"Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. "(Proverbs 22:6). Our children can be taught to make healthier food choices, and this lesson will last them a lifetime.
My son has a sweet tooth as most children his age. I try to monitor his junk food intake and replace many of those items with healthier snack choices. Its not perfect. In fact its both an art and a science. According to the American Heart Association 1 in 3 children in America is obese. This is triple the amount of obese children in 1963.
As a parent of a young child, these statistics concerned me. Although, I limit the amount of junk food my son eats, I also allow him to have cheat snacks. For instance, we bake chocolate chip cookies and enjoy them with no regrets. During the rest of the day the goal is more nutrient dense snaking. Below you will see a few of my son’s favorite snacks, feel free to share (comment) some healthy snacks of your own.
1. Kid size bottle water- hydration
2. Grapes- nutrient dense fruit with vitamins and minerals. 15 grapes is approximately 39 calories.
3. Applesauce with nutmeg. Nutmeg helps with detoxing the liver and kidneys
4. Fruit snacks- with 100% Daily Value Vitamin-C per serving, 80 calories per serving
5. Apples and Bananas- nutrient dense fruits with vitamins & minerals.
6. Yoplait Gogurt (Yogurt)- portable low fat snack. Vitamins A & D, Calcium. Tip: You can freeze the Gogurt pops & have frozen yogurt pops!
Cheat snack: 4 Baked chocolate chip cookies.
You have to watch some of these so called healthy foods for children they are doing more harm than good commercials and false advertisement make us overlook the nutritional labels check out "Salt Sugar and Fat" by Michael Moss great book and makes.you look at food in a new light
ReplyDeleteYes you have a great point.. Thanks for sharing that with us.. False advertisement and label reading are very important factors as you said. I will look into the book.., it sounds like it will definitely be useful. Thanks again for stopping through the blog and offering you input. It's valued and appreciated. Until next time!
ReplyDeleteI don't have any children but once a child before my kindergarden teacher would feed us some healthy snacks! I told myself when I have kids the snacks they will have will consist of only fruits, veggies, and nuts(if no allergies)! Some cool ideas: peppers, peanut butter with apples, carrots, celery. Maybe making my own kids friendly granola bars!! Great post! I like how your start your blogs off with the word!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much. I'm glad you found the blog useful. Yes the word is a great starting point I agree. You have some great snack ideas and I may encorporate some of them in a future blog as we are all co-learners in healthy living.
DeleteThanks again for stopping through! Please continue viewing and offering your suggestions, questions and comments they are greatly appreciated! Talk to you soon...
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