That’s where I was a bit disappointed. So many “kids’ play cooking” options are not so healthy. I grew up with the Holly Hobbie Oven, so of course I’d love to buy her the 2009 Easy Bake Oven, but when I took a look at the ingredients in those Easy Bake pouches, I nearly collapsed! Not only are they loaded with nasty preservatives and artificial colors and flavors, but trans fats too! It’s like health was a foreign word to the developers of these products who just build them for fun alone. How disappointing, and what a market miss. So I’m buying the oven, but needing to make my own recipes from scratch that my daughter can bake in her own oven and little pan, while I bake in mine.

Even the “pretend food” offerings out there are disappointing – heavy on fast food, confectionery and sweet baked goods, but really slim pickings on anything that looked remotely healthy with the exception of a large bag of plastic fruits which didn’t look very fun. What about play carrots and dips? Play-versions of crackers and apple slices? Where are the play versions of nuts or yogurts? Or just standard meals like pasta or meat and veggies…

Right now, it is difficult for parents to encourage healthy eating, healthy cooking, and healthy snacking because everything in our society points to how exciting it is to eat and cook unhealthy foods. I look forward to the day when choosing the healthy option is not only the obvious answer for kids, but it’s also fun for kids. In the world of juice, First Juice offers beverages for young children that are healthy formulations in convenient sippy-top bottles, which make both moms and kids happy. I hope that in the future, when encouraging my kids to eat and cook well, there will be more tools available to help encourage them in a fun and healthy way.

Cheryl Thomas
First Juice, Inc.

Throughout the day I overhead the owner David sharing product information with others and could not get over how wonderful I thought this product was. I work as a preschool teacher in NYC and definitely feel a need to improve our students eating habits. We’ve always had a rule in my classroom, two small juices and then we switch to water. With these organic and low sugar juices you don’t need to cut your child off after a small amount. Plus, just knowing that the bottle is safe and reusable makes me feel eco-fabulous!

When it came time to officially launch my organic children’s business: Miss Brittany’s Organic Fun Dough, First Juice offered to sponsor my party. It was incredible to see my nephew (who exists solely on chicken nuggets and French fries!) actually drinking a juice that had,gasp, veggies in it! All in all, the organic and eco-friendly movement is truly inspiring to me as is teaching children about taking good care of our planet.

Brittany Shapiro
Miss Brittany’s Organic Preschool Fun Dough

Twitter: @MissBrittanys
Website: www.organicfundough.com

As you might imagine, my wife and I consider ourselves fairly selective in what we guide our children to consume, and carbonated soft drinks are not something we encourage.

This past summer my daughter, Rachael, was at a day camp.  Out of our control, yet in a very good environment.  And, unfortunately one afternoon she complained of a tummy ache, and was sent to the camp nurse…

The camp nurse apparently did not see any harm in treating Rachael’s tummy ache with an age old remedy called… ginger ale.  And that’s where my new “parenting issue” began.

That afternoon Rachael asked her mom about ginger ale, and other carbonated soft drink flavors, and she told her little sister that it tasted good and that she should try some, too.

And now we have to deal with this, all because of a well meaning camp nurse.

What’s a parent to do?

I am a mother of two and like most, find myself living an overscheduled and time-pressured lifestyle.  Not complaining, it’s completely self-inflicted.  I know I volunteer for too many activities, the family travels too often, my kids play on too many teams, attend too many birthday parties/playdates, and my husband and I both work.  And despite my mother’s “encouragement”, my family doesn’t want to change or give up one thing.

I look for other ways to help simplify and accept this albeit “crazy –overscheduled time” as a full life for my family.   It really helps that I can work part-time with a start-up company, First Juice Inc.  As the VP of Marketing & Development, I can appreciate moms who want to know the facts, keep it short and to the point.  So hopefully our First Juice message, is just that, “the best first juice® for your child”  in the most convenient packaging!

