February 2025

Written by: Nutritionist and Fitness Coach, Ms Hilda Yang

Of course, children love to cool off with frozen beverages, but do you worry about the excessive hidden sugar in these drinks affecting their health?

Pay attention to the nutrition labels on packaged beverages.

When choosing pre-packaged drinks, be sure to check the nutrition label. Firstly, for paper-packaged drinks like fruit-flavored beverages and fruit teas, the calories mainly come from their sugar content. To meet the low-sugar standards, as an example, for every 100 milliliters of the beverage, less than 5 grams of sugar can be considered a low-sugar choice.

Are natural fruit juice drinks always better?

You might think that natural fruit juice is better than regular paper-packaged drinks, but many natural fruit juice drinks are made by mixing concentrated fruit juice with added sugar, making them entirely different from freshly squeezed fruit juice. Some natural fruit juices may claim that the product has no additional sugar added, creating the misconception that there is no sugar in it and is, therefore, healthier for the body. However, the juice itself provides a considerable amount of sugar, so don’t mistakenly think that fruit juice can replace water.

How much sugar intake is considered appropriate? The World Health Organization recently lowered the daily sugar intake, indicating that consuming more than 6 teaspoons of sugar per day for adults is considered excessive! Taking a 240-milliliter cup of natural fruit juice as an example, it already contains 20 grams of sugar, which is equivalent to 5 teaspoons of sugar. Drinking one cup is close to the daily sugar intake limit.

How can you drink healthily?

Freshly squeezed fruit juice may be a better choice, but you should also limit the daily intake. It’s important to note that one cup of freshly squeezed fruit juice often requires 3 to 4 fruits. Calculating with 80 milliliters as one serving of fruit, consuming a maximum of 2/3 cup of juice per day is sufficient. An even better practice is to blend the fruit pulp, so dietary fiber is not separated, promoting bowel movements and increasing a sense of fullness.

How much water should you drink daily?

How much water should you drink daily? In addition to plain water, fruit juice, tea, or coffee, soups can also be included in the calculation. According to the Institute of Medicine’s recommendations, healthy men should drink 3 liters per day (approximately 12 cups of water), while healthy women should drink 2.2 liters per day (approximately 9 cups of water). The commonly mentioned “eight cups of water a day” is not far off, but it’s crucial to remind yourself to drink water regularly and in the right amounts for your body to truly absorb it.

Written:
Founder & Volunteer Director of Good Love Passion, Lam Ho Pui Yee

When a
child is around 6 months old, they start babbling, constantly making sounds and
single words. They also enjoy playing with toys that make sounds. However, even
before they learn to speak, they already understand how to communicate with the
people around them using crying, sounds, facial expressions, gestures, or body
language. In fact, children first learn to communicate with people using facial
expressions and gestures, then they learn verbal communication, and finally,
they learn to communicate through text. Therefore, accurately recognizing other
people’s facial expressions helps in assessing their emotions and attitudes,
thus influencing a child’s cognitive development, emotional development, and
social skills. Parents’ facial expressions, actions, and postures are often
what children find most attractive.

Children
observe and respond to their parents’ facial expressions and emotions. For
example, a gentle expression can make them feel comfortable communicating with
you, a smile can boost a child’s confidence in expressing themselves, and a nod
from parents indicates acceptance. Through these developments, children
gradually understand, learn, and care about people’s emotions. Different parts
of the body express emotions in various ways, and expressions can be
categorized into facial expressions, body expressions, and verbal expressions.

To
establish good parent-child communication, parents need to pay attention to
several aspects:

When children cannot clearly see their
parents’ facial expressions, it is recommended to use actions as a substitute
for speech responses. For example, hugging them tightly, giving them a kiss,
gently stroking their hair, or gently touching their cheeks are all important
non-verbal communication methods.

If parents can embody a childlike and expressive role in their daily lives, children can learn a wealth of emotions and expressive skills from their parents’ facial expressions. This will undoubtedly benefit them throughout their lives.
Many parent-child interaction patterns involve “non-interaction” – even though they are together, there is no eye contact, conversation, message exchange, or actions, and there is no emotional sharing because everyone is watching TV, using the computer and phones, or doing their own things. Eye contact can train focus, so regularly gazing at each other with caring eyes and listening to each other’s sharing is one of the conditions for good communication.

Creating a quiet and simple environment helps children concentrate. True and comprehensive communication happens when they can clearly see your facial expressions. Therefore, it’s appropriate to turn off sound-producing items like the TV, tablet, or take away their beloved toys during communication.

On the journey of a child’s growth, parents who are willing to provide unconditional love and ample communication space make children feel accepted, allowing them to break free from their cocoon. Children love it when their parents appreciate them, so encouragement often has a greater impact, whether through eye contact or speech; both can be used more frequently.

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