Kids love fresh juice.  Here's a guide to juicing for children.

No doubt about it, juicing for children is a great way to get nutrition into their growing, developing bodies.

Juicing is great for your child's body. Most kids LOVE IT. Recipes can be made to their liking and they won't even know it's good for them.

Juices can be just as good for children as adults, but in lesser quantities. Many people think you have to be so careful with fresh juice for thier children, but do not think about the effect of the junk food fed to them. To me, this is obsurd.

Fresh juice is one of the purest things you can give your child!

Do not be afraid to give them fresh juice.  Both fruit juice recipes and vegetable juice recipes can be a winner with your kids.  Try to include a juicing program into thier daily diet.

Here are some general tips on juicing for children

• Baby's generally should be drinking mothers milk and it is not recommended to give them juice. 

• It's best to consult with your doctor on the best time to integrate juice into your child's diet, but most mothers start giving their kids juice between the age of 1-2.  A good idea, but not critical, for children ages 2-12 is to dilute the juice (with water) 1:1, and no more then 5 fl. oz/145ml per day. This is what most practitioners recommend. I personally do not think giving straight juice to young children in small doses is a bad thing.  It is much better than giving them store bought juices that are often laden with colorings, refined sugar and chemicals.

• Juice is great for teenagers as their body is still growing and it's an easy way to integrate fruits and vegetables into their diet.

• Strong juices like spinach, watercress, kale, parsley and beets are good for children but in smaller doses. In fact, these are strong juices for adults- so just like new adult juicers- you need to build your way up to a full glass. Add a few leaves of spinach or broccli stalks and hide it with apple or another sweet fruit. While these juices have a strong effect on the body's cleansing systems they provide great nourishment.

• It's not recommended that you do a juice fast with young ones.

• Giving fresh juiced apple or grape juice when recovering and/or during a cold or flu is a great idea to get nourishment into thier bodies. Solid food can hinder thier recovery process. Red raspberry tea is also a good idea, paired with juice, for its vitamin and mineral content that aid in recovery.

• Overall, do not be afraid to give kids juice. It's food in its pure and raw form. If there is an adverse reaction it might be because they are not use to eating such pure food.
  

• Start off by giving your child a few servings of filtered water-diluted juice a week. Build up to one or two servings a day if they like them. Try single juices first(plain apple is a good option), diluted by at least half. Then, as they become accustomed to the taste you can combine juices.

• For the greatest benefit, make sure you give them a variety of juices each week instead of just one type.

• A juice with added banana or avocado not only gives them a thirst quencher, but also provides a good healthy snack.

Juice recipes kids love

• Apple juice: 3 to 4 medium yield about 1 cup
• Pineapple-carrot juice: 2 carrots and 2 spears of pineapple yield 1 cup.
• Orange juice: 2 medium oranges yield 1 cup
• Orange –carrot juice: 1 orange and 1 carrot yield ¾ cup
• Apple-carrot juice: 2 red apples and 1 carrot yield 1 cup
• Apple-grape juice: 2 apples and a small bunch of grapes yield 1 cup
• Pear juice: 2 medium pears yield 1 cup
  

Try these recipes.  Taste tested.

Green Juice Recipes for Kids

Juicing Recipes

Orange Juice Recipes for Kids

Smoothies for Children

Green smoothie information & recipes that are safe for the kids

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