How to Make Your Kids' Snacks Healthier
While snacking is often linked with junk food and poor eating habits, experts at the Mayo Clinic respond that it can actually be healthy for both kids and adults. Planning healthy snacks between meals controls metabolism, hunger and junk food binging. However, getting kids to choose healthy over high fat and sugar is the challenge. Rather than convincing kids that raw fruits and vegetables are their only snack options, the answer is to take existing foods they enjoy or plain fruits/vegetables they love and spin them into healthier, more fun versions of themselves.
Things You'll Need
- Bananas
- Craft sticks
- Natural peanut butter
- Wax paper
- Nuts, seeds or whole-grain cereal
- Resealable bags
- Graham crackers
- Gummy fruit snacks
- Dark chocolate chips
- Raisins
- Dried cranberries
- Cut carrots, celery, broccoli, cucumbers, squash and cherry tomatoes
- Divided bowl
- Low-fat sour cream
- Onion soup seasoning
- Low-fat cream cheese
- Light mayonnaise
- Taco seasoning
- Ranch dressing seasoning
Instructions
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Frozen Fruit Pops
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Bananas are high in fiber and potassium. Cut a fresh banana in half, peel off the skin and slide a craft stick into the banana half.
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Nuts provide extra protein and stave off hunger. Slather the banana in natural peanut butter and roll the banana in your child's favorite nuts, seeds or crushed whole-grain cereal.
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Traditional frozen treats can be high in fat, sugar and artificial ingredients. Place the coated bananas on a flat sheet that's been covered with wax paper and freeze for 3 hours. The result is a cool, nutritious banana treat for the summer.
Bugs in Dirt Mixture
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Whole grain graham crackers provide an edible, low-sugar snack base. Fill a resealable bag with graham crackers and crush to simulate dirt.
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Dried cranberries are high in antioxidants and vitamins. Add dried cranberries to simulate ladybugs, raisins to substitute for ants and gummy fruit snacks as worms. Close the bag and shake.
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Dark chocolate is low in sugar, high in antioxidants and satisfies a sweet craving. Add dark chocolate chips as pretend "beetles" and serve in a mini flower pot for kids that are especially hard to encourage to try something new.
Dipping Panel for Vegetables
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Cherry tomatoes are high in lycopene and other vitamins--and easy to eat. Arrange an assortment of fresh cut carrots, celery, broccoli, cucumbers, squash and cherry tomatoes in a cool divided bowl. Choose vegetables your child already eats.
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Low-fat sour cream is good source of calcium and vitamin A and provides some protein. Mix 1/2 cup of low-fat sour cream and 1 tsp. onion soup mix to create a yummy vegetable dip.
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Garnish the cream cheese dip with some green chives for added flavor. Mix 1/2 cup of low-fat cream cheese, 1/4 cup of low-fat sour cream and 2 tbs. of taco seasoning for a Southwestern-flavored vegetable dip.
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A multi-choice dipping panel can help encourage experimentation with a variety of raw vegetables. Mix 1/2 cup of low-fat sour cream with 1/4 cup of light mayo and 2 tbs. of ranch salad dressing seasoning for a third dipping panel for your vegetables.
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Tips & Warnings
Childhood diabetes is on the rise in the United States, and kids diagnosed with diabetes need to be particularly attentive to snacking that helps them maintain their blood sugar levels, according to Kids Health. Carbohydrate snacks can spike blood sugar levels in the body, so it's essential to balance a carbohydrate snack with lean protein.
Kids' snacks, even in healthy forms, should be given in single-serving portion sizes. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, portion sizes of meals and snacks alike are on the rise and contributing to the country-wide increase in obesity. Even though it takes a few extra minutes, portioning your child's healthy snack teaches them to regulate their food intact in a healthy manner.
References
- Photo Credit vegetables image by cherie from Fotolia.com banana image by timur1970 from Fotolia.com Nuts image by Dusi from Fotolia.com ice cream lolly image by Renata Osinska from Fotolia.com biscuits image by Nath Photos from Fotolia.com cranberries image by Patrick Moyer from Fotolia.com chocolate bar. image by Tom Oliveira from Fotolia.com cherry tomatoes image by Curtis Sorrentino from Fotolia.com white egg cream image by Igor Zhorov from Fotolia.com chive and cheese sandwich image by Bartlomiej Nowak from Fotolia.com dip bowls image by Jim Mills from Fotolia.com
