Snack Time Made Easy

posted December 24, 2007
  by Christine Gable, Kiddie Chow

“I’m hungry, Mom.”

Those must be the most frequently used three words in the English language.

Growing kids with growing bodies most certainly experience hunger in a different way than adults, while we are maintaining (and sometimes unfortunately adding to!) our mass. Kids’ bodies are doing the miraculous job of creating bone, muscle, brain cells and mass daily. And don’t you just know it when a growth spurt hits? Morning, noon or night, the munchies are never far away.

And if you’re like me, coming up with suggestions—much less nutritious ones—day-in and day-out can be a challenge.

So just the other day when my daughter was asking for some snack suggestions, I got a beauty of an idea:

“How about if we make a list together of some good snack ideas? Then when you’re hungry, you can take a look to see what appeals to you.”

It’s been a win-win situation. For not only has she branched out in choosing a variety of different snacking options, it’s freed my poor brain from having to recite the same boring ideas each time she’s hungry. And it’s helped her to see that a healthful snack isn’t candy or chips—once in a while with that stuff is fine. But any more than that and it can lead to some regular bad habits that can lead to obesity issues.

Here’s our snack list so far:

* Cheese and crackers
* Peanut butter and crackers
* Banana with peanut butter
* Apple with peanut butter
* Banana
* Apple
* Grapes
* Orange or Clementine
* Grapefruit, cut in half & sprinkled with sugar
* Apple – cored and filled with peanut butter
* Apple – cored and filled with cottage cheese and nuts
* Frozen blueberries
* Bowl of Cereal
* Pack of crackers & glass of milk
* Chocolate milk
* Yogurt
* Yogurt with peanuts
* Carrots with ranch dip
* Celery with ranch dip
* Celery with peanut butter
* Half a ham/cheese sandwich
* Baked potato with butter – microwaved for 5 minutes
* Sweet potato with butter - microwaved for 5 minutes
* Half a PB&J sandwich
* Protein drink with milk: strawberry, blueberry, vanilla, chocolate
* Handful o’ nuts


So, dear readers, what do you and your kids do for snack time? What are your favorite ideas? Please do write and let me know … or leave a comment below. I’d love to have enough ideas to compile an updated snack list for the future.

And here’s a fun read that's relevant to snack time ideas—it’s interesting to learn how food choices are so different, depending upon one’s locale:

Snack Time Around the World by Michele Zurakowski

Is there a kid alive who doesn’t make it through the day with snacks? Definitely not—and once you crack open this book and get a taste of the delicious snack-time variety from around the world, your kids just might get a bit adventurous. Travel around the world and see how kids rejuve with foods native to their regions. From Mexican warm sweet rolls to Vietnamese iced sugarcane juice, this is a fun way to snack your way around the world. Not to mention learn a bit of geography at the same time!

Next week: Punch up the New Year

©2008 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction of this article may be made without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.

For more info and updates on Christine Gable, visit her personal website at:
http://www.christinegable.com/

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