Is the new Capri Sun Super V Fruit & Vegetable Juice Drink the latest way for parents to trick their kids into getting some vegetables in their diet?
A juice pouch with a 3/4 serving of fruit and 1/4 serving of vegetables? That doesn’t sound very efficient.
When I have kids and need to encourage them to eat their vegetables, I’m just going to tell them, “Look, son/daughter. It’s carrots and cucumbers. There are worse vegetables your mom and I could’ve given you, like brussels sprouts, beets, turnips, cauliflower, and radishes. We’ll save those for when you’re naughty, but you were good today so you get the good vegetables. However, if you don’t eat your carrots and cucumbers right now, I’m going to drive to the store to buy some beets and radishes, cut them up, and put them on your plate with the carrots and cucumbers. And you’re going to have to eat all of them.”
Man, I’m going to be an awesome parent. Sure, they’ll probably end up in therapy, but at least they’ll be eating their vegetables. Someone should award me with a “World’s Greatest Dad” mug right now.
The Capri Sun Super V juice drinks are 66 percent juice and come in three flavors: Apple, Berry, and Fruit Punch. The vegetables come in the form of sweet potato and carrot juice concentrates. I didn’t know one could juice a sweet potato. Maybe I should’ve paid closer attention to Jack LaLanne’s Juice Tiger informercials, instead of using them to help me fall asleep.
One Capri Sun Super V pouch has 70 calories, 0 grams of fat, 20 milligrams of sodium, 18 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of fiber, 14 grams of sugar, 0 grams of protein, 10% vitamin C, and 10% vitamin E.
hey! I actually really like cauliflower! hahah.
my mom used to make us sit at the table until we ate ALL our veggies. I was there for like an hour once….and now I eat them first and love them. go figure.
and yea..juicing a sweet potato sounds weird.
My dad hated veggies too, so I rarely got the “eat them all or no dessert” talk. And when I say he hated them, I really mean it. The only veggie he would touch were potatoes and Heinz Ketchup. Yes, he said Ketchup counted as a vegetable. Nothing like watching a 40 year old man mix his peas into his potatoes(and gravy to staunch the taste) and eat it with his eyes closed just to make my mom stop glaring at him.
I recall once I refused to eat baked beans as a young child and my babysitter sat me in the corner for 3 hours. I STILL hate baked beans.
I won’t lie the first time I gave my kids the Super V I had that guilt very similar to when I’d look at my daughter before I fed the strained green peas when she was a baby. It was that awful this is going to taste like crap but it’s good for you feeling. The kids actually like the Fruit Punch ones quite a bit though.
with that much sugar, of course they’ll drink it!
It’s very easy to get veggie/fruit juice mixes today that are half and half rather than just 1/4 / 3/4 and with much more interesting combinations, including in juice boxes. The fruit juice always overpowers the veggie taste, and parents have been making their own juice to take advantage of that fact for ages. (Although really they shouldn’t worry so much, generally what you can get from veggies you can also get from fruit. Just let the kid eat what he or she likes. Food is supposed to be enjoyed.)
Carrots and sweet potatoes shouldn’t be hard to get kids to eat, anyway. Just give them a side of peanut butter with carrot sticks, and you’re good to go. Splurge and buy organically grown carrots if you can – they are amazingly sweet. Sweet potatoes are, well, sweet already! Mash them up, add some butter or margarine, why wouldn’t a kid eat them? Unless their parents have been forcing them to eat stuff and making it all into a power trip. You can even buy sweet potato fries or sweet potato chips these days, or just make your own fries in the oven very easily (just cut them up like a white potato, swish them around in some oil to coat). There are other veggies that are difficult for many kids because the taste is too adult (their taste buds will change) or they’re prepared wrong. But carrots and sweet potatoes are already very kid-friendly for direct eating, so seems like a waste to use them in juice.
I like this author’s style. Very cute and witty writing.