Childhood without snacks is incomplete!
In fact, as long as you choose carefully, snacks can also be very healthy. Instead of labeling snacks as a "forbidden zone" to make children envious, it is better to use high-quality "snacks" such as seaweed, yogurt, fruits and vegetables, nuts, cheese, etc. to cultivate their good eating habits.
What we need to do is plan the time, quantity and type of snacks for children , instead of "fighting wits and courage" with children who are noisy about snacks.
Reject snacks? NO NO NO NO, it should be provided in a planned manner, providing healthy snacks!
of course!
The child's stomach is like a car's fuel tank. Obviously, the child's fuel tank is much smaller than that of our adults. They are like little motors every day, except when they sleep, and never stop for a moment - yes, there are only two gears, constantly moving and power off and falling asleep. Many children are still struggling with sleep for the second before they fall asleep, screaming.
The fuel tank of the car is relatively shallow, it is easy to fill, and it needs to be refueled soon. However, the three meals a day for us adults are like there are only three on the way to the gas station. Therefore, some emergency measures are needed in the middle, and small oil barrels equipped with them need to be supplemented. For the little guys, snacks are the way of life that can continuously provide energy and keep running around and climbing up and down like perpetual motion machine . It is a "little oil barrel" that fills the shortage of three meals.
You can think of snacks as a small meal. Snacks are also opportunities for children to eat healthily.
Especially when children are picky about their food or eat less, using snack time to provide more opportunities to eat and provide more abundant choices, which will make the child's nutritional intake very different.
Snack Rule 1: pair time
Don’t eat it all the time, specify the snack time.
Losing control of time, quantity and nutrition, snacks may cause harm to the child, causing the child to lose his appetite during a regular meal, interfering with the instinct of feeling hungry and fullness, and bringing a series of health problems, such as obesity, tooth decay , and nutritional imbalance.
On the other hand, planning snacks can replenish your children's energy and nutrition (if they are provided with nutritious food), allowing them to concentrate on playing and learning.
WHO recommends that preschool children over one year old should serve 3-4 full meals a day, and if they need it, 1-2 snacks.
Children at school age need three main meals a day, about one snack.
In addition to regularly snack time two times a day, pay attention to trying to arrange the snack time 2 hours after the meal, at least 1-2 hours after the next meal.
For example, if the child gets up at 7 o'clock, drinks milk at 7 o'clock, and breakfast at 8 o'clock, then you can consider providing a small amount of snacks at 10 o'clock and lunch from 11 o'clock to 12 o'clock.
Because the afternoon is longer, if the dinner is late (after 6 o'clock), children can have another regular meal (2-3 o'clock) and a snack (around 4 o'clock, if needed).
For young children, the good time interval for providing snacks is, a few hours after the end of the meal, and 1-2 hours before the start of the next meal.
Delaying some snacks after a regular meal can make children more accepting of food. I never encourage hunger therapy, but should wait until the child is hungry before providing food. Letting children feel hunger and fullness independently is very important for developing good eating habits.
There should be a gap between meals. The simple principle is that snacks are planned, and the plan of snacks should be consistent with the time of the meal. Always provide (giving the opportunity for children to eat), and regularly.
It doesn’t matter if you make an exception occasionally. If your child is hungry and is closer to a regular meal, you must pay attention to the next snack principle. If you want to give snacks, you only give them once and only very small amounts.
Snack Rule 2: The amount of pair
Snacks are important nutritional supplements, but they are just supplements, and do not reverse the primary and secondary meals.
Snacks other than three meals should be controlled with a small amount, small portions.In order to give children a certain appetite and be willing to sit down with us, or with other children, snacks need just "mini" food.
snacks are an important nutritional supplement, but we hope it is just a supplement and not reverse the primary and secondary with the main and secondary meals.
If it is a... not so healthy snack, you should pay more attention to quantity control.
