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| Can you believe sugar-free cookies are often loaded with hydrogenated oils (trans fats that are really unhealthy)? The first ingredient listed on many sugar free cookies is vegetable shortening, which is a trans fat. |
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I’m all for snacks! As you know, I recommend that my adult clients eat snacks midmorning and midafternoon to spread out calories during the day and keep their metabolisms running on high. The same is true for kids. In fact, it’s even more important that children snack. Because their stomachs are small, they eat less at meals and need more in between to keep their energy up.
Traditional snack foods for kids are anything but healthy though. Chips, cookies, candy, donuts—they’re loaded with saturated fats and sugar, hardly what you want your child to munch on for energy. Instead, consider offering them the same snack foods you might eat:
• A cup of raw vegetables and fat-free ranch dressing
 • A piece of fruit
• A handful of pretzels
• A handful of air-popped popcorn
• A cup of homemade soup (not cream-based)
• A baked potato topped with low-fat grated cheese
• A baked sweet potato
• A low-fat frozen yogurt bar
• A frozen fruit bar
• Low-fat or fat-free yogurt with one teaspoon maple syrup and sliced bananas
• One cup steamed edamame
• One rice cake (check the label to make sure it’s not loaded with sugar)
• One cup of brown rice
• A handful of raw walnuts, almonds or cashews
• One ounce low-fat cheese
• A low-fat cookie
It’s a good idea to leave healthy snacks in plain view in the refrigerator or cupboard so that your child gets used to eating them, and choosing them. Keep a variety on hand, too—this way your child won’t get bored (if they do get bored, they might ask for cookies or ice cream instead of pretzels and frozen yogurt). Nutritionists believe that, left to their own devices (no peer pressure) and a variety of healthy choices, children will make “good” selections.
Engage your child. Ask what he likes, and what his friends eat for snacks. Other moms and dads have been put to the test like you—maybe they’ve discovered likeable healthy snacks you haven’t yet considered.
Don’t be discouraged if your child makes a fuss about eating healthy snacks after having been allowed the high-fat, high-sugar alternatives, and more importantly don’t punish him for refusing to eat “good” foods. Just offer them again another day, perhaps with something he has already decided he likes. Realize that changing your child’s eating habits is as difficult as changing your own. It’s not going to happen overnight. Look for positive changes over weeks, months and, hopefully, a lifetime.
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