Snacks to keep your kids healthy
“Don’t eat that!”, “Enough of those chips!”, “You’ll spoil your appetite!!”…do these dialogues sound familiar? Probably because we have all grown up listening to our mothers say all this, but never really understood the rationale behind them. After all, we were just snacking! But as mothers now, you find yourselves echoing the same dialogues to your kids, all the time! Youcannot just let them ruin their appetites on a packet of unhealthy chips, can you? So what is the solution?
There has to be a middle way!
Snacking, if done the right way, can play a crucial role in managing your child’s hunger and also boosting nutrition. Also, snacking is important because it can keep kids from getting cranky andirritabledue …show more content…
Turn snack time into something special!
An alternative for mothers is to jazz up the usual snacking options, for example, instead of laying out the fruits on a plate or a bowl, line them up on skewer instead. Colour coordinate the fruits to make the fruits on the skewer resemble a rainbow, add salt and pepper according to taste and then serve it to your kid. The lovely colours of the fruits on the skewer will make the “usual” fruits look more edible and your kid will love it too.
Another alternative is to tweak the ingredients of the usual snacks they pick on and add nutritional elements to it. So the next time your kid demands cookies, you can try baking them fresh at home with almonds instead of chocolate chips, turning regular cookies into a protein rich food item. You can try Almond cookies recipe from here.
Need more inspiration? Here are a few healthy snacking ideas, your kids will …show more content…
Quesadilla:
You can add veggies into this kid-favorite dish to increase its nutritional profile. From adding corn and mushrooms or even paneer orcabbage, you can try any combination of your kid's favorite veggies. Serving these “revamped” quesadillas with a side of mild tomato salsa will surely have your kids asking for more.
3. Baked sweet potato fries:
What child does not love chips or fries? Would it not be great if you could have a healthier option for chips/fries which would be both mother and kid approved? Baked sweet potato fries can be exactly that! Sweet potatoes offer greater nutritional benefits than regular potatoes and are also easy and fast to make.
4. Chicken kebab with Dip:
Chicken classifies as a protein rich food and is a must add to your kids’ menu if you are a non-vegetarian. In fact, homemade chicken kebabs make for an easy and healthy snack idea.Besides serving them on a plate, kebabs can also be served on skewers making them non-messy and fuss-free. You can also serve these kebabs with a sauce or a healthy dip like a roasted almond dip., for an enhanced taste.
5. Fruit
“Don’t eat that!”, “Enough of those chips!”, “You’ll spoil your appetite!!”…do these dialogues sound familiar? Probably because we have all grown up listening to our mothers say all this, but never really understood the rationale behind them. After all, we were just snacking! But as mothers now, you find yourselves echoing the same dialogues to your kids, all the time! Youcannot just let them ruin their appetites on a packet of unhealthy chips, can you? So what is the solution?
There has to be a middle way!
Snacking, if done the right way, can play a crucial role in managing your child’s hunger and also boosting nutrition. Also, snacking is important because it can keep kids from getting cranky andirritabledue …show more content…
Turn snack time into something special!
An alternative for mothers is to jazz up the usual snacking options, for example, instead of laying out the fruits on a plate or a bowl, line them up on skewer instead. Colour coordinate the fruits to make the fruits on the skewer resemble a rainbow, add salt and pepper according to taste and then serve it to your kid. The lovely colours of the fruits on the skewer will make the “usual” fruits look more edible and your kid will love it too.
Another alternative is to tweak the ingredients of the usual snacks they pick on and add nutritional elements to it. So the next time your kid demands cookies, you can try baking them fresh at home with almonds instead of chocolate chips, turning regular cookies into a protein rich food item. You can try Almond cookies recipe from here.
Need more inspiration? Here are a few healthy snacking ideas, your kids will …show more content…
Quesadilla:
You can add veggies into this kid-favorite dish to increase its nutritional profile. From adding corn and mushrooms or even paneer orcabbage, you can try any combination of your kid's favorite veggies. Serving these “revamped” quesadillas with a side of mild tomato salsa will surely have your kids asking for more.
3. Baked sweet potato fries:
What child does not love chips or fries? Would it not be great if you could have a healthier option for chips/fries which would be both mother and kid approved? Baked sweet potato fries can be exactly that! Sweet potatoes offer greater nutritional benefits than regular potatoes and are also easy and fast to make.
4. Chicken kebab with Dip:
Chicken classifies as a protein rich food and is a must add to your kids’ menu if you are a non-vegetarian. In fact, homemade chicken kebabs make for an easy and healthy snack idea.Besides serving them on a plate, kebabs can also be served on skewers making them non-messy and fuss-free. You can also serve these kebabs with a sauce or a healthy dip like a roasted almond dip., for an enhanced taste.
5. Fruit