Let’s talk snacks!
By April. Filed in Eating, Parenting |Tags: lets talk snacks
If you’re a parent chances are you’ve had the “snack dilemma.” A common question you may have pondered is: “What do I pack for the park or whip out for my munchkins to snack on?” Here’s the thing, we may have snacks that work for us for a while, but then our children or even we get bored with them or forget about them. If you use fresh produce, the seasons change, and then so does availability of certain items. So I’m just like you, constantly dreaming up new snack ideas to keep my little ones happy and healthy. Today as I packed my bags for our weekly park day I decided to take a picture of some of the things we are currently snacking on. I didn’t take all of these things, but I threw them in so you could see some more ideas. The MOST common question people ask me is: “what do you feed your kids?” This is such a tough question because I don’t make the same things all of the time and it’s always changing but here’s what we are snacking on right now.
So lets start with the easy stuff. Fresh apples. Make sure they taste good! Everything should be delicious if we want our children to love it and prefer it to the alternatives they see around them. My favorite apples are Honeycrisp and Pink Lady-always organic. These are usually winners and I could honestly eat them all day.
Then avocados are delicious and easy. I bring a moist wash cloth for any messy hands and it’s worth the extra work to have my children eating fresh healthy foods. I also bring a knife and they usually have their hobo pocket knives that have a spoon with us to spoon out bites. A serving of avocado has 3.5 grams of unsaturated fats, which are known to be important for normal growth and development of the central nervous system and brain. They are full of vitamins, like vitamin A, B-complex, C, K, H, E, and folic acid, plus magnesium, copper, calcium, iron and potassium and provide all of the essential amino acids, plus fatty acids like Omega 3 and 6. I call them nature’s perfect food because of their nutrients. They are also the perfect first food for babies.
I prefer fresh bananas, cherries and cranberries but for outings the dried ones work great. Some of the other packaged items are Oskri coconut and sesame bars, toasted seaweed, and fruit leather. Towards the back I have sardines mixed with homemade mayonnaise (get canola oil free mayo if you buy it-Hain is made with safflower oil) and rice crackers for dipping. I love feeding my men sardines! They are so good for them! There’s too much to list about sardines so I suggest you read all about their benefits here.
In front of the sardines are soaked, dehydrated pumpkin seeds. Soaking your nuts and seeds in water neutralizes the enzyme inhibitors, and encourages the production of beneficial enzymes. It also makes them much easier to digest and the nutrients more easily absorbed. The fresh veggies are sliced cucumbers and carrots in a little watered down raw vinegar and sea salt, soaked for a few hours.
Here’s some of our other regular snacks: Fresh blueberries, blackberries or raspberries. Also grapes, homemade kale chips, sunflower seeds, raisins and whole cucumbers and humus. In the summer I bring a lot of watermelon, cantaloupe and homemade green smoothie popsicles. We use these BPA free molds. Some things are minimally processed but I think it is realistic and doable for most parents. Notice there are no whole grains listed. Whole grains should only be consumed when they are prepared traditionally by soaking them. Weston A. Price and Sally Fallon are great sources for more information on the topic.
Don’t forget: the objective is to provide our children with delicious foods that nourish their bodies which will create wonderful habits for life long health and happiness! If you find yourself eating foods with them it’s a good sign they taste good and you are on the right track.