Children can eat some less healthy snacks or desserts appropriately, but we need to set limits for children. For example, you can eat one piece of chocolate every day, only one piece, for example, you can eat one piece of chocolate after school. If it is only a small amount, the impact on the main meal will be very small. You set the rules. If you don't teach them, they won't know this.
completely bans foods that other children have, and it often backfires. Once you have the chance to get these foods, children are likely to eat too much in one breath.
Niu Niu has eaten cotton candy for the first time.
She has always been curious about the marshmallows in the book, and
has never been found to sell it.
finally saw it in the parent-child hotel in Chimelong, and bought her one.
Although I didn’t want to give her such a big marshmallow,
, it is still worth it to give her a sweet experience of life who is almost 4 years old.
In the end, the marshmallow melted a little, and Niu Niu didn't finish it.
Snack Rule 3: pair of food
Speaking of snacks, many people may first think of chocolate, biscuits, cream cake , puff , marshmallows, potato chips...
These are indeed not a good choice for snacks to provide regular every day. They can be eaten in small amounts occasionally. I think the happiness of life lies in occasional pleasure and rich experience.
However, daily snacks are provided regularly every day, and healthy, nutritious and colorful foods can be provided as much as possible.
Use healthy foods as snacks, and you can choose those foods that can be used as nutritional supplements for three meals. The following article will introduce several recommended healthy snacks and purchasing methods.
1 Seaweed
Seaweed is actually a snack after processing seaweed. Babies may not like eating seaweed, but they will definitely not dislike eating seaweed.
The taste of seaweed is often said to be MSG flavor, but in fact it is because the umami in the seaweed is very high in the amino acid , which tastes very fresh and not fishy. This is why people from young children to seventy years old eat seaweed with relish.
Especially for children who are picky about food, after adding a little seaweed to the rice, it will save you much more worry.
Seaweed has very rich nutritional ingredients:
Among all marine vegetables, seaweed contains the highest level of nutritional value and can be said to be the "strongest brain" food. In addition to the well-known high iodine content, which can promote nerve and brain development, you can also feel these:
A piece of seaweed contains as much fiber as a bowl of spinach, and more Omega-3 than avocado. Two regular-sized seaweeds are equal to 500 grams of vitamin B12 contained in pork. It is also rich in vitamin C, vitamin A, potassium, magnesium, and calcium.
One-third of seaweed is dietary fiber. Dietary fiber is beneficial to the intestines, so eating seaweed in moderation can effectively solve constipation. Although
contains such high nutrition, its energy is very low, which means it will not affect the amount of food in the main meal.
If the sodium content of seaweed is low enough, you can crush the seaweed when the baby is seven or eight months old and add it to supplementary food and eat it in a small amount.
Niu Niu and Jiujiu have been eating a low-sodium seaweed
, but there are a lot of seasoned seaweed on the market, and they are often oily and salty, which is not suitable for babies.
How to choose seaweed?
- Low sodium
Although the sodium content in natural seaweed varies, some of them have high sodium content, so it is best not to choose salted ones. Even if you eat less, eating too salty foods often can easily affect your child's taste preferences. It is recommended to eat less seaweed with a sodium content of more than 600mg or simply not give it to your children.
Less oil
In addition to looking at whether olive oil, cooking oil, etc. are added to the ingredients list, you can also look at the fat content in the ingredients list. The higher the content, the more oil is added.
Less sugar (preferably without sugar)
Seaweed itself does not contain sugar, and the seaweed on the market does not add much sugar, but a few will add extra white sugar and maltose . It is not suitable for young babies to add extra sugar. Everyone should carefully check the ingredients list when purchasing.
2 low sugar yogurt
Since the age of one year, Niu Niu's most important snack is yogurt. Although yogurt contains sugar, it also contains high-quality protein , a variety of vitamins and minerals. It would be a pity if you don’t eat it just because yogurt contains sugar. Or if you only give your child sugar-free yogurt to the extreme for the sake of "health", and the child does not like to eat it, it will reduce the intake of sugar while also reducing dairy products.
