Has your child gained some weight lately, but you’re not sure exactly what to do about it? Consider replacing their junk food snacks with some of the foods on this list.
Begin with introducing all kinds of fresh fruit. Shop with your child for a bunch of different fruit and have taste tests at home. Try the exotic stuff alongside the everyday.
Get an air popcorn popper and show your kids how much fun it is to pop and eat, even without the butter. Instead spray with a tiny bit of water and then salt it. To satisfy a sweet tooth, toss popcorn with a small amount of reduced-calorie maple syrup–it’ll taste liek caramel corn.
Pretzel thins and cheese. You may want to buy cheddar cheese, which has a stronger flavor; a little goes a long way.
Boil up some eggs. Kids love to peel the eggs, and the protein will keep them full for a long time. Most kids like them with paprika, salt, and pepper.
Ants on a log. Spread a modest amount of peanut butter on celery sticks and then place raisins or minitaure chocolate chips on top (which are the ants).
Offer plates of veggetables with salad dressing on the side. Older kids may like to use a knife to carve the veggies into flowers and shapes.
Try seasoned, cooked shrimp. Boil shrimp with Cajun spices and then let them peel and eat these high-protein, low-calorie snacks.
Cold cut roll ups. Serve this treat with toothpicks, as little rolls of any lean meats with little slices of cheese rolled up inside them.
Get your kids hooked on smoothies instead of milkshakes. Combine frozen raspberries or strawberries with low calorie fruit juice and blend. You can put yogurt in if your kids like it that way.
Buy some Greek yogurt. Greek yogurt contains two times the amount of protein as regular yogurt. You can even get it in chocolate!
If you model healthy eating habits, your kids will be more likely to eat healthfully as well. Try picking up some healthy eating cookbooks for more ideas.
