Healthy Juice and Pizza for Kids
Pizza
* When ordering, ask for a pizza “easy on the cheese” or with “half the usual amount of cheese.” Also, pick thin crust over thick to slash about 80 calories per slice.
* Vitamin-rich veggies are the most nutritious topping, but if your family wants meat, your best options are chicken or ham (pepperoni, though still high in fat, is slightly leaner than sausage).
* Pass up high-damage extras like cheese-stuffed crusts or breadsticks, and serve a bagged salad on the side instead.
* Our favorite healthy idea: Make your own pizza with a packaged whole wheat crust (4 grams of fiber per serving) topped with spaghetti sauce and part-skim mozzarella, or give your kids whole wheat pitas and let them choose their own veggie topping.
Juice
- Save juice boxes and pouches for road trips, and limit fruit juice at home to 4 to 6 ounces day — it’s full of sugar and calories, and kids can get vitamin C from healthier whole fruit (and vegetables too).
- Make a small serving go farther by diluting juice with water. Or pop a couple of frozen juice cubes — each cube holds an ounce — into flavored seltzer for a fizzy, low-sugar treat.
- When you do give juice, opt for OJ: It boasts folate and potassium, and the kids’ versions are fortified with calcium and vitamins A and E.