Healthy Snacking

Getting all the necessary nutrition into your child on a daily basis is tricky.  Giving him a multivitamin may help but the best source of vitamins and minerals are from a variety of healthy foods.  Viewing snacks as mini meals of nutritious offerings is a great way to provide your child with the daily nutrition he needs.  As a certified Lifestyle and Weight Management Consultant, I try to teach the importance of choosing a variety of healthy foods every day. 

On the Mayo Clinic website you’ll find a great article “Healthy snacks for kids: 10 child-friendly tips.” There are other great resources on the internet such as this very informative article “Healthy Snacks for Kids” fromthe Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine website.  At the Center for Science in the Public Interest website you’ll find ideas for serving healthy snacks to children and much more!   

Snacking is a great way to help picky eaters get the daily nutrition that they need.  There’s a great article on tips for picky eaters on the Mayo Clinic website .  Cooking with kids helps them want to try new foods.  Discover more about this at the PBS website. 

Fueling your child with nutritious food not only keeps them alert, focused, and able to work, it also sets good habits in place for a lifetime of good health.  In addition, a healthy child is able to attend school on a regular basis which has been shown to increase academic achievement.

Does all this mean that you can’t give your child a treat?  Not at all, but treats should be just that, rare special nonnutritive foods just for fun like a cookie or other sweet.  However, there’s no rule that says you have to have dessert at every meal--save dessert for dinner.   Check out some cookbooks to help you get started. I found some great books HERE.

Does your family have any favorite kid-friendly recipes?  Leave me a comment.  I’d love to hear from you!