Healthy Snacks For Kids
Snacks are an essential part of a kid’s diet. Giving your child something to munch on when they get hungry is a great way of encouraging them to eat well and also receiving that healthy food into their bodies. However, not all snacks are healthy and balanced for your child.
Depending on their age, your child may be able to eat all types of snacks. So this means that it is important in helping them know what snacks they can have at any given time. The following are some great snacks for kids to have.
Fruits and vegetables These are the staple of a child’s diet. The following is a list of fruits and vegetables that your child is allowed to eat:
Gluten-free grains and starchy foods Have your child try foods such as these:
Although it’s best to stick with gluten-free grains and starchy foods, there are some snacks allowed on a kid’s diet that contain both. These include:
The lists above are just some of the many snacks that are allowed on a kid’s diet. There are so many more that don’t appear on the above lists. Your best bet is to make sure that you discuss with your child the benefits and restrictions of each snack in advance. For example, if you inform your child that after eating certain strawberries, he or she can eat cookies or candy, without the worry that they will gain the same weight, it will be easier for your child to adopt healthy eating habits.
Nibbling on Food At snack time, it is good to nibble on food such as:
The above moves away from pure processed snacks and encourages your child to eat foods that are healthy and nutritious.
Munch on Fruit Instead of junk foodGrown-ups and children have been nibbling on bits of fruit for a long time.Italian and Chinese restaurants serve huge portions of rice and noodles with slices of vegetables and broth in them. Why not turn this habit into healthy eating?
Have you ever noticed how children eat more as they get hungry? This happens for two reasons. First, they are exposed to lots of junk food and they see snacks as snacks. Second, they are especially hungry when they are eating because of having so much junk food around them. One way to keep from getting too hungry is to eat small snacks.
Get creative when it comes to making fruit fun. Cut up fruits into unique shapes, crush fruits like grapes and pears like candy. Dips fresh fruit make a great tasting snack, too.
Getting kids to eat correct portions is not always easy. You can tell them that a certain amount of their food is “yucky” by rating it. One way is to use a line chart with grades for the food on your table. You can choose recipes that will make each portion yucky (but healthy) at the same time.
Good snacks for kids
So let’s talk about those snacks we all love! Apples or banana chips, baby carrots with a little dip, sliced mango, grapes, cherry tomatoes, seedless raisin toast, seedless pudding size cookies, cut-up cheese cubes, pickles, popcorn, cheese quesadillas, fat-free puddingice cream, and fat-free ice cream.
These are not the only snacks your child is allowed to eat at home. You can make snack lists for them, together. Here’s one that they can sleep better, with less guilt, knowing that they did their activity, made the bed, wrote their homework, took their tests, and made their plans for the weekend.
Here’s another. You might find them making a wish:
And this wish might be AIDS.
You see, eating snacks for your kids is a very worthy goal in itself. If you lead by example, your children will eat healthier.
You make a snack bag
With a little bit of effort, you can make a snack bag for your children. It’s fun and creative. Slice up the fruits and veggies, cheese, and crackers into little baggies. Take a few of them to work and toss them in the lunch box. This bag will be stocked with good, choose, lean, healthy snacks, instead of the store junk food they get at school.
Snack on a bag of chips for a snack
No matter what they do, children can consume just about as much junk food as they want. Instead of giving them a tablet, try giving them a bag of chips. Instead of pocketing the money, give it to a food bank. The food bank gives them bags of food. You can make a lifetime change in their eating habits by giving them a choice of what to eat, instead of serving them processed, snack-full meals every night.
Have you noticed that you have a hard time sticking to a healthy diet when you go out to eat at a restaurant?
