Making healthy after-school snacks easily available to kids Woo Hoo!

It’s almost time for our little (and not so little) ones to head back to school. Time to get back to schedules and routines.

I don’t know about your kids, but the first thing mine look for when they get home is a snack.

It’s not only important to offer a healthy snack after a long day at school, but also to provide healthy, portable snacks for kids who have sports practice or on buses back and forth to away games.

Healthy snacking is important because it allows you to add to your intake of essential nutrients, can help increase energy levels, and may prevent you from overeating at your next meal.

Be smart about your snacking. Cookies and sweets are yummy but they may not satisfy a hunger, which could make you or your kids eat more than needed.

Snacks that include a combination of protein, fat and carbohydrates will fill you up and keep you going longer.

Here are some suggestions for healthy snacks to get your school year started.

1. Toast and peanut butter. Try whole wheat or raisin toast. Add some slices of banana.

2. Fruit. Fresh, canned, frozen or dried—all of it is great.

3. Vegetables. Cut them up ahead of time and have them ready in the refrigerator with some lowfat dip, salad dressing or guacamole.

Try broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, red peppers, zucchini, cucumber, celery, and jicama. Kids might like to put the veggies in a pita pocket with some dressing or hummus.

4. Yogurt. By itself or made into a smoothie with some fresh or frozen fruit.

5. Trail mix. Mix up your own using raisins, dried blueberries or cranberries, papaya, apricots, almonds, peanuts, cashews, pistachios, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and a few chocolate bits or M&Ms.

Measure it in 1/2 cup servings and store for easy access and portion control.

6. Popsicles. Look for ones with no sugar added or made from 100% fruit juice. Or make your own!

7. English muffin or bagel pizza. Spread tomato sauce on a half, add a little basil, oregano, and garlic to taste, sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and toast in toaster oven until the cheese melts.

Cut-up veggies can be added for variety.

8. Lowfat microwave popcorn without butter. Try sprinkling with Parmesan cheese instead.

9. Cereal. Cheerios, Raisin Bran, Grape Nuts or other lowfat, low-sugar cereals and 1% or skim milk. Throw some fruit on top for extra color and sweetness.

10. Whole grain crackers such as Triscuits, served with peanut butter or lowfat cheese.

11. Tortilla chips and salsa.

Make it easy for your kids to choose an after-school snack by posting a list of available choices on the refrigerator.

However, the best plan is to leave something out in plain sight.

That way your kids will spot it as soon as they walk into the kitchen.

A hungry child, like a hungry adult, is going to gravitate to what is quick, easy and available.

So keep the cookies off the counter!

It’s been a wonderful summer, but let the countdown begin…

 

 

Quick and pocketbook-friendly alternatives to ‘fast food’

This weekend I was going through the Sunday paper and came across an article in the USA Weekend section called, What’s Left to Eat?

As dietetics professionals, we’re constantly telling people what NOT to eat.

But I am often asked the same question as the RD’s in the article, “What can I eat?”

When it comes to food there are so many choices and not all of them healthy. Then there is the consideration of time.

With our busy lifestyles, who has time to cook a big meal?

Isn’t that what convenience products are for?

In general (although there has been improvement) convenience foods are higher in fat and sodium and lower in fruit and veggie content.

According to www.mayoclinic.com, the average sodium intake for Americans is 3,400 mg/day!

The 2010 Dietary Guidelines have recommended an intake of no more than 1,500 mg/day.

Let’s put things in perspective and use a serving of canned tomato soup as an example.

The half-cup recommended serving contains 480 mg. (And who consumes just a half cup?)

Saturated Fat should be less than 10% of your daily intake and cholesterol should be less than 300 mg. Read those labels!

The big question is, should we have to sacrifice our health in order to have a quick meal?

On occasion, sure. But not Continue reading →

Resolve to start the school year with healthy eating habits

All the signs are there. Back to school sales have begun and the leaves on some of the trees are already changing. I saw Halloween candy on the shelves at a Utica store yesterday.