Many times, we need to find a balance of taste, appetite and nutrition.
How to choose the yogurt that suits children?
Whole fat yogurt PK low-fat yogurt
Babies under two years old should choose whole fat yogurt. Babies over two years old can consider low-fat yogurt.
Because infants and young children under two years old need to consume a lot of fat in their daily diet. Fat is one of the main sources of energy for babies and is also very important for children's brain development.
sugar-free yogurt PK sugar-containing yogurt
The first choice is sugar-free yogurt, but if children can like it, low-sugar yogurt is also acceptable.
Yogurt itself contains natural lactose , but it still tastes very sour. So many yogurts will be added with sugar to make the taste better.
Xiaoshu suggests that you should try to give your child a yogurt with a sugar content of less than 10 grams per 100 grams of sugar.
Yogurt PK milk-containing beverage / lactic acid bacteria beverage
yogurt.
Yogurt belongs to a kind of fermented milk , which is made by fermenting two or more bacterial strains. Many packaging on the market that have the word "acid" written in bold capital is actually milk-containing beverages or lactic acid bacteria beverages. The biggest difference between them and dairy products is that the protein content is low:
yogurt must be made from raw milk /raw goat milk, or raw beef milk powder/raw goat milk powder as raw goat milk powder, and the protein content per 100 grams must not be less than 2.3 grams.
milk-containing beverages only contain a small amount of milk. The state stipulates that milk-containing beverages only need to contain 1.0 grams of protein per 100 grams.
lactic acid bacteria beverage, the national stipulates that the protein content should not be less than 0.7 grams. Its raw materials contain only a small amount of milk, but often contain a lot of sugar and other additives.
live bacteria yogurt PK room temperature yogurt
live bacteria yogurt.
yogurt contains active probiotic , which is generally healthier than room temperature yogurt without live bacteria. However, the room temperature yogurt does not need to be refrigerated and is easy to store. If you are out for a long time, you can prepare room temperature yogurt. Or like me, freeze the yogurt into ice before going out, and the ice melts after a few hours, and it is just right to eat ~
If you take live bacteria yogurt out and eat it, it is recommended to eat it in time after the yogurt is warmed up. Within one or two hours, the number of probiotics may not drop significantly. However, the time for yogurt to be stored at room temperature is unknown, so it is not recommended to be stored for a long time.
In short, choosing baby yogurt is to follow these four principles: 1. Less sugar (no honey within one year); 2. Whole fat; 3. High protein; 4. Add less. When choosing yogurt, we generally prefer live yogurt > room temperature yogurt.
3 Fruit and dried fruit
Many people think that dried fruit = snack ≈ candy.
I have recommended "dried fruits" many times in articles about children's picky food (not fond of fruits and vegetables), sweetness, and healthy snacks.However, every time, I will receive a lot of questions, such as:
Will the sticky dried fruit such as raisins increase the risk of caries ?
The energy of dried fruits is too high. Isn’t it unhealthy?
Is dried fruit healthy?
According to the current definition, sugar in juice is "free sugar" and sugar in fruits and dried fruits are not.
Some fruits have higher calories than others, and the same is true for dried fruits. From the perspective of weight control, it is best to control the amount of high calorie foods, even if they are healthy foods.
From the perspective of preventing tooth decay, the main thing is to pay attention to: don’t eat frequently, drink more white water, and brush your teeth in the morning and evening.
The advice on dried fruit in the article is: "Instead of giving your children to eat candy, it is better to eat dried fruit as a substitute for candy." The meaning of this sentence is: If you are planning to give your children two candies, then it is healthier to use two dried fruits to replace them.
How to buy dried fruits?
First of all, when purchasing, you must carefully look at the ingredient list:
Has there any juice and sugar added to increase the sweetness? Is there any salt added to
?
