Back to top
Home | Choosing Healthy Snacks For Your Kids

Choosing Healthy Snacks For Your Kids

Help make your kids' snacking a nutritionally smart strategy! Nutritionist Amber Wilson, MS, RD, offers some tips on healthy alternatives to junk food.

Michelle Obama and celebrity chef Jamie Oliver have embarked on a mission to improve the health of our children. While we wait for a nutrition makeover of school lunches, there’s no better time to look at what our kids are eating outside of school. According to a study published in the March issue of Health Affairs, snacking accounts for 27 percent of children’s daily calories. The 30,000 children surveyed in the study snacked an average of three times per day on candy, chips and other junk food, and this unhealthy snacking added almost 600 calories each day to the children’s diets. But all it takes is a little bit of planning and creativity to make snack time both healthy and fun for your kids.

Snacking, when done smartly, is a good strategy for children because they have small stomachs and are unable to eat large meals at one time. Healthy snacks give kids energy between meals, and also help to focus attention and regulate mood. Focus on fruits and vegetables, lean protein and whole grains when choosing snacks for your kids and limit their consumption of sugary, high-fat junk food. Look through your pantry and throw out the cookies, chips, candy and soda.

Get your kids involved in the process and they will be excited to try new snacks. Have your kids pick a new fruit or vegetable to try each week and serve it up to them with a healthy dip. Cook with your kids and let them help in the kitchen, creating their own mini pizza or customized smoothie. Try out the fun and healthy snack ideas below, and your kids will never miss the junk food.

Fruits and Vegetables
Keep pre-cut, raw vegetables and fruit in the refrigerator for quick and healthy snacks. Fruit can be dipped in yogurt or made into a smoothie. Serve sliced apples or banana with peanut or almond butter for dipping. Teach your kids how to make healthy vegetable dips, such as hummus, or substitute non-fat, plain Greek yogurt for mayonnaise to make a healthy Ranch dressing. Take your kids to the farmer’s market or the grocery store and allow them to pick their own fruits and vegetables for snacking.

Lean Protein
Low fat cheese sticks are a great pre-portioned snack for kids on the go. Create a yogurt bar for your kids to top fat free or low fat yogurt with different types of low sugar cereal and fresh fruit. Or try a roll-up bar with low fat sliced deli meat that they can wrap around breadsticks or raw asparagus. Your kids can also design their own trail mix – put out small bowls with different types of unsalted nuts and dried fruits and have them customize their own mixed version.

Healthy Grains
Healthy grains, such as whole-wheat English muffins and tortillas, popcorn, rice cakes and cereal provide your kids with fiber, vitamins and minerals. Try to limit your children’s intake of refined grains (goldfish, pretzels, chips, etc.); the calories from refined grains add up quickly and the lack of fiber will send your kids reaching for another snack. For a fun and interactive snack, make English muffin mini pizzas. Cut a whole wheat English muffin in half, and allow your kids to pile on their own toppings of tomato sauce, low fat mozzarella cheese, and their favorite veggies. Broil in the oven until the cheese is melted, and your kids will never know they are eating something healthy.

Amber Wilson, MS, RD, is the founder of NewBaby Nutrition. She counsels individuals and couples to optimize their nutrition with tasty, healthy food so that starting or raising a family is both healthy and rewarding. Visit her website at www.newbabynutrition.com or contact her for more information: a.wilson@new-life-nutrition.com.