What kind of snacks are useful for children and what effects do eating these snacks have on the development of our children? What are the methods to encourage children to eat snacks? What are the recommendations of pediatricians in this field?
No age is as active and imaginative as children under 7 years old, that’s why they get very hungry between meals and need to use snacks and snacks.
Although growth during this period is much slower than in the first two years of life, children this age need 1,200 to 1,600 calories per day—calories that should come from a balanced diet that includes whole grains, meats, legumes, low-fat milk, fruits, and vegetables. be made
Sometimes this is easier said than done. Some of these children do not eat well at meals. Others like to eat only certain foods. This creates a food gap in the child’s diet. Eating healthy and nutritious snacks helps fill these gaps. It also makes the child not too hungry.
1. Always have healthy snacks in the fridge. Let your child choose the snacks he wants from the few items you have prepared for him.
2. Get help from the children themselves to prepare the snacks. Children at this age will feel important if their parents allow them to help. You can ask them to help you peel fruit for fruit salad or put plates and napkins on the table.
3. Have a plan for his meals and snacks. This makes the child control his hunger and know that it is okay if he does not eat a meal or a snack because he has another meal at a certain hour. Prevent the child from snacking during the day because it causes overeating and internal hunger.
4. Don’t let your child eat in front of the TV. Always serve his food and snacks at the dining table.
5. Keep more healthy foods at home and use less high-calorie, high-fat, high-sugar foods as much as possible. Of course, this does not mean that children can never use these kinds of snacks, but their consumption should be very little.
6. Instead of sugary drinks like soda, give children low-fat milk or water with snacks. Limit 100% juices to one serving per day.
7. Use a variety of snacks, not just the ones your child likes. Give him new choices, but don’t eliminate things he previously refused to eat. You may have to try a few times for the baby to accept the food.
8. Pay attention to the effