Kid-Friendly Snacks
In the last few years snacking has become big business on many levels. The latest diet trends encourage snacking throughout the day or at least consuming healthy snacks between your meals. This helps keep blood sugar balanced and prevents binge eating later in the day. It should be obvious then that snacking is not only good for adults, it’s great for kids. Our kids go pretty much non-stop from the time they wake up until they go to bed. That’s usually at least 12 to 15 hours of mental and/or physical energy that requires a lot of calories. Snacking on the right foods is key to kid’s success and to healthy attitudes around food, weight management and body image.
Kids of all ages need to realize that healthy snacking can improve concentration, motivation, mood, and energy. Teachers and parents should also keep in mind that anytime is the right time for snacking. So yes, we are encouraging kids to eat in class. This doesn’t mean keeping a stash of Hershey bars in their desk – not even close. What it does mean, is encouraging the teacher to create a small area in the classroom where students are permitted to have a small snack. String cheese and whole grain crackers, yogurt, cottage cheese, a piece of fruit, a snack bar made with whole grains that contains at least 5 grams of protein, nutritious beverage such as a smoothie or mix1, baby veggies and dip, PB & J on whole grain bread – these are all snacks that can be consumed in five minutes or less, make little mess, and can go a long way in sustaining mental and physical fitness when a real meal isn’t going to happen for a while. Our daughter’s class has a small area set aside with a kitchen timer. Kids can set the timer for 7 minutes anytime they need a snack – at their own discretion.
Snacking is especially important on days where the mental and or physical demands are higher. For example, on exam day or fitness testing day – kids need a few extra calories (100-200) to maximize their performance.
As parents, family members, teachers, and coaches we must lead by example and also try to avoid being too strict when it comes to our kids snacks (there is a fine line here). Model the behaviors you would like to see in your kids by carrying healthy snacks around with you at all times. When you go to the grocery store together, give your kids just a few small guidelines to help them choose healthy snacks and then allow them to choose at least five different snack foods that they can take with them to school, band practice, gymnastics, soccer, etc. These are snacks that everyone can feel good about and your kids won’t feel like you are micromanaging their food intake. Avoid the overly sweet little packaged cakes with the fun names. You know what we mean – Twinkies, Ho Hos, Ding Dongs, etc. etc. These foods are more harmful then helpful for your kids. They simply contain empty calories, too much sugar, and unhealthy fats that can be damaging to the heart. Explain this to your child(ren) so they understand why you aren’t going to bring those into the house. Does this mean they can never snack on chocolate or chips? No it doesn’t.
A few days a week, go ahead and let your kids have a splurge day where they can pretty much eat a little bit of whatever they want, even if this includes candy bars or chips. When you allow this indulgence occasionally you will likely have more success on the other (healthier snack) days.
Keep your eyes on the labels and read them with your kids so you can learn which snacks are the best choices. Yogurt is one example where reading labels is important. You will want to avoid artificial flavors and colors and at the same time look at the sugar content. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that sugar intake should not exceed 10% of total calories. Each gram of sugar is worth 4 calories. Therefore, if a childs total dietary intake is around 2000 calories, then he/she should take in 50 grams or less of sugar. That may come as a shocker since most American children take in far more sugar than that. In fact most retail fruit smoothies contain more grams of sugar than that. Beware of sugar laden drinks and sodas – these do not count as healthy snacks. Avoid high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners like saccharin and aspartame too.
Most snacks should be at or under 250 total calories. We want to encourage portion control early on so ziplock baggies are a great idea where the child can actually measure out one serving of the item (crackers, animal cookies or cereal, for example) and put it in the baggie. You can do the same with treats and sweets (chips, chocolate chips, cookies). Teaching kids the true meaning of a serving gives them a better idea of how to control their snacking.
To encourage healthy snacking and make it fun, plan out some time in the kitchen together where you can make some snacks from scratch. Trail mix, nutritionally dense cookies or bars, granola, fruit kabobs, cut up veggies – these can all be made and enjoyed by kids of all ages. Think variety. If your child loves popcorn, pack a cup of popcorn in a baggie but add 10 almonds or walnuts or peanuts to the bag. If your child loves raisins, again, add some nuts or seeds to the bag. If your child has dietary restrictions then again, find a way to make eating fun. Make some healthy whole grain (or gluten free) muffins with fresh fruit. Pack a few rice cakes and nut butters (this one might not be so mess-free). Justin’s Nut Butters makes handy packages of peanut and almond butter that are easy to take along anywhere.
Finally, if it’s five or six o’clock and dinner is still 30 minutes or an hour away from happening, try to avoid saying no to snacking. Allow your kids to snack on something healthy and they will be able to control their portions at dinner. A mix1 Lean Performance is a great bet and also easy to keep stashed in a car cooler. Plan for snacking success and you all will be happier and healthier.
August 22, 2011
by Optimum WellnessComments
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