Forget the cupcakes, chips and gummy fruit snacks. That stuff gives our blood sugar a major spike and then drops us like a lead balloon. Highly processed food doesn't leave us full or satisfied. It's food with almost no nutritional value. That means your body can't use it. Your body doesn't even recognize it as real food.
In fact, any food that your body can't "use" for energy right away, is stored as fat. Kindergarten students don't need a 400 calorie glazed donut as a birthday treat. You say, "it's just one day, one birthday." But when there are 30 kids in class, that's 30 extra donuts a year for each kid, and each birthday.
Save those "treats" as a "once in a while" food, not a main-stay, every day staple.
Snacks and treats aren't interchangeable. Just like adults, children run better, and think better on real nourishment versus greasy chips, caloric cookies, and "fruit" snacks made entirely of --you guessed it, empty calories, refined grains, and sugar.
Thank you Michelle Obama. Even though school kids everywhere are quietly cursing her.
I hear it at home.
"We can't buy 'Gushers' at lunch anymore. And no more of those big cookies!' they cry. I've heard the President's wife's name muttered more at my house than her husband's name in the past 6 months. I quietly smile.
Thanks to her efforts and new USDA guidelines, snacks in federally funded school food programs are getting a massive makeover this school year and it's probably a good time to examine what we're feeding our kids at home too. The USDA says any snacks now sold in schools which receive federal funds for meals have to follow strict guidelines that call for low sodium, low fat, low sugar and low calories. Individual snacks can be just 200 calories or less and they must contain 50 percent whole grains.
You can no longer buy a regular soda or even a breath mint in a public school under the new guidelines, which are pretty harsh. But so is the harsh reality that one in 5 American 4-year-olds is obese, according to the World Health Organization. One in five.
Our bodies are made in the kitchen at home, or in some cases, in the drive through.
So here are some ideas to get yourself and your children some healthy mini-meals your bodies need.
Some favorite snacks in my kitchen:
- Apple Slices and a piece of string cheese. You get the good carbohydrates, natural sugar and fiber of the apple plus the protein building, staying power of lean cheese. You can keep apple slices fresh in a lunch bag by sprinkling them with lemon juice. We keep a bottle of lemon juice in the fridge just for this purpose.
- Homemade Trail Mix: Fill a container with pumpkin seeds, mini dark chocolate chips, Wheat Chex cereal, cranberry raisins, peanuts or almonds. It's filling, whole grain, and includes healthy fats for growing brains.
- Yogurt: There are plenty of perfect portion sizes for kids. Look for those with low sugar content and top the yogurt with whole grain cereal and berries.
- Quesadillas: take a whole grain tortilla, sprinkle it with shredded cheddar cheese, fold it over and toast it in a frying pan. Serve them with salsa.
- Lite popcorn or air popped popcorn. This is an easy and satisfying whole grain. Sprinkle it with seasoned salt or grated parmesan cheese.
- Beef jerky: there are some natural ones out there with low fat and no nitrates. They give you a tasty protein fix that keeps you fuller, longer.
If you like baked goods, bake your own so you can control the ingredients. Make oatmeal cookies, add mini chocolate chips, experiment with whole grain flour, replacing half of the refined white flour in recipes.
And yes, once in a while, HAVE A TREAT.
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