Have you ever heard the phrase "the whole truth and nothing but?" When it comes to many of the foods marketed to kids, the packaging is anything but the whole truth. As a parent, I know how frustrating it is when my son is bombarded with commercials for sugary or unhealthy treats on TV. Even if he never saw a commercial for anything, the packaging that's geared toward kids rarely holds healthy foods inside. Take fruit juice for example -- packaging for sugary, unnatural ingredient-laden juice boxes tends to be very kid oriented. When my son sees boxes with cool looking surfers riding a fruit juice wave, that's what he wants me to buy. But the 100% juice varieties that I do allow in his lunch box tend to be packaged in boxes with pictures of fruit -- not nearly as cool in my pre-teen son's eyes.

Even when a product is packaged to catch a kid's eye, they often have a claim -- such as low-fat or high in calcium -- that aims to make health-conscious parents feel a bit better about the choice. While the actual claim might be true, the whole truth about the product isn't that pretty. University of Calgary researchers found that 62% of kid-aimed food products that boast of nutritional benefits are actually of poor nutritional quality. Time has a list of nine items that have nutritional claims that might mislead parents into thinking the product is healthier than it actually is.

When it comes to buying food for your kids, stick to natural, unprocessed foods as much as possible. When buying packaged items, read the food label -- it's the only way to know the whole truth about the product you're buying.

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