I took a little sip from LO’s carton and it was surprisingly tasty. It wasn’t overly sweet like most drinks containing sweeteners tasted, “the red one” was a fruit punch flavour and it did really taste like sweeties and strawberries! 🙂
The 180ml cartons are the perfect size for small hands and would make a great addition for the kid’s lunchbox. LO is still in nursery so he wouldn’t be able to bring the juice into nursery but I will definitely add them to the shopping list for when he starts ‘big school’ – I can’t believe he is going to be in primary school next year!
Berry Kids Super Duper Fruit Punch by The Berry Company from The Greenwich Mummy on Vimeo.
The verdict…
… It’s a hit! 🙂
The boys loved it. LO tried the other two flavours and also enjoyed them just as much but I am sure that “the red one” (fruit punch flavour) is his favourite one. From a mother’s perspective what’s there not to love about this drink? It’s low in sugar, only contains stevia, which is a natural plant leaf (learn more about it here) to sweeten the juice and the drink is a big hit with little man.
For us parents, The Berry Company offers an even wider range of low-sugar, low-calorie fruit juices and teas. Just check out their Instagram page to see beautifully snapped photos of their drinks or head to their website for yummy smoothie recipes that you can make with their juices – the Acai berry smoothie is my favourite. 🙂 They are available at health stores like Holland & Barretts, Whole Foods Market and supermarkets like Ocado, Waitrose and even WHSmith.
Have you tried any of the juices or fruit teas from The Berry Company? Let me know what you think of them!
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http://www.theberrycompany.co.uk/
Instagram: @theberrycompany
Twitter: @theberryco
Facebook: The Berry Company
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NB. We were kindly sent samples of the Berry Kids drinks from The Berry Company for the purpose of this review however all words, opinions and contents are my own.
The Wandering Mother 
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