Kids need to grow to their full potential; so, it is paramount that they incorporate healthy habits early on. One of these habits should be healthy snacking, an invaluable behaviour they need to carry into a healthy adulthood.
To form a habit, there must be some consistent gratification or positive experiences for the child to develop the habitual behaviour. Make healthy eating second nature to your kid by trying these suggestions:
Let your kids have fun with their food. If they help you prepare their own snacks, they would be more likely to love it. Let them do their own cutting, spreading, or food presentations. This could get to be an after-school habit to which they can look forward when they arrive home from school.
Snacks do not have to be elaborate. Fruit kebabs, vegetable sticks with dip, and mixed nuts are great, healthy in-betweeners. Snack time can also be educational if you can teach older kids the rudiments of baking with some home-baked fruit muffins and the like. Whatever you and your kids do, make snack time moments pleasant, light, and fun.
Arrange food creatively to make it look extra palatable. Fruits and vegetables are exceptionally colourful. Use their colours and textures to create interesting or funny portion-sized snacks your kids will visually love. Once they take to it visually, they may just take to the taste as well.
Make edible faces. You can use raisins or grapes for eyes and shredded cheese for hair. Turn on your creativity and have fun yourself. Broccoli can look like trees and you can cut carrots into various shapes using your cookie cutter. The net holds a plethora of ideas. The point here is, presentation sells; so, if you want your kids to prefer healthy snacks, dress these up. Remember, these healthy snacks will have to compete with those attractively packaged and professionally marketed junk food.
Healthy snacks should be on hand at all times. There shouldn’t be a choice between junk food and healthy eats. The fridge and pantry should always be stocked with nutritious edibles, not processed food. If your family is on the go, prepare your health treats in advance and take them with you. When hunger strikes, neither the vending machine nor the fast food takeouts will be the go-to remedies. Kids should only have a choice between healthy, healthy, and healthy. This brings us to the next important point…
To enforce healthy snacking, you’ve got to be a healthy snacker yourself. Kids usually have a taste for saltier or sweeter snacks. How can apple slices topped with cottage cheese compete with a nice, crisp bag of potato chips beckoning from the pantry? To a lot of kids, there’s just no contest---it’s potato chips, puhleeeeez??!!
You need to set a good example. If you want your kids to have healthy habits, they must consistently see you living the healthy lifestyle as well. Your grocery choices should always veer toward the healthy. Ban sodas, chips, and other processed food and beverages from your grocery cart next shopping time. Your body will also thank you for it.
Why Healthy Snack Habits Are Important
Some nutritionists believe that the problem with health may not squarely lie with unhealthy main meals. Unwholesome in-betweeners may be the disturbing culprits behind many health issues.
What kids learn to incorporate in their manners and behaviour often lasts well into adulthood. Unhealthy food choices consistently served over time allow children to develop a preference for them, a preference they may well carry into adulthood. Unhealthy eating will leave them open to a host of diseases from obesity to cancer.
Should your kids gravitate toward a healthy diet even well into their adulthood, congratulate yourself for giving them a valuable habit. They will have the blessings of:
- Good cholesterol level
A great many adults are plagued by soaring cholesterol levels and in consequence, cardiovascular issues. The issue of high cholesterol levels, however, is not a solely adult problem anymore. Kids have not been spared their share of rising statistics of cardiovascular problems from consumption of highly processed food.
- Manageable Weight
Kids who are overweight have the tendency to grow up as overweight or obese adults. If they have their good snacking habits down pat, they will have an easier time maintaining a healthy weight throughout their lives.
- Strong Immune Systems
Good diets lead to a strong body, highly impervious to health issues.
- Good Cognitive and Psychological Functions
Healthy eating helps build individuals with more stable dispositions. Unhealthy children may be more prone to anxiety or depression, long-term emotional states which can affect future relationships.
If you feel your children’s diets need to have some improvements, assess your snack menus. Take the opportunity to bond with your kids over snack preps and create a fun, loving, light-hearted atmosphere where healthy snacks may connote comfort food when they grow up.