These additions will increase the calories, sugar content and increase sodium intake of dried fruits.
From a health perspective, it is not recommended that you eat the above dried fruits with additional added.
Dried fruit, the choice is simple and the best one is based on fruits as the raw materials.
In addition, improper storage of dried fruits will produce fungi or toxin , so be sure to buy dried fruits from regular channels.
4 Nuts
Nuts are well-known healthy snacks rich in fiber, protein and unsaturated fats. The UK Nutrition Foundation also pointed out that nuts can provide the body with a range of key nutrients, such as thiamine and iron, which helps us replenish energy and boost immunity.
When eating, be careful to choose original nuts and control the amount of food, because the calories of nuts are very high.
recommended walnuts are rich in omega-3, but don't forget that many other nuts are also nutritious, such as Brazil nut is the food with the richest antioxidant selenium content.
Special attention should be paid when giving children nuts:
Allergic
Before the child eats some uneating nuts, please let the child try in small amounts and observe that there is no allergic phenomenon for a period of time before eating. Especially peanuts, peanut allergies are very common in children before the age of one year.
airway blockage
Australia suggests that children under 3 years old should not give whole nuts or plant seeds. For children under 3 years old, no matter what kind of nuts it is, remember to give them in a small amount in mud or powder form.
American experts recommend that you should not feed your baby a thick whole spoon or a whole lump of nut butter before the baby is 4 years old to avoid choking. Children under 5 years old are strictly prohibited from eating whole nuts.
For first aid for infants to block the airway by foreign objects, please read these two articles:
How to prevent foreign objects from blocking the airway by foreign objects and the latest supplementary food addition opinions
First aid for common accidental injuries in infants and young children (I) Must learn | It can help you at critical moments!
5 Cheese (stick)
Cheese removes moisture in the milk and retains most of the nutrients in the milk, making the nutrient concentration very high and very high in calcium; the milk protein in the cheese becomes smaller particles by partial hydrolysis by bacteria, which is easier to absorb.
In terms of eating methods, cheese is eaten more diverse than milk - you can eat it directly or cook with different ingredients, so as to help children get nutrition more easily. It can be eaten with fruits, or it can be added to porridge, risotto , pasta, muffins, sandwiches, etc.
How to buy cheese or cheese sticks?
When purchasing cheese, be sure to carefully look at the ingredient list and choose with relatively low sodium content and relatively high calcium content. In addition, try to choose natural cheese with very "simple" ingredient list.
Some soft cheeses are made from fermentation of raw milk without pasteurization and are at risk of infection with Listeria. Although the risk is very low, infants and pregnant women should still be extra careful, so it is best not to choose cheese made of raw milk.
6 Occasional desserts and drinks
Friends often ask me if restricting children from eating sweets will only make children become more crazy about these foods when they grow up?
is not like this. For less healthy foods, there is no need to ban them, but you must restrict them and teach your children some rules. Children are children after all, and they cannot expect to "control" themselves. We need to control the frequency, time, and total amount provided.
Niu Niu drinks Yakka happiness.
I wonder if you have considered this angle. If you give these every day, it is too common, and you may ruin your child’s sense of happiness in eating it.
The cake on the left is baked by myself, the chocolate sauce on the upper right of
was eaten once when I was having a party with my friends, the "Decorate Your Own Cake" project in the lower right of
is a cafe's "Decorate Your Own Cake" project, and
is a food game.
Snacks are given well, which can help children get balanced nutrition, while allowing them to persist until the meal time, while also allowing them to maintain their appetite and can have a regular meal with their family and friends. If the child is not given well, his appetite will be occupied by low-nutritional foods and he will not be able to enjoy eating with his family.
The principle of good snacks is:
gives at a good time;
gives the right amount;
gives the right food.
Put those not-so-good foods, candy, potato chips, cream puffs, leave them to to embellish life. If you give too much, it will ruin the little happiness of children when they eat them.
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