When your children are hungry for a snack right now, what do you do? Chips, cookies, snack cakes, Bamba and candy may be convenient, but they’re not at all good for your children’s health.
Whether it’s after school or on Shabbat, there are much better alternatives to noshing on fatty, salty and sugar-laden packaged snacks. With a little planning, you can give your children delicious snacks that are good for them too.
Here are some snack ideas to get you started:
Air-popped or low-fat microwave popcorn
Brown rice cakes spread with natural peanut butter
Baked tortilla chips dipped into salsa or guacamole
Fresh seasonal fruit cut into “child-friendly” sticks or wedges
Dried fruit like raisins, apricots, peaches or pears
Hummus with carrot or celery sticks to dip with
Low-fat yogurt or cottage cheese with cut-up fruit
Low-fat string-cheese
Whole-wheat crackers or pita with hummus or low-fat cheese
Low-sugar, whole-grain cereal to eat from a small cup
Here's my granddaughter eating one of her favorite afternoon snacks, lightly-sweetened whipped yogurt (Daniella).
I’d like to hear about your children’s favorite healthy snacks. Please send me your ideas (use the “Post a Comment” space below) and I’ll share them with my readers.
Your kids' snacks are great - my kids ate most of those things as snacks when they were young, as we as parents were strongly against sugary and oily snacks. It paid off - our kids are all adults now, all thin and healthy, and all aware of good eating habits.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this wonderful site!
Thank you so much for your kind feedback Joyce. I'm so glad to know that you're enjoying my blog.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that your kids are grateful for the good eating habits you taught them. It isn't easy for parents, especially with the excessive marketing of "junk" foods to children.
I often felt like I was going against the grain serving healthy foods. My children obviously felt bad, as they used to tell people how terrible it was having a dietitian for a mom! But now that they're adults, they have an appreciation for eating well.
Thanks again and Happy Chanukah!
Thanks for your comments, too. I have a question on a different topic - What's your feeling about taking multivitamins? Do you think that a person eating a healthy diet and getting enough exercise still needs the trace minerals that are in the multivitamins? Most of the food I eat is NOT organic, but I have plenty of fruits and vegetables daily, fish a couple of times a week, tofu, legumes, grains, just one small cup of coffee a day, little sugar. I am 54 years old, if that helps you in your answer.
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