Released April 17, 2009
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Eating well at mealtimes is important, but eating well between meals is also essential to raising happy, healthy children. The choices made could be the difference between keeping a healthy diet going and blowing one.
Rosemary Rodibaugh, nutrition specialist for the U of A Cooperative Extension Service, says planning ahead is the way to go. "Snacks should be planned along with meals to help get all the foods recommended from each food group into a daily meal plan."
Good snacking also depends on a person's age.
"Children have small stomachs and can't eat much at one setting," says Rodibaugh. "So snacking can help ensure a child gets all the nutrients he or she needs. Snacks should come from the five major food groups: grains, fruits, vegetables, milk and meat, and should not be the high-calorie sweet or salty foods most Americans think of as snack foods. Planned healthy snacks can help prevent adults from over-eating at meals."
Rodibaugh says those snacks don't have to be pre-packaged items from the store.
"Parents can keep washed and cut-up fruits and veggies available for kids to snack on. They can keep healthy snack options in a special place that kids can easily reach. They can portion out snacks into individual servings to help prevent eating too much."
Kids can be involved in snack preparation.
"(Children) can spread things like peanut butter or hummus on bread or crackers, wash fruits and veggies. Kids can make good decisions on what they want for snack as long as the foods they have to choose from are healthy choices."
The USDA Child and Adult Care Food program snack guidelines include many options, including:
- Fresh, canned or dried fruit
- Low-fat pudding
- Low-fat yogurt cheese (cubes or string)
- Low-fat muffins fig bars
- Graham crackers
- Animal crackers
- Vanilla wafers
- Low-fat popcorn
- Cereal
- Pretzels
- Low-fat granola bars
- Trail/cereal mixes
- Snack crackers
- Low-fat milk
- 100 percent juice (no sugar added).
The USDA has lots of other serving suggestions, too - including portion size. For more ideas, check out the My Pyramid website at http://www.mypyramid.gov/preschoolers/HealthyHabits/PickyEaters/kitchenactivities.html .
The size of the portion should also be reflected by age. A teenager will of course eat more than a toddler at snack time. "Generally, for preschoolers we think of half-cup servings for fruit, veggies or milk and 1 ounce for grains, like one-half to one slice of bread, a half-cup cereal, or four to six crackers; and cheese in 1-inch cubes; thinly sliced meat, 1 tablespoon of nut butter; or beans, with a quantity of one-quarter to one-half cup."
For toddlers, there's the additional concern about early foods. For instance, babies younger than one year should never be given honey because of the potential for botulism poisoning. Children under age two should be given whole milk and not skim or 1 percent milk because they need the protein and fats for their development.
It's important to remember to check the serving size on any packaged product. If the package serves more than one, it should be divided before serving.
Just as portion size should be considered in snacking, so should factors such as the time and place snacks are given. Rodibaugh says "always sit at the table for snacks - not in front of the television or on the go around the house. Snacks should contain foods from at least two of the My Pyramid food groups and should compliment what kids are having for meals. Snacks should not be too close to mealtime or the child might not eat their meal."
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http://www.uaex.edu/news/april2009/0417snacking.htm
Contact: Lamar James, (501) 671-2187, ljames@uaex.edu
