Kids need to eat a healthy diet in order to promote their growth and development. Unfortunately, it’s not easy to coax children into eating raw veggies and plain cereals. But there are some easy ways to introduce healthy snack options and make them appealing to children.
Include Your Kids When Making Snacks
When first introducing healthy food to your family diet, try to include your kids when making snacks. Kids usually enjoy cooking and working in the kitchen. If kids are allowed to work with healthy ingredients or vegetables then they are going to be more likely to eat them when the snack is done. In addition, you can have your children help plan healthy meals while in the grocery store. This can make kids excited about healthy snacks just because they are helping create them.
Mix Healthy Food into Traditional Snacks
You can try mixing healthy foods into traditional snacks that might not be as nutritious. You can mix sugary cereals in with healthier whole grain cereals, use a whole-wheat crust and fresh tomatoes to make miniature pizzas as a snack, or mix small amounts of yogurt with fruit or dried fruit to increase calcium intake. The idea is to add or replace just one or two parts of a traditional snack with a small amount of something healthy. You can increase the amount of healthy food as your kids adjust.
Try Smoothies and Shakes
Smoothies are a good way to sneak healthy snacks into your child’s diet. You can use a small amount of sugar or fruit to sweeten the smoothie. You can add ingredients to a smoothie like non-fat yogurt, flax seeds, and fresh spinach. Smoothies are a fun, simple, and satisfying snack that can be filled with a wide variety of healthy foods.
Offer a Variety of Healthy Options
Your kids are just like anyone else. There are going to be some healthy foods that they genuinely do not like. This is why you should keep a variety of healthy snacks in the house at all times. You can keep healthy granola mixtures, fruits, and vegetables as well as things like unsalted nut mixtures. If your kids can choose what type of snack to have during the day, then they will be more likely to find something healthy to enjoy.
Use Dips and Dressings to Make Healthy Snacks More Appealing
Some healthy snack options aren't even exciting for adults. Try to use dips and dressings in order to make healthy snacks more appealing. A little ranch dressing can make carrot sticks taste better. You can create spicy yogurt or non-fat sour cream dips to get kids to eat whole grain crackers or vegetable chips. You could even make a cheese dip for broccoli. Dips and dressings add flavor that can get your kids to eat healthy snacks. Just make sure to make any dips and dressings as healthy as possible.