Julie Bratton
Vice President, Marketing & Development

Yet, the study states, “In San Diego County, 46 percent of youngsters ages 2 to 17 drank at least one soda a day, while the figure was 21 percent for adults. The statewide numbers were 49 percent for children and 24 percent for adults.”

The article goes on to say that although “healthier drinks have been added to vending machines…” in the schools, and sodas have been banned, “…these products are pervasive throughout the community”. Of course they are! You can still bring your own drinks to the school! And after school, kids can still go home and eat an after-school snack and a soda! It all starts with what we are all trained to eat, trained to know about what’s healthy, what’s acceptable, and what you think is okay to eat and drink – that’s determined within each family. However, without better education about health from the parents, the kids will pick up the same bad habits.

It’s just as silly as thinking that if you tax soda, and added-sugar beverages, that obesity goes away. Wouldn’t that be easy! People are still smoking, right? No matter how expensive that pack of cigarettes costs!

Now let me get something straight here. We have our own bad habits in our family. And every day, we strive as parents to correct those habits. I still buy meats occasionally that have hormones or antibiotics in them (although I don’t intentionally set out to do this, sometimes I just buy whatever is convenient and readily available in my local supermarket). I still let my kids have one too many desserts during the week as a “special treat”, and I still am learning about what foods are better than others myself. I even still struggle after all these years with my “extra 10 lbs.” and how I can get rid of them. Why? Because the bulk of my day consists of caring for my kids, going to work, getting my kids off to school and activities, helping with homework, keeping up with all of our “house paperwork and bills”, trying to keep the house at least somewhat clean, and trying to live a fun, fulfilled life. Never mind when things get stressful – how easy is it to just completely throw all that health stuff right out the window!

Net, net - It’s hard to make healthy eating a priority! And mistakes will be made. However, we’re all responsible for getting this right. And it’s our jobs as parents, as management, as employees, as teachers, as relatives, as neighbors, as citizens, and as human beings to fix the (fat) direction we’re headed as a society.

As a family, we work hard at healthy eating every day, although I never expect us to be perfect. Working at First Juice, Inc. is one of the small steps I’m taking as a parent, as a manager, and as an employee. First Juice® Brand organic juice beverages don’t have a lot of sugar (50% less sugar than the leading juices), and importantly, it doesn’t taste too sweet. Kids don’t need to grow up always expecting and demanding super-sweet drinks. When my kids want something other than water or milk, they get First Juice. I hope when they independently make their own food and beverage decisions, they’ll have learned something from what we’ve taught them along the way.

Now what did I pack for my own lunch today? I did pretty well today…looks healthier than yesterday’s. Let’s hope I keep it up tomorrow.

Referenced Article:
Kids twice as likely as adults to drink soda, research says <http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/sep/17/kids-twice-likely-adults-drink-soda-research-says/?metro&amp;zIndex=167265>

Cheryl Thomas
VP Marketing, First Juice, Inc.

Regarding this article in USA Today:

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009/07/study-blames-obesity-for-high-cost-of-health-care.html

Study blames obesity for high cost of health care

Re:  Mind numbing stats on diabetes

I learned these recently, courtesy of the American Diabetes Association:

• 1 in every 3 children born after 2000 will get diabetes
• $1 of every $5 spent on health care in the US is spent on diabetes or related illness
• Within 20 years diabetes will crush the US health care system.

So… what is being done to stop the madness?  Not a lot, in my humble opinion.

I know what I am doing.

Everyday I get to go to work with the conviction that I am doing something that can make a difference in the lives of children.

This Saturday I spent all afternoon giving free bottles of First Juice at a fundraiser for a children’s museum.  Lots of happy faces– and not just on the children– on the parents, too.  Less sugar, organic, won’t spill, not sweet tasting– I handed almost as many Peach+Purple Carrot bottles to parents as to kids.  And I just finished a Banana+Carrot myself.

I am fighting.  Fighting childhood diabetes and childhood obesity.  That is what I am doing.

