I am always on the lookout for dehydration signs. Particularly, because I have had chronic dehydration for a long time. It’s funny the stuff we do to ourselves that don’t benefit but only hurt. I would have a cup of coffee, followed by two or even three Mountain Dews! Talk about chronic! It showed in my skin, in the squishyness of my veins, in the dryness of my face. I was dehydrated. Now that I’m aware of the signs and how important it is to hydrate, I make sure my children are hydrated as well.
One day my three year old son was flying back and forth like a witch on a broom. This action is no stranger to me. I watched him run and run and run throughout the house. This has been going on for quite some time and I always related it to pent-up energy. Children need to run and play right? It wasn’t until my mom brought something to my attention, did I make the connection. I would give him half apple juice, half water and twenty to thirty minutes later, he was vam-vooming across the living room into the dinning room. She said, “Amber, you should really cut down that apple juice.”
Since I was made aware that there is arsenic in apple juice, I changed my children to organic apple juice. As I thought I was being a “good” mom and giving my children the best. What I didn’t read was the label. It had 26 grams of sugar! (Oh my!) My other non-organic brand had 6 grams. I quickly dismissed any and all apple juice and any other kind of juice to see if this was causing the hyperness. This brought me to another problem, my son didn’t want to drink water. You know, the non-tasteful, healthy water.
As I have mentioned before, I am quite tentative to how many fluids my children and I drink daily. It’s important to drink a lot of water for your body to function at an optimum health. Makes sense right? So what was I going to do? Finally, I made the connection to give them my juice! I already know how good it is for the body and yet I never offered it to them. What was wrong with me?
I started with this recipe, Pink Lady. It’s sweet like a fruit juice and oh so healthy. I gave it to them with their breakfast and I was pleasantly surprised that they liked it and asked for more. When I originally gave it to my son, he dismissed it because of the pink color. That was easy, I put in in a cup with a lid. He had no clue and loved it. My daughter isn’t as selective and eats/drinks anything. This made me feel great knowing I’m giving them something healthy!!!
Recipe:
- 1 cup grapes
- 1 grapefruit – without skin
Serves 1: Follow manufacturers instructions
Grapefruits: Are low in calories and are a good source of Vitamin C and folic acid.
This is a great starter recipe for juicing as it’s sweet and delicious!