Feeding Children Right!

Hannah_Banana

**Warning** I am one of the ' refined sugar is evil!' people. I've seen it work in my body, and the body of loved ones. I want to make sure my children grow up healthy, balanced and not addicted to it.

So I'm in desperate need of ideas. Every pre-packaged kid food imaginable has copious amounts of refined sugar. The problem is all those foods are so *easy*. For an extremely busy parent, its hard not to just reach for that cereal bar or juice box. Other problem is that of course, children love them. Its difficult to find a child who will pick a carrot stick over a piece of candy. (Not saying they're not out there, you lucky parents, you.)

I need tasty, fun, preferablly easy snacks for my 3 year old that aren't loaded with sugar. Any ideas?

froggie3716

What about apple slices, Turkey & Cream Cheese (or Laughing Cow) rolls, greek yogurt with organic granola, spelt pretzels & string cheese. Sorry, I am drawing a blank now. Hopefully these help.

MB_Positif

Oh this is SO hard for me, since my son is allergic to milk and eggs, so he does eat relatively healthy most of the time and *gasp* he does like fruits and vegetables too. However I have a hard time finding snacks for him in general. He gets bored with pretzels and popcorn. Can't wait to read what some other people suggest!

kdiamond

My kids pretty much live on fruit, I always have fruit in the house.

Other options are packaged goldfish, veggie straws, Annie's organic gummies, yogurt, go-gurt, string cheese, applesauce, cottage cheese singles w/ fruit on the side, little water bottles, pretzels, peanut butter on apple

emsibun

One each from group 1 and group 2:

Group 1:

Half a sandwich made with one slice of bread, low fat spread (or butter if that is your will), ham or cheese. Cut into three or four pieces.

Breadsticks (Grissini).

Baked cheese biscuits.

Cream crackers.

Cheese cubes.

Ham roll-ups.

A fromage frais or yogurt pot (to dip into with fruit sticks).

Group 2:

Raisins.

Banana (chopped).

Apple (chopped).

Pear (chopped).

Carrot (chopped).

Cucumber (chopped).

Mange toute or young fresh unshelled peas.

Of course you have other choices for sandwich fillings, different fruits depending on your childs tastes. But I had a similar list pinned to my notice board a few years ago when my kids were about three years old to remind me what I could make instead of reaching for a packet of potato chips or biscuits.

Hope that helps :happy:

mgreen10

When me and my sister were kids, we were fed only healthy food. And never carrot sticks...no kid wants to eat that. Unfortunately, if you want your kids to grow up smart and healthy, you can't feed them processed and packaged foods.

My mom would make something simple for dinner. Mashed potatos from scratch, some pangrilled chicken, tomato slices sprinkled with salt. Lunch would be a sandwich that me and my sister loved...rye bread with neufschatel cheese, pickle slices, tomatoes, onion slices, sprinkled with salt, pepper, italian spices. Breakfast was hard boiled eggs, pancakes (with raspberry preserves or sour cream for topping only), or cereal with slices of cheese. My sister ate a lot of green bell pepper slices that she dipped in italian dressing.

Also, we always ate what the adults ate..we never had our "own" food for kids. That makes sense to me...
And if we didnt want it, we were forced to eat it or we would go hungry that day. Eventually you learn to eat what is put in front of you instead of going hungry.

We grew up thin and healthy.

daryls

Dried fruit is great!

Make food fun - ants on a log (celery with peanut butter and raisins). Maybe make homemade smoothies with yogurt.

I LOVE Trader Joes Organic Animal Crackers...... You can definitely make those fun. I like to take the animals "swimming" in yogurt or apple sauce.

emsibun

I totally forgot to say there's a group three which is to add a tiny piece of something they have never tried before or have only recently tried. It takes many tries of a food for a child to accept it as 'nice' so this is a good way to introduce, for example, cucumber (one slice cut into 4 pieces). Three years old is a good window of opportunity for increasing the range of their food repertoire!

ka_42

larabars! They have mini versions that could be a better option too. I don't know how anyone wouldn't find them tasty.. I love them. They are sweet but have no added sugars- all the sugars are from fruit. The only downside is they're a bit expensive and a full sized bar is a little heavy on calories (200 each)

ChantalGG

Dont give your child a non healthy option. fruits, yogurts, cereals, crackers, veggie with light ranch dip if they wont get them plain, cheese, peanut butter, pretzels. make it on a fun platter of a few choices to choose from and you both can enjoy it together.

BigBoneSista

There a reciepe on here for the peanut butter balls that is good. My kids love homemade rolls with cheese and broccolli in them. They just grab them and go. They love bananas & apples they can dip in peanut butter. Greek yogurt with fresh fruit and honey. Fruit salads.

Airbear3

i need help here to and blame myself my oldest daughter is 11 and 150 lbs with high cholesterol, she WON'T eat anything remotely healthy. I was a young mom at 18 and just fed her kid stuff, hotdog mac and cheese etc. by the time i had my 2nd i had already changed my eating habbits so my 6 yearl old eats fruits and veggies with no problem. we have dinner and i always make her try just one of something good but she licks and and says its terrible. it turns into a fight...i don't want her to have a body issues or eating disorder but ido need her to be healthy. i've tried explaing to her what high cholesterol is and what it can do. sometimes she cries about her weight and i cry too cause i remeber being an over weight kid and kids are cruel. i run or walk almost every night and she always comes. its not lack of exercise...its food! HELP ME TOO!

