"I'm hungry, can I have a cookie?" Rapidly growing children often require refueling between meals and a cookie is often the answer. Busy parents frequently resort to processed snack foods, which fill the tummy, but don't offer much in the way of nutrition.
A snack is a mini-bite or portion. It wasn't that long ago, when a snack meant eating a piece of fruit to hold you over until the next meal. Unfortunately, today when we snack, junk food (food without much nutritional benefit) is usually the first option. Chips, cookies, crackers, candy, sugary drinks, and even pretzels taste good and fill the stomach. These processed foods not only lack health-building nutrients; they are loaded with trans fat, sugar, and white flour.
Snacks don't have to be sugar-filled and lack nutrition to be tasty. You can easily satisfy your child's (or your) need for a mid-morning or afternoon boost with a nutritious munchie.
You won't be tempted to open a bag or box of cookies or crackers or chips, you don't purchase them. A pantry stocked with healthful foods, instead of junk foods, is the first step to healthy snacking. Your children will quickly learn that these items aren't in the house, and they'll more readily eat healthy snacks.
When you purchase processed bakery items (crackers, cookies, pretzels, cakes, etc.), be sure to read the nutrition label. By avoiding a couple of ingredients, especially when you're transitioning from processed foods, you'll purchase items with greater nutritional value.
First, avoid all products with any amount of trans fat. Trans fat can't be metabolized in the human body. Even if the nutrition label states no trans fat, check the ingredients to see if the word, "hydrogenated" is listed. That's a trans fat.
Secondly, keep sugars to a minimum. Not only is sugar loaded with calories, it doesn't contain any enzymes, vitamins, or minerals. Further, sugar depletes the minerals in your body and is linked to diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
If you want just one sugar to avoid, hands down, it's High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). HFCS has all the negative effects of sugar, plus it inhibits leptin secretion. Leptin tells your brain when you're stomach is full. When leptin is inhibited, your brain never gets the message that you're satiated, which is why so many overeat. HFCS has found it's way into many processed foods and plays a large part in the increase in obesity.
For a nutrition boost, try the following tasty snacks.
1. Slices of cheese
2. Mini muffins (Make your own to avoid trans fat and HFCS.)
3. Granola
4. Chopped nuts and seeds
5. Mixed dry cereals with three grams of fiber (multi-grain squares or organic "O" shaped cereal)
6. Yogurt: add your own flavor with fruit-only jam. (Baby yogurts have approximately 6 teaspoons of sugar per serving.)
7. Fizzy Drink ( carbonated water andone hundred percent fruit juice
8. Fruit slices dipped in yogurt or peanut butter
9. One hundred percent fruit juice or smoothie popsicle
10.Toothpick fruit and cheese kabobs
11. Celery log... also called Ants on a Log (Thinly spread peanut butter on a celery rib. Place a few raisins on top: the raisins are the ants.)
12. Pop your own popcorn. (Don't use microwave popcorn with trans fat. Pop your own in an air popper and add grated parmesan cheese or chili powder for flavor.)
13. Cracker-less Cracker (Thinly slice an English cucumber and spread with either herb and garlic or chive and onion cream cheese.)
14. Edamame (ed-ah-MAH-may-soybeans in pods) (Edamame is not suitable for toddlers, as eating it requires instruction. For the older child this is a fun food! Edamame is a munchie much like popcorn, but with eight grams of protein per serving! Edamame is boiled in salted water and drained. The cooled pod is placed between the teeth and pulled through the teeth. The soy beans are left in the mouth and the pod is discarded.
15. Cracker Crunchies (Use crackers with three grams of fiber, spread with cream cheese and place grated apple, hard boiled egg, carrot, or cucumber on top.)
A snack is a mini-bite or portion. It wasn't that long ago, when a snack meant eating a piece of fruit to hold you over until the next meal. Unfortunately, today when we snack, junk food (food without much nutritional benefit) is usually the first option. Chips, cookies, crackers, candy, sugary drinks, and even pretzels taste good and fill the stomach. These processed foods not only lack health-building nutrients; they are loaded with trans fat, sugar, and white flour.
Snacks don't have to be sugar-filled and lack nutrition to be tasty. You can easily satisfy your child's (or your) need for a mid-morning or afternoon boost with a nutritious munchie.
You won't be tempted to open a bag or box of cookies or crackers or chips, you don't purchase them. A pantry stocked with healthful foods, instead of junk foods, is the first step to healthy snacking. Your children will quickly learn that these items aren't in the house, and they'll more readily eat healthy snacks.
When you purchase processed bakery items (crackers, cookies, pretzels, cakes, etc.), be sure to read the nutrition label. By avoiding a couple of ingredients, especially when you're transitioning from processed foods, you'll purchase items with greater nutritional value.
First, avoid all products with any amount of trans fat. Trans fat can't be metabolized in the human body. Even if the nutrition label states no trans fat, check the ingredients to see if the word, "hydrogenated" is listed. That's a trans fat.
Secondly, keep sugars to a minimum. Not only is sugar loaded with calories, it doesn't contain any enzymes, vitamins, or minerals. Further, sugar depletes the minerals in your body and is linked to diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
If you want just one sugar to avoid, hands down, it's High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). HFCS has all the negative effects of sugar, plus it inhibits leptin secretion. Leptin tells your brain when you're stomach is full. When leptin is inhibited, your brain never gets the message that you're satiated, which is why so many overeat. HFCS has found it's way into many processed foods and plays a large part in the increase in obesity.
For a nutrition boost, try the following tasty snacks.
1. Slices of cheese
2. Mini muffins (Make your own to avoid trans fat and HFCS.)
3. Granola
4. Chopped nuts and seeds
5. Mixed dry cereals with three grams of fiber (multi-grain squares or organic "O" shaped cereal)
6. Yogurt: add your own flavor with fruit-only jam. (Baby yogurts have approximately 6 teaspoons of sugar per serving.)
7. Fizzy Drink ( carbonated water andone hundred percent fruit juice
8. Fruit slices dipped in yogurt or peanut butter
9. One hundred percent fruit juice or smoothie popsicle
10.Toothpick fruit and cheese kabobs
11. Celery log... also called Ants on a Log (Thinly spread peanut butter on a celery rib. Place a few raisins on top: the raisins are the ants.)
12. Pop your own popcorn. (Don't use microwave popcorn with trans fat. Pop your own in an air popper and add grated parmesan cheese or chili powder for flavor.)
13. Cracker-less Cracker (Thinly slice an English cucumber and spread with either herb and garlic or chive and onion cream cheese.)
14. Edamame (ed-ah-MAH-may-soybeans in pods) (Edamame is not suitable for toddlers, as eating it requires instruction. For the older child this is a fun food! Edamame is a munchie much like popcorn, but with eight grams of protein per serving! Edamame is boiled in salted water and drained. The cooled pod is placed between the teeth and pulled through the teeth. The soy beans are left in the mouth and the pod is discarded.
15. Cracker Crunchies (Use crackers with three grams of fiber, spread with cream cheese and place grated apple, hard boiled egg, carrot, or cucumber on top.)