They say: First, “juice drinks,” as defined by the USDA is different from “100% juice.” Juice drinks only constitute a small percentage of actual fruit juice, and can contain added water, sugar/HFCS, coloring, and vitamins. …

I respond: Any juice that is not 100% juice has to legally be called a “juice drink” or a “juice beverage” or something other than “juice”. Please correct the generalization that all juice drinks are junk. Most are, just not all. Please do not lump First Juice in with everyone else!!

First Juice, Inc. produces “juice beverages” for young children. HOWEVER, I am concerned about being lumped in with juice drink companies like those you mention, who add all kinds of “supplemental” sweeteners to juice.

First Juice does NOT! First Juice flavors are 43-49% juice, and designed to NOT TASTE SWEET, and we are the ONLY ones we know of IN THE WORLD doing this. Our juices are certified organic, certified kosher and are the best you can buy off the shelf and hand your child. By not tasting sweet, First Juice can help steer developing tastebuds AWAY from craving sweet tastes and sugar.

There is a global childhood obesity epidemic; Type 2 diabetes will effect 1 in 3 children born after 2000 (ADA data) and some of us are trying to do something about it!

Parents need to learn how to read the SUGAR content on a nutrition facts panel— and to know this WOW factoid: a cube of sugar = 3.6 grams of sugar. This is the same amount of sugar that is in a packet for your coffee or a teaspoon in your kitchen.

An 8 oz serving of 100% Apple Juice has 27g sugar, or 7.5 cubes. Who (if you knew this) would hand box after box of this to their kid? Would you put that in your coffee?

I wrote Governor Patterson in NY to please be sure to exclude those of us trying to help parents cultivate healthy food taste preference development by steering kids away from sugar and to not inadvertently “throw First Juice under the bus” while he was taxing soda just because our juice is not 100% juice. 100% juice has too much naturally occurring sugar for children whose palates are developing the taste preferences that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. Yes, there is science behind that fact.

Our juices TASTE GREAT, and are less than 1/2 the sugar of sweet tasting alternatives.

To a large extent it’s what you get used to. Some adults find our juice blends lacking enough taste– because they’ve been drinking too much sugar their whole lives…

Let’s stop the madness!

Thanks,
David Glasser, CEO/Founder

First Juice, Inc.

There must be something in the water.

Unfortunately, a lot of times, it’s too much sugar.

Every year, billions of gallons of sugary soda, sports drinks, and fruit drinks are finding their way into the American diet. That’s right, billions. Four out of five kids in the U.S. and two out of three adults drink sugary beverages every day. That’s a lot of sugar.

 The consequences of eating or drinking too much sugar can be felt now and in the long-run. For toddlers, one of the concerns is that drinking empty calories (sugary beverages) can take the place of more nutritious choices, which hurts their ability to grow healthfully.

Over time, all that sugar leads to painful and costly cavities. It can also lead to gaining weight to the point of being overweight, which increases the risk for chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

 The experts agree that sugar-sweetened beverages are a part of the problem. “The scientific evidence is now clear; soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages are important contributors to obesity in children and adults,” said Walter Willett, MD, DrPH, professor and chair of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), in an HSPH statement on the role of sugary drink consumption in obesity and diabetes.

 Something positive that parents can do to help their toddlers and children learn to prefer healthier drinks is to provide less-sweet tasting options. Water is great, so is First Juice. When kids want a juice drink, First Juice is a smart way to go.  Here’s why:

 ·      First Juice has no added sugar, no artificial sweeteners, no preservatives and no high fructose corn syrup

·      First Juice contains 12 grams of sugar per 8 fl. oz serving. That’s equivalent to 3.3 sugar cubes, vs. 7.5 sugar cubes in 100% juice, which is over 50% less sugar than the leading 100% fruit juice and, coincidentally, the exact same amount of sugar as organic low-fat milk.

·      First Juice selects organic fruit and vegetables that are naturally lower in sugar and then blends these organic juices with purified water to create a flavorful, less sweet juice, with lower per-ounce sugar content.

