It’s an ongoing battle to get your kids to eat healthily. No matter how hard you try to keep junk food and processed varieties away from them, it seems they always find a way to come creeping in. Keeping healthy snacks for kids on hand can help you win that battle.
Sit down and watch a cartoon on television with your children. During that show, you will see commercials for cereal, fruit snacks, toys, and all sorts of things to allure them. The advertising agencies know what they’re doing because they know that little Johnny or Susie will drive you crazy to buy whatever they see on TV.
Healthy Snacks for Kids Who Are Picky Eaters
Why do your children prefer to get a hamburger at a fast food place rather than eat the ones you make at home? The difference is sugar. These restaurants spend tens of thousands of dollars taste testing their products to make them irresistible. Adding sugar to hamburger, spaghetti, and just about anything else, makes it takes excellent.
How do you get a child to sit down and eat broccoli and carrots when they would rather have a hamburger and French fries from the local drive-thru? It’s a difficult feat, but there are ways that you can make healthy snacks seem more appealing to picky eaters.
Here are 15 healthy snacks for kids that you mustn’t overlook.
1. Popcorn
Popcorn is a nutritious and filling food if you know how to make it properly. Forget loading on the butter and salt; you can make this healthy by using less. There are many different powders that you can add to your popcorn to make it taste great, and it’s better than butter.
Children love popcorn, and they will eat it without all the extras if you never expose them to those goodies. Pop it in coconut oil and use sea salt and spices for a tasty treat.
2. Cottage Cheese
Cottage cheese contains plenty of vitamins that your little one needs. The best thing about this dairy product is that it’s so versatile. You can add fruits like peaches or vegetables like tomatoes to this side.
If your kids love cheese, then this is another one that is sure to please. Dress it up and show them how fantastic this side dish can be.
3. Fruit Smoothies
You can give your smoothies a powerful punch when you add fresh fruits and pure honey. There’s no reason to put sugary substances in these frozen goodies as nature has all the sweetness you need.
A fruit smoothie is just as good as a milkshake on a hot day, and the calories are significantly less too. Just think of all the vitamins and minerals that you’re packing into your kids. The best part is they won’t even question these drinks as something healthy because they are delicious.
4. Sweet Potato Fries
While regular French fries are often loaded with grease and high carbohydrates, sweet potato fries are a healthy option. Sweet potatoes have a lower glycemic index, which means they won’t spike sugar levels.
They’re also loaded with fiber and vitamins like B6 and C, as well as being a high potassium and magnesium source. Play with some seasonings to appease your picky palettes.
5. Pickles
Pickles are a fermented food, which everyone knows now is right for you. They are just cucumbers in brine, but kids seem to love them. Get the large dill varieties, and they can eat them like a popsicle. The beneficial bacteria in these spears can help them to fight off infections and illnesses.
6. Apples and Peanut Butter
Apples are a great fruit because they are full of soluble fiber and antioxidants. Pair them with peanut butter or another nutty spread, and it’s a sweet treat they won’t care to eat.
Remember the old saying that eating an apple a day would keep the doctor away, so why not give these delicious fruits to your children? Healthy snacks for kids should include apples in red, yellow, green, or pink varieties.
7. Trail Mix
Trail mix is a crunchy snack that can replace unhealthy potato chips. It has healthy fats, fiber, and the antioxidants that you need. Though it tends to be a bit higher in calories, it has plenty of heart-healthy fats.
The beautiful thing about this snack is that you can customize it however you want. You can add coconut flakes, dark chocolate, and nuts of your choice. You can even throw in a few pretzels too.
8. Guacamole
Avocados are a superfood. Guacamole tastes excellent and can be put on toast, tortilla chips, or used as a dip. As a healthy snack for kids, they will enjoy the taste, but you will like the plant-based fats they receive.
The monounsaturated fats will boost your little one’s brain function and help lower their risk for heart attacks and strokes as they age. Start them on avocados when they are young so that it can help then when they’re older.
9. Carrots and Humus
Carrots are loaded with beta carotene and fiber, and it’s one of the best healthy snacks for kids. You can pair it with hummus, which is packed with vitamins and minerals. The impressive health benefits of this Middle Eastern dip do not go unrecognized.
It can help to fight inflammation and improve digestive health, and people of all ages need those benefits.
Get great hummus recipes.
10. Cheese
The calcium levels in cheese make it one of the best healthy snacks for kids. There are so many varieties to choose from that you can really experiment with the selections. Try to get cheese made from 100 percent grass-fed cows to get the highest nutritional levels.
11. Oatmeal
Did you know that oats are one of the healthiest grains on the planet? You can serve oatmeal for breakfast, but did you know that you can do so many things with oats? It can make healthy cookies, be put into a trail mix, be ground into a nutritious flour, and make granola.
Since oats can keep your heart healthy by lowering blood sugar and is full of fiber, vitamins, and minerals, it’s one of the most superior healthy snacks for kids.
12. Celery and Peanut Butter
Celery has high levels of potassium and folate, plus it’s low on the glycemic index. It keeps blood sugars regulated and tastes delicious with peanut butter or cream cheese on it.
The vitamins and minerals found in these green stalks give it the status of superfood. Did you know that it’s a member of the carrot family too?
13. Nuts and Seeds
While nut allergies are abundant these days, they’re still among the best healthy snacks for kids. Rather than reaching for those chocolate bars, nuts can fill that crunchy craving and give your children some good protein with potassium and magnesium.
There are more than 11 types of nuts for you to explore as healthy snacks for kids. Though the most popular are pecans, almonds, walnuts, peanuts, and cashews, don’t forget about Brazil or macadamia nuts.
14. Fruit
While some on the Keto diet may say that fruits are bad for you, anything plant-based that comes from nature should be enjoyed. While apples, bananas, oranges, and watermelon are excellent choices, why not delve into rare varieties like dragon or star fruits?
The fiber and vitamins that fruits provide only enhance your little one’s nutrition. Just make sure to introduce new things to younger kids slowly to see if they develop any allergens.
15. Yogurt
Yogurt is one of those things where you really need to read the labels. There are all sorts of colorful designs, and ones with cartoon characters meant to attract your children. However, these are sneaky tricks to market unhealthy varieties.
Some yogurts have as much sugar as a candy bar. You need to get a brand with less sugar and add sweet extras like strawberries or bananas on top. Plain yogurt can be used in a variety of dips and other recipes, and it’s quite healthy.
Final Thoughts on Serving Up These Healthy Snacks for Kids
It’s hard to find the best healthy snacks for kids, especially when you have one child that tends to be a bit picky. Snacking is commonplace when watching a movie or to tide the little ones over till the next meal. It’s important to teach healthy snacking options while they’re young, as bad habits will follow them through life.
Raising healthy children in an unhealthy world is essential. Healthy eating sustains them when viruses and other illnesses are going around, but it will give them the foundation for a healthy adulthood. Nature provides everything that you and your family need to be healthy.
One of the biggest hurdles parents face is children eating what you offer them. If they don’t like it the first time, try it again later. Introducing healthy eating isn’t always popular, but it’s worth the effort.
