In this post I reveal the most important secret to healthy snacks for kids. Snacks are a terrific way to get all the vitamins and nutrients your kids need that they are not getting by eating their 3 meals. But to make the right snack for you kids you should know what nutrients your kids need. The secret information is the food pyramid. Evey time I saw food pyramid it confused me, so I found a great plate pyramid that I think is much easier to understand and remember.
You can see that Carbs take around 40% of the foods. Just remember to give your kids "good" carbs and avoid "bad" carbs. Fruits and Vegetables around 25%. Natural juice count too.
Meat, fish, eggs, beans for protein around 13%. Milk, cheese and yogurt for fat around 20% . Avoid "bad" fats. And believe me when I tell you that your kids don't need sweets :)
No that you know how much of each food your kids need, the only thing that is left is to put together a yummy menu.
Secret to healthy snacks for Kids
Carbs in Healthy Snacks for Kids
Carbs is a very important source of energy. There were a lot of talk in the news that you should eat less carbs and that carbs are bad for you. Not true. Like fat there are sort of bad carbs and good carbs. For those of you who didn't read my article about fat, click here for "Fat in Healthy Snacks for Kids."
When you eat carbs they are broken down into sugars. These sugars get into the bloodstream.
Bad Carbs - simple carbs get absorb too quickly and kids sugar level increase too rapid. Rapid rise in blood sugar may increase a kid's risk of developing health problems like diabetes and heart disease. Simple carbs are found in refine grains, meaning processed foods like, white flour, white rice, soda, candies and etc.
Good Carbs - complex carbs are absorbed more slowly, allowing blood sugar to rise more gradually. They can be found in whole grain, brown rice, fruits and etc.
If you kids are older than 2 they should get 60% of the calories consumed in carbohydrates. Keep in mind that not all foods that have simple carbs are bad. There are a lot of fruits, vegetables, and dairy products, which provide a range of essential nutrients that support growth and overall health of your kids.
Try to avoid foods that are high in added sugar (soda, cookies, cake, candy, frozen desserts, and some fruit drinks) tend to also be high in calories and low in other valuable nutrients.
Fun Healthy Snacks for Kids
Snacks for kids should always be fun and healthy. If you make food fun they will eat it no matter how much vegies that they don't like you put in it. They don't like broccoli not a problem make a funny character and they will eat it. Guaranteed. Kids like colorful, fun stuff. Take a look at these funny sandwiches full of vegies. It's a fun and healthy snack for your kids. My husband couldn't stop laughing when he saw them first time. Kids loved it.
I have to admit this one was a little hard to make but look how much healthy vegetables you can stuff in it. It has a lot of cucumber olives, turkey as a nose, hehehe, 4 prezels used for legs and 1 green olive cut in half to make eyes.
You can use tomates with the cucumber. Make some wings out of letus another great idea. Broccoli would work too. Just use 
your imagination.
Look at this little crab! Not only you can tell them it's a new little friend but you can also make these fun snack sandwiches together. It always taste better when they made it and it doesn't matter how bad it taste. They will eat it anyway.
My last cute sandwich is an alligator. It looks more like a mouse but it's green so if you say it's an alligator will believe you. Look how much cucumber you can use. And I think you can use more broccoli with this one.
I hope you had a good laugh looking at these great fun healthy snacks for kids. Share it with other moms/dads. Oh, forgot to tell you, these little sandwiches is a great snacks for the kids party. Parents will love you if instead of potato chips and pizza you make healthy food. I am always looking for fun snack ideas for kids so if you have any you would like to share let me know.
Want to see more fun healthy snacks for kids, click here Fun Healthy Snacks For Kids Part II.
Fat in Healthy Snacks for Kids
We keep talking about healthy snacks for kids and how overweight kids are. I want to talk about FAT in kid's food today. Parents should know that fat is not bad for kids. Or let me re-phrase it, not all fat is bad. You will be surprised, but kids need fat every day.
Why do Kids need fat?
Fat helps kids to absorb vitamins and develop brain and the nervous system. It makes them feel full faster so they don't eat as much other food.
How much fat do kids need per day?
If you children are older than 2 they should get around 30% of their daily calories in fat. So if your child getting 1,500 calories a day around 280 should come from fat. You should not worry about your kids getting fat, because kids burn fat much faster than adults.
You hear a lot of overweight kids and that fat is bad for cholesterol and your heart. It's all true. Here is the thing, you can give your kids food that contains fat but doesn't drive their cholesterol through the roof. How can you do that? Simple.
Are there different types of fat?
This is very important. Here are the 3 main types of fat:
Unsaturated Fats: Good for your kids. It can be found in a lot of plants and fish. This kind of fat will help your kids to grow and helps heart health. When I give you healthy snack recipes with some fat, I always make sure it's unsaturated fats that are good for your kids. Great snack is a tuna salad sandwich. But don't worry we'll take about great healthy snacks that have good fat later.
Note: When you are cooking try to use olive oil or canola oil because they have unsaturated fats.
Let's talk about bad fats now:
Saturated fats: It increases your cholesterol levels and has negative effect on your child's heart. It can be found in animal foods, butter, mayonnaise has a lot of saturated fats, milk, cheese. You can check the label to see how much saturated fat the product has. If you are not sure how to tell the difference, don't worry we'll have post for you on how to read the label.
Trans tats: The worst fat you can give to your kids. It increases cholesterol levels in the blood and is bad for the heart health. Try to avoid it.
Your kids need fat to grow and develop their little bodies. Our job is to make sure they are getting right amounts of the right fat. I'll help you to come up with great healthy snack ideas for kids that have vitamins and nutritions that kids need.