Snacks For Kids
Do your kids always want junk food for snacks? Are you tired of competing with the big brands for your child's attention? Don't know what snacks for kids are suitable?
Should Kids Have Snacks?
Children are rapidly growing and developing, so they have a high requirement for good nutrients. A lack of nutrients during childhood may prevent kids from achieving their full growth potential and affect their brain development. A healthy balanced diet is required so that a child gets the recommended daily intake of nutrients from the food they eat. Healthy snacking is part of a healthy diet.
Sources of unhealthy snacks are biscuits, lollies/sweets, chocolate, sugary desserts, soft drink, pastries, donuts, hamburgers, chips, potato crisps, icecreams. These do not provide much nutritional value and are best avoided on a daily basis. Eaten on an occasional basis, they would be considered 'treats'.
What Snacks Should Kids Eat?
- fruit - as fruit salad, cut up, mixed up, with a dollop of fruit yoghurt (no added sugar)
- English muffins or bagels - toasted with peanut paste or cheese
- Wholemeal bread with cheese spread and vegemite or tomato
- Glass of milk with tasty flavouring (low on sugar)
- Frozen banana - cut up with a dollop of plain yoghurt
- Raw vegetables - cut into sticks, with a dollop of hummus, or savoury dip
- Celery sticks - cut into sticks and filled with cheese spread of peanut paste
- Fruit smoothie / shake - with milk, banana and berries, with ice blocks to suck
- Plain yoghurt - with cut up fruit
- Air-popped popcorn
- Egg or baked beans on toast
- Breakfast cereal and milk - with wholegrains, fibre, and low sugar
When Should Kids Eat Snacks?
Many parents battle to get their children to eat at mealtimes. One reason may be the types of snacks they are eating between meals. If you can feed your kids healthy snacks, you have a better chance of them eating their main meals.
Like adults, growing children need to eat regularly. If they feel full after their main meals, they are less likely to want sugary and fatty snacks between meals. Snacks should be smaller than meals, but contain some carbohydrates, protein and good fats. Your kids will then fill up on snacks between meals, not get sugar spikes and cravings and may even be more even tempered.
Send your kids off to school with clearly marked morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea, so they know not to eat all the food at once. If there is something left in their lunch boxes when they get home, ask them why. Did they have enough to eat? Didn't they like the food they left? Feed them one of the healthy snack ideas after school, to keep them going until dinner time, especially if they come home and play before dinner. Hold back on giving your kids dessert at dinner time, have a break and then see if a snack is still required before bed. It only needs to be a small snack and not too sugary to be a suitable snacks for kids.
