Anyone else remember a childhood full of admonitions not to “eat between meals?” Not too long ago, parents worried that snacking would spoil kids’ appetites for meal-time and create bad habits.
Well,
like the conventional wisdom about waiting 30 minutes after eating to swim, expert thinking on snacking has also come a long way since our childhoods.
Now, more and more nutritionists see smart snacking – that is, eating healthy snacks between meals – as a way to fuel activity, while preventing hunger pangs that can lead to over-eating at mealtime.
Over at the Food Network, their Healthy Eats crew
provides several ideas for home-made, better-for-you, kid-friendly snacks – just the kind of thing to power kids through to meal-time without empty calories.
They share lots of fun ideas for treats – from frozen grapes to fruit leather. And they've got recipes, too, for heartier snacks like pinwheels and pizza wraps, which kids can help prepare. Just as important, they provide protein as well as complex carbohydrates, so they satisfy cravings and have real nutritional staying power.
Have your kids got a favorite summer snack staple? We’d love to hear about it in the comments!