Smarter Snacks

How can we help our children eat healthy snacks? What is a healthy snack? When is a good time for snacking? These are some of the questions that we as parents always ask ourselves. Sometimes we consider a snack any food that our children will eat between meals, disregarding the nutrition content of it. While the purpose of snacks is, either, to provide nutritious food to children to prevent them from being hungry between meals or to provide extra nutrition to small meal eaters, snacks should be considered part of the diet of our children. This means snacks should follow certain guidelines. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, a healthy snack should be low in calories, sodium and sugar, be a whole grain rich product or have as the first ingredient a fruit, vegetable, dairy product or protein. The Academy also recommends children to have three complete meals and two snacks, while a teen should have three complete meals and one snack; if the teenager is physically active an extra snack may be added.

To incorporate snacks into our children’s diet, we should consider that snacks should not interfere with the time or amount of food eaten at regular meals. Snacks should be spaced enough between meals to avoid meal replacement. This means that the perfect time to offer snacks to children would be 1 to 2 hours after the first meal and 1 to 2 hours before the next meal, this will allow them to be hungry at meal time. 
Replacing less nutritious foods with healthy snacks may be challenging, but there are some tips that we can use to achieve this goal.

• Set up schedules. It is important that children get used to eating meals and snacks at specific times. In this way they are going to be hungry and they are going to be willing to eat what you are offering them, an opportunity to offer healthy foods.
• Avoid allowing children to eat while watching television. When they watch television, they get distracted and they do not pay attention to what they are eating. This pattern may lead to overeating.
•  Have healthy snacks, like fruit, fresh vegetables, and whole grain crackers available. Place these snacks where your child can see them and have access to them. Be sure to have everything washed, cut and ready to eat, in order to make it easier for your children to choose them.
• Have snacks packaged individually. In this way you will be able to combine food groups to provide variety, healthy options and will allow you to guide or manage portion sizes. It also would be very useful for grab and go snacks that fit better your children needs.
• Reduce food costs by choosing fresh seasonal products or buying frozen fruits and vegetables. This won’t impact your budget and will provide the same nutrition.
• Be creative. There are many food options that you can include on snacks to provide variety for your young ones. Some options are: celery with peanut butter, fresh fruit, whole grain granola bars, low fat yogurt, and cheese sticks.

Making small changes to our daily routines will improve children’s quality of life and reduce the risk of obesity and chronic conditions related to it. Let’s help them to live a better present to have a healthier future.

Judith Chavira is a Dietetic Intern in the Combined Dietetic Internship and FCS Master’s degree program at NMSU with a B.S. in Nutrition with emphasis in Dietetics from NMSU and a Master’s degree in Spanish with emphasis in Linguistics from NMSU. She is passionate about nutrition and she believes that helping the community to have a better understanding about nutrition will have a very positive impact in the health and wellbeing of the people in the region.