Yes, it appears that it is time again for students to be heading off (or back) to their institutes of higher learning.

We’ve all experienced or heard the horror stories of dining hall food, eating pizza after midnight and the dreaded “Freshman 15”.

So what can our kids do to keep healthy and maintain (or lose) weight once they are on their own?

At the dining hall, the best approach is to use Continue reading →

Daily diet: Fortified junk foods should not replace those whole ones

I was recently perusing some nutritional headlines and stories on-line and came across the Food Marketing Institute’s (FMI) 19th annual Shopping for Health Survey which is held in conjunction with Prevention magazine.

The survey included a nationally representative sample of 1,579 US adults who are the primary grocery shoppers.

The survey was conducted in November and December of 2010.

The results were puzzling to me. Read on and see what you think.

What the survey found is that people are not as concerned with the “undesirables” of food (i.e. fats, added sugars, sodium and calories, etc.) as they are with healthy ingredients and what foods are fortified with.

Okay, sounds great!

Of course I would like to see everyone pay attention to naturally healthier foods, but then there is the fortification factor.

Food fortification goes back to 1924 when iodine was added to salt on a voluntary basis in an attempt to address the prevalent health problem of goiter in the United States.

We still use iodized salt to this day.

In 1933, came Vitamin D fortified milk.

Then in the 1930s and 1940s, due to new science, specific deficiency disease syndromes were identified and documented in the United States.

In 1940 the Committee on Food and Nutrition (now the Food and Nutrition Board) recommended the addition of thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, and iron to flour. (I could cite more examples, but I’m sure you get the idea.)

These types of fortification are defined as “mandatory fortification” (aka enrichment) and have been more than beneficial in helping to improve our overall health.

I would think we could all agree that the eradication of nutrition deficiency syndromes is a good thing. Right?

However, we have once again taken a good thing too far. Just go to the grocery store and scan the shelves.

There is nary a product that isn’t “new and improved” or “now fortified with…” (fill in the blank).

While there is the aforementioned “mandatory fortification” there is also “discretionary fortification”.

Let’s use the Fiber One version of the Pop Tart as an example.

While it does have 5 grams of fiber, it is also packed with 190 calories.

Nutritionally, a better breakfast choice would be a medium apple (approximately 3 g fiber and 80 calories) with a slice of light, whole grain toast (3 g fiber and 35 calories).

You would have enough calories to spare to add some peanut butter to the toast and have a healthier, more wholesome breakfast.

The true problem with discretionary fortification is that these types of fortified foods may decrease the intake of truly healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables, meat, meat alternatives, and milk products.

I’m sure you have noticed that many of the foods that use discretionary fortification are generally what we refer to as “sometimes foods” such as salty snacks, sodas, baked goods, chocolate, ice cream and flavored beverages.

The belief behind discretionary fortification for manufacturers is that people will at least get nutrients when they eat junk food. Seriously?!

So we should let our kids eat fortified snack foods instead of fruits and vegetables?

Study after study shows that kids will eat healthy foods when they are offered.

I’ve seen it myself at classroom parties where the kids devour fresh fruits and veggies with low-fat dip.

Don’t say that kids won’t eat “that kind of stuff”. For some kids—and adults—it may take time.

But by continually offering a new food item, eventually people will try it.

According to 2010 national obesity rates, NY state rolls in at 23.9%.

With the obesity crisis for children and adults at such a high percentage do we really want put out the message that it’s ok to consume large quantities of less nutrient-dense foods?

It seems to me that we would be better off educating and encouraging people to eat more fruits and vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy products.

Honestly, stop by the Farmers’ Market on Friday from 2 to 6 p.m., a roadside stand, or at your grocery store’s produce aisle and try some of the sweet berries, flavorful tomatoes, and other seasonal produce.

Then tell me that people are better off eating fortified “junk” food.

Give me some farm fresh goodness and whole grains vs. fortified veggie crisps any day!

Happy, healthy eating everyone!