·      First Juice provides 60% of the daily value (DV) for vitamin C, 35% DV for vitamin A and 10% DV for calcium and vitamin D in an 8 oz serving

·      First Juice is USDA Certified Organic, and kosher

·      Additionally, all First Juice bottles are recyclable (recycle code #1), BPA-Free, and made of Phthalate-free plastic. The 8-oz size is a re-useable, non-spill, sippy-cup container.  The company likes to call it, “environmentally responsible convenience,” and realizes that healthy products must also be convenient or they will not get used regularly.

Learn more about the nutritional benefits First Juice has to offer.

Like many families in the U.S., we live in the suburbs. Although I love the city, our family, due to job opportunities, family, and the desire for space, we made the decision to live in the suburbs. We have two young children, and love walking “the sidewalk loop” around our small neighborhood. My daughter always insists, “let’s keep going”, and I have to explain that we can’t go on the “busy road” because there are no sidewalks there. “Why are there no sidewalks there, mommy?” she asks and I think to myself, where do I begin in trying to answer her?

Should I explain how developers build neighborhoods, making sidewalks that don’t connect to other neighborhoods? Do I explain how we have the alternative to walk on the secluded, deeply wooded park trails if we take the car there first? (although that alternative is obviously too dangerous for young children and a mom), or do I explain how the town is not focused on issues like this, because they don’t understand that this truly is an issue, and a contributor, along with poor food choices, to the childhood obesity issue? Whenever our kids want to go somewhere, in the suburbs, you can’t walk because of poor infrastructure. My kids’ friends live less than a half mile away, but because neighborhoods don’t connect, and it’s too dangerous to send the kids on busy, crowded streets alone, or even with us, you need to take the car, always. You need to take your car EVERYWHERE. This Does contribute to childhood obesity. Kids are taught at an early age today that using the car all the time contributes to too much pollution, and that you should walk or bike. Yet, our towns still don’t realize the role they can play, and that inaction is leading to obesity.

My vision is that every neighborhood could be connected by a sidewalk system, that connects to a park or trail system. Wow, that people could walk outside their house, and have access to parks and trails, making it easy for people to exercise. And it would foster a sense of community too, making it easier to get to know neighbors that live just across the street.

We at First Juice are working hard to offer better beverages for our children, so that at a young age, children can get used to tastes and foods that are better for them, and not so sugar-soaked, so that they can grow up with better eating habits. But the other side of the equation is getting kids to have more activity. We all know that. Our society and government also needs to step up to play its part too, and to create infrastructures that provide the right environment, that does not contribute towards obesity, but rather helps to make it a story of the past.

Sincerely,

Cheryl Thomas

VP Marketing

First Juice, Inc.

www.firstjuice.com

Out with the old, in with the new. That seems to have been the motto in our culture that has reigned for decades. It’s only until recently that the “green trend” has opened up more people’s minds that it may be a good idea to see what you can actually re-use, and not throw everything out… because it’s actually quite bad for our environment. As a family, we try to get our kids to realize that when we buy new things, we should try to find other things in our house that we can “keep moving on”, to make room for the new things. So if we buy new clothes, we donate older clothes to charities, or pass them off to younger cousins or friends. Keep things moving. Keep re-using when possible.

First Juice bottles fit right into the mindset of “re-use”. You can buy our 8oz. sippy-top bottles of First Juice for the kids, in their favorite flavors, but next time you’re in the store, buy our more economical 32oz. packs to refill those 8oz. bottles. We keep a case of empty First Juice bottles in our closet, and use the larger bottles to refill, or refill the bottles with water during the rest of the day. The bottles are bpa-free, phthalate-free, and can even be washed in the dishwasher. So don’t throw them out! Re-use them! Give them to your friends! Re-use. Re-fill. And eventually, Re-cycle! Thanks for reading!

Sincerely.

Cheryl Thomas

VP Marketing

First Juice, Inc.

www.firstjuice.com