{"id":400,"date":"2021-03-25T10:39:26","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T17:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/?p=400"},"modified":"2024-05-31T10:44:55","modified_gmt":"2024-05-31T17:44:55","slug":"make-snacks-count-how-to-use-snacks-to-keep-your-kids-healthy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/make-snacks-count-how-to-use-snacks-to-keep-your-kids-healthy\/","title":{"rendered":"Make Snacks Count! How to Use Snacks to Keep Your Kids Healthy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes it seems hard to get all the needed nutrients into your child. Young children need to snack frequently throughout the day. They have small tummies and high energy needs.<\/p>\n<p>Older kids need lots of healthy food to keep up with their incredibly rapid growth in the teen years. (You should see my 15-year-old athlete son eat!). That\u2019s why it can be a challenge to get your kids to eat all of the recommended servings of fruits, veggies, and whole grains.<\/p>\n<h2>You can use your child\u2019s need to snack to help you meet these nutritional goals. In other words, make snacks count!<\/h2>\n<h3><strong>Snack ideas<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Provide snacks that are healthy and fun. Make sure that your kid\u2019s snacks are not junk or processed food, but good, simple, real food. Some examples include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Celery sticks with a side of cream cheese and raisins \u2013 young kids can create \u201cants on a log\u201d and eat them!<\/li>\n<li>Apples and peanut butter-tofu dip. (\u00bd cup tofu, \u00bd cottage cheese, 3 TBS peanut butter, 1 TBS honey, 1 TSP vanilla \u2013 process till smooth.)<\/li>\n<li>Tortilla chips and salsa.<\/li>\n<li>Dried fruit.<\/li>\n<li>Pretzels and small chunks of cheese \u2013 they can form building units by sticking the pretzels into the cheese before popping them in their mouths.<\/li>\n<li>Popcorn (preferably what you pop yourself, in canola or other healthy oil, or low-fat microwave popcorn).<\/li>\n<li>Fresh seasonal fruit, cut up into slices.<\/li>\n<li>Carrots, snap peas, cucumbers and a little low-fat ranch dressing for dipping.<\/li>\n<li>Applesauce or yogurt. (Look for lower sugar versions and try Greek yogurt for extra protein.)<\/li>\n<li>Smoothies made of yogurt, frozen bananas, a little orange juice, and berries.<\/li>\n<li>Banana bread, zucchini bread, or pumpkin muffins.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Cook together<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Children love to help you in the kitchen \u2013 they think it\u2019s fun to eat what they cook! Use this willingness as a tool to get them to eat some healthy snacks.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bake some mini pumpkin muffins or zucchini bread. (Use whole wheat flour and canola oil, and add some flax meal to increase the nutritional value). Serve your baked goodies with a glass of skim milk.<\/li>\n<li>Try adding\u00a0\u00bd cup pureed white beans\u00a0to your favorite cookie recipe to add protein and fiber. (Really \u2013 they won\u2019t notice!)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Offer snacks at sneaky times<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>If you let them watch TV, use that as a good snacking opportunity. Hand your child a bowl filled with an assortment of fresh fruits and veggies. Try carrot sticks, strawberries, black olives, bell peppers, and cucumbers. It\u2019s amazing how much they\u2019ll devour without even noticing!<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Trust their appetite<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>One last word: While young kids often need a snack, some days they don\u2019t. Children don\u2019t grow as much some days as they do on other days \u2013 therefore their appetite changes. Your job is to offer the healthy <a href=\"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/healthy-meals-kids-serve-choose\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">snacks,<\/a> and their job is to decide if they\u2019re hungry enough to eat them. If not \u2013 it\u2018s okay. \u00a0Your child will want some delicious snacks another day. And, if they are extra hungry today &#8211; let them have more!<\/p>\n<p>Some recipe ideas to try with your children:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/about.kaiserpermanente.org\/total-health\/food-for-health\/recipes\/pumpkin-muffins\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pumpkin Muffins<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/about.kaiserpermanente.org\/total-health\/food-for-health\/recipes\/when-life-gives-you-zucchinis-make-zucchini-bread\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zucchini Bread<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/about.kaiserpermanente.org\/total-health\/food-for-health\/recipes\/smoothies-101-a-pediatricians-prescription\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Smoothies<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes it seems hard to get all the needed nutrients into your child. Young children need to snack frequently throughout the day. You can use your child\u2019s need to snack to help you meet these nutritional goals. In other words, make snacks count!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":456,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[74,85,546,83,84],"class_list":["post-400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthy-eating","tag-child-nutritional-tips","tag-cooking-together","tag-healthy-eating","tag-healthy-snacks","tag-snack-ideas","ages-all-school-ages"],"metadata":{"_edit_lock":["1717177817:8"],"_edit_last":["8"],"slide_template":["default"],"video_format_choose":["youtube"],"_wpb_vc_js_status":["false"],"_custom_body_class":[""],"_yoast_wpseo_content_score":["90"],"qode_animate-page-title":["no"],"qode_show-page-title-text":["no"],"qode_show-page-title-image":["no"],"qode_show-sidebar":["2"],"qode_hide-featured-image":["no"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":["58"],"_thumbnail_id":["456"],"wpfp_favorites":["1"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_ages":["293"],"ase_chapter_enable_timeline":["off"],"_yoast_indexnow_last_ping":["1717177495"],"_yoast_wpseo_focuskeywords":["[]"],"_yoast_wpseo_keywordsynonyms":["[\"\"]"],"_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":["3"],"_yoast_wpseo_wordproof_timestamp":[""],"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":["snacks for kids"],"_yoast_wpseo_title":["Make Snacks for Kids Count"],"_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":["You can use your child\u2019s need to snack to help you meet these nutritional goals. In other words, make snacks count!"],"_yoast_wpseo_linkdex":["71"],"ase_map_component_start_point":["a:2:{s:3:\"lat\";d:29.76;s:3:\"lng\";d:-95.38;}"]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4517,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400\/revisions\/4517"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}