TheMaidOfAstolat

Nuts
Cheeses
PB on toast
Home made oven fries
Waffles with berries (we make a huge batch on weekends and just freeze them and then heat them up when needed)
Banana dipped in dark chocolate and rolled in coconut or crushed almonds
Yogurt with honey or pureed berries
Pita smeared with hummus
Veggies and homemade dips

Airbear3

and also i don't make two different mealbut she'll skip the veggies or whatever the healthy part is

bcattoes

Fruit! Most kids love some type of fruit. Dried fruit is also great because it doesn't spoil as quickly and is more portable. And unless your child has a peanut allergy, peanut butter is great because most kids love it too. Make food fun. Most kids won't don't ask for celery sticks but if you fill them with peanut butter and add raisin "eyes" for a food catepillar they usually will.

I too switched to a healthy diet when I had children because I didn't want them to struggle with weight and health problems when they got older. I think one of the best things I did (mine are grown now) is start cooking more. You can make dinner in less time that you can sit in line at McDonald's if you plan ahead.

dls06

Take one day a week to cook healthy food for the week. If your kids are in school buy a thermos and send your home made food with them to school. Or freeze serving size bags or containers and they will be ready when you need them. Get recipes online. there are tons of sites for healthy recipes for kids and adults. Your kids will learn to like different things if they are not given the option. Its best to train them while they are young to have good healthy lifestyle now, then to be on diets when they get older. You will be doing yourself and your children proud by feeding them healthy now.

Oishii

Blueberries, strawberries, grapes. Just rinse and go!

We have had problems with kiddy snacks having low fibre content, so we use rye crispbreads too. My son also loves plain rice cakes, probably because we buy them on the way home from the park.

My parents kept me away from sweets when I was tiny, then gave me them every day at elementary school! I have a very sweet tooth, though, so that doesn't seem to have helped.

We do give him potato chips (aiming for ones with more fibre) but homemade popcorn also went down very well recently, with the extra excitement of the popping to make them even tastier

yankeefamily05

My daughter LOVES any kind of cheese, fruit, yogurt, goldfish, broccoli, she even eats salad as long as it is with croutons and ranch. Popcorn too.

bcattoes

i need help here to and blame myself my oldest daughter is 11 and 150 lbs with high cholesterol, she WON'T eat anything remotely healthy. I was a young mom at 18 and just fed her kid stuff, hotdog mac and cheese etc. by the time i had my 2nd i had already changed my eating habbits so my 6 yearl old eats fruits and veggies with no problem. we have dinner and i always make her try just one of something good but she licks and and says its terrible. it turns into a fight...i don't want her to have a body issues or eating disorder but ido need her to be healthy. i've tried explaing to her what high cholesterol is and what it can do. sometimes she cries about her weight and i cry too cause i remeber being an over weight kid and kids are cruel. i run or walk almost every night and she always comes. its not lack of exercise...its food! HELP ME TOO!

Buy healthier versions of some of the foods you mention. Make mac-n-cheese with whole grain pasta and low fat cheese (you can find these boxed too). Buy low fat hot dogs and white wheat buns. Make your own chili using low fat meat. Make your own pizzas using whole wheat crust (Boboli is good if you don't want to make your own) plenty of veggies and low fat cheese. Use turkey pepperoni or low fat sausage if you want meat. Make burritoes or tacos at home with lean chicken or fat free beans and low fat cheese, using low carb wraps which are available everywhere. Just switch to these things and don't even mention it. She will likely lose weight without even trying. For dessert make more jello or low fat pudding. Make cookies with oatmeal and peanut butter or nuts and natural sugars (honey, mollases) to make them more filling and lessen the insulin spike of dessert.

Bridgetc140

I wish I knew some special foods for kids. My daughter is 2 (3 in July) and NEVER wants to eat ANYTHING. I have to argue with her at every meal and she still won't eat. She should look like a skeleton by now. I'm close to tears every day with this crap. I can't take it anymore, she has been like this every since starting solid foods...so it's been about 2 years now that I have been going through this three times a day. I'm so frustrated I could explode.

bcattoes

I wish I knew some special foods for kids. My daughter is 2 (3 in July) and NEVER wants to eat ANYTHING. I have to argue with her at every meal and she still won't eat. She should look like a skeleton by now. I'm close to tears every day with this crap. I can't take it anymore, she has been like this every since starting solid foods...so it's been about 2 years now that I have been going through this three times a day. I'm so frustrated I could explode.

I know you are frustrated but I had to smile at that. I can do that now since mine are grown and gone. Some kids are just like that. But sooner or later they will eat because 2 year olds don't have the mental capacity to stage a hunger strike. Just keep healthy food available and don't make a big issue of it. She'll eat when she gets hungry enough. Just don't offer unhealthy food as a replacement or you'll have a very hard time ever getting out of that habit.