Healthy Eating(snacking)

424

I battle with my weight(still do).  I recently noticed my preschooler putting on a little weight.  My worst fear is having her go thru what I went thru as a kid.  She loves to eat....would graze all day if I let her...It's not like we are eating Oreos all day, but we do have them in the house.  She says shes hungry, but is she really??  She will say no to fruit, but yes to a granola bar or pretzels.....

Just curious what you offer for snacks or treats?? I might talk to a nutritionist as I could use some help too...

My husband didnt grow up on snacks, it was 3 meals and thats it!!   

DandelionMom

I probably wouldn't worry about a preschooler's weight (unless the pediatrician is concerned).? At that age my girls all got a bit chubby right before they'd have a growth spurt.??

But our snacks are usually fruit, cheese, or veggies.? I keept a fruit bowl on the table and washed veggies and cheese sticks in the "snack drawer" of the fridge so they can snack at will.??

ETA: favorite fruits are grapes, apples, bananas, clemenintes, and berries

favorite veggies are grape tomatoes, sliced cucumber, baby carrots, sliced red/yellow bell pepper

J&A2008

I don't think there's anything wrong with not offering her extra carbs.  Offer her fruit, string cheese, yogurt, nut mix and keep the meals balanced.  Stop offering granola bars as snacks everyday.

Marce921

To make sure my DS eats healthy, there are times he asks me for a snack and I'll tell his he only has these fruit options to choose from. If he says no to all of them, he doesn't get a snack right then. I also find that DS will ask for a snack around a meal time and when I tell him he needs to eat lunch or dinner, he'll say he's not hungry. Well, then he also doesn't need a snack, he's just eating to be eating. I'm not worried about his weight, he's 4 and 32 lbs so he's only 5% for weight.

shouldbworkin

Sometimes they will bulk up a bit before a growth spurt.  If it was my DC, I would just be sure she's active and eating a well balance diet all around.  If she's eating fruits and veggies with meals, then a carby snack doesn't bother me.  I will tell my DD that it's not meal time or snack time yet if I feel like she's been eating non-stop  just b/c she's bored.  I'll also distract her with an activity.  That usually does the trick.  Usually I do this b/c I hate serving her snack after snack and she never finishes anything. 

ridesbuttons

Honestly, I don't keep things in my house that I don't want my kids eating.  So, no cookies, chips, junk food, overly processed foods.  Helps me too.

My husband is a bit of a Nazi with food and the kids.  He was a chubby kid and doesn't want his boys to grow up the way he did.  My kids are offered whole, healthy foods at meals and snacks (3 meals, 2 snacks per day) and they get treats occasionally typically when we are entertaining or out for a meal.

Berries, smoothies, yoghurt, popcorn, fruit, dry cereal are staple snacks in my house.

My kids are 3.5 years and 2.0 years old.

We also make a point of getting outside twice a day for at least an hour at a time if possible for physical activity.  My 3.5 year old also goes skating twice per week, skiing once per week as well.  The toddler of course walks and climbs everywhere.

For us, eating happens at the table or the island only.  Very occasionally we will have a 'picnic' in the living room but even then it is a set meal or snack.  Otherwise, I would be feeding and cleaning all.day.long.

Andrewsgal

I feel your pain. I know where you are. I have also always battled my weight. It scares the crap out of me that my kids will do the same. DD chuncked up a little bit a couple of months ago, and I also kind of freaked. She ended up having a huge growth spurt and is long and lean again, but I did get nervous.

The rule in our house is snacks are fruit. I serve three well balanced meals a day. In between you can have fruit. DD will also ask to eat if she is bored so when i offer fruit and she turns it down she is not hungry. Fruit is the only option, and I always make sure to have a lot of it in the house. There are bananas, apples, oranges, clemintines on the counter in a bowl. There are grapes, cut up melon, and cut up strawberries in the fridge at her eye level, if she is hungry she can choose one of those if not she must not be very hungry. I would also offer cheese, nuts and veggies but I know DD will not snack on those so fruit it is. I know she loves fruit. I also limit drinks with calories. I want her to get her calories from nutritional food, not drinking them.

I don't think there is anything wrong with being worried about a child's weight at this age, obesity starts at some age right? 

shouldbworkin

ridesbuttons:

Honestly, I don't keep things in my house that I don't want my kids eating.  So, no cookies, chips, junk food, overly processed foods.  Helps me too.

ITA with this too.  If we keep oreos in the house, my kids go nuts with them.  I've switched to mini oreos, that I hide and dole out 3 at a time.  That's the junkiest thing we have.  Chips are only purchased for parties. 

michelcreek

Snack ideas other than fruit: Hard boiled egg whites, my kids love these!  Yogurts, there are low sugar ones too.  Nut mix.  Applesauce, low sugar.  Cheerios or other dry cereal.  Plain popcorn.  Nutri-grain bars.

If it helps any, I'd suggest getting rid of allll of the oreos, cookies, chips etc.  My kids will always go for the junk food over anything else if that is an option. 

septemberdreams

I'm a bit of a food nazi too.  My DS loves to eat also but he only eats three meals a day plus one afternoon snack.

I've read that many preschoolers are overweight and it's becoming a problem earlier and earlier.  They learn eating habits young and now is the time to install good eating habits.  That said, I've also read that many children do gain before a growth spurt and also tend to gain more weight in the fall and winter and gain more inches in the spring and summer.

We do not keep junk food in our house and eat the same foods as DS.  Our heathly snacks include fruit, cottage cheese, greek yogurt, cheerios, no sugar applesauce, cheese.  Empty calorie foods are treat foods, once in a while.

424

Thanks so much for the replies!!...

goodheartedmommy

Avoid packaged snacks completely...offer yogurt (not the sugary kind, you can buy plain and sweeten with honey or maple syrup if necessary), fruit, veggies, hard boiled eggs, string cheese, cottage cheese. I'd have set snack times, and leave it at that. My kids would graze all day, too, but I've finally just said I'll let you know when it's snack time. If they insist they're hungry, I offer them something they don't really want to snack on (like spinach). Sometimes they eat it and I know they were telling the truth and sometimes they run back to play.

I offer treats sometimes, because everyone deserves them occasionally. I don't try to "healthify" our treats, because a treat is for enjoying, and I don't care if they get loads of sugar and fat in a chocolate cake not made with low fat ingredients, because it's not something they eat regularly.