How to Make Kid-Friendly Diabetic Treats

Helping your child learn to eat healthy starts with providing tasty snacks and offering a variety of food choices. With a bit of preparation, you can have some essential things on hand to make appealing snacks for all your kids.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Stock up on useful items from across the new food pyramid. Have breads or other starches such as pretzels, air-popped popcorn or low-fat crackers on hand. Low-fat milk should be a staple. Various low-fat or lean cuts of meats like baked chicken, or turkey deli slices are useful. Fruits and vegetables make great finger foods.
2. Offering the same snack every day will bore your child's palette, so offer a few choices and let her decide. Eventually your child may begin to gravitate toward one snack frequently. Don't fret about her dietary intake every day. Instead, look at her intake over a few days. Pushing foods on her will only make things tense and can lead to eating disorders later.
3. Make your own lunchtime assembly fun by cutting squares of low-fat cheese and adding lowfat crackers and cubes of meats. Use apple slices and natural peanut butter for a fun dunking treat. Make a roll sandwich using tortillas wrapped around your child's favorites. A thermos can carry low-fat milk, tasty soups or chili.
4. Chill out with fun frozen treats. Use fresh-fruit puree, 100-percent juices without sugar, no-sugar-added ice cream or frozen yogurt and popsicles to create summer goodies that are diabetic friendly.
5. Mix together nonfat powdered milk, lowfat non-dairy creamer and unsweetened cocoa powder with a bit of sugar substitute or stevia. Store it in an airtight container and serve it whenever your child craves instant hot chocolate.
6. Keep natural peanut butter on hand along with ketchups or low-fat ranch dressing. These are great for dipping and keep kids munching. Small packets of ketchup with chicken can be a great substitute for chicken nuggets, and peanut butter on apples is better for them than caramel.
7. Turn something healthy into something tasty. Chilled yogurt filled with fresh, chopped low-glycemic berries, such as blackberries, can substitute for ice cream.
8. Rethink what meals and snacks are. Be creative and ignore clever corporate packaging. When you use reusable containers and create portions appropriate for your child, not only are your treats easily portable, they're appealing and healthful.