AD | Featured / Affiliate Links
While you struggle to eat three times a day your kids are often hungry in between meals. They burn up so much energy throughout the day that those little appetites are out of control. The snacks most advertised for children, however, aren’t the healthiest. It’s easy to give your kid a bag of chips, cookies, or other quick snacks from the supermarket, but they do nothing for your children’s nutrition.
Most of the products advertised for children are packed with sugar, caffeine, and artificial ingredients they shouldn’t consume. Eating these things on a regular basis can increase your child’s chances of becoming obese and developing weight-related illnesses like diabetes and heart disease. It also slows their energy and throws off their cognitive abilities.
As no parent wants any harm to come to their children, giving them simple but healthy snacks is a better option. Below are some ideas you can try out:
Raw Veggies and Dip
Vegetables are packed with key vitamins, nutrients, and minerals the body needs to function properly. While it may be hard to get your kids to eat a salad, many children love raw vegetables. This is especially true when you add a dip to the mix. You can use ranch, blue cheese, cheddar cheese, or hummus. All these dip options can be conveniently purchased at the store in organic form for better nutrition.
Fruit and Dip
Kids love things that are sweet. While eating things with refined sugar isn’t good for their teeth or health there are things like fruit that are naturally sweet that they can indulge in. You can cut, slice, or dice fruit and serve it with a dip. Peanut butter, honey, and fruit dips are all ideal choices. You can purchase single serve honey packets, peanut butter containers, or make your own dips at home.
Yoghurt
Yoghurt is a quick and healthy snack that kids really enjoy. It’s a great choice as it is packed with calcium, probiotics, and protein. You can make yoghurt time really fun for kids by giving them some popular but healthy toppings like dried fruit, nuts, or granola. In the summertime, put some yoghurt into an ice tray. Insert some popsicle sticks. Then, freeze them overnight and you’ll have some delicious frozen yoghurt treats.
Smoothies
Another way to get your kids to eat their daily nutritional value in fruits and veggies is to put them in smoothies. Smoothies can be easy to make with a little advanced preparation. You can either buy fruits and veggies already washed, chopped, and frozen or you can purchase fresh produce and wash, chop, and freeze it yourself. Then pull out the blender and add a combination of fruits and veggies. You can blend it with juice, vanilla almond milk, or coconut water to add a bit more taste.
Veggie Fries
French fries are a favourite for most children, but consuming all that saturated fat and starch isn’t good for their digestive systems. A healthy alternative an easy snack option is to make veggie fries. Zucchini and sweet potatoes are the most popular veggies. Cut them into slices the size of french fries, drizzle a bit of oil on them, a dash of sea salt, and put them in the oven until tender inside and crisp on the outside. If you have an air fryer, cooking veggie fries is even easier.
Sandwiches
There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned sandwich to tide you over until the next meal. Using healthy ingredients like fresh-cut turkey, wheat or rye bread, and veggies like tomatoes, lettuce, and avocadoes, make it a nutritious snack your kids can enjoy any time. During the colder seasons, you can place the sandwiches on the griddle or in a panini press to heat them up. A nice warm ham and cheese melt with tomatoes will certainly do the trick.
There’s no denying that children really do eat a lot throughout the day. Their tiny bodies are burning up so much energy, they need continued nutrition to keep going. Rather than turning to those quick but unhealthy options like chips, cookies, candy, and french fries, turn to alternative solutions like those described above. Each of these snack ideas tastes great, can be customised to the liking of each child, are easy to make, and most importantly, is packed with everything your child’s growing mind and body needs.
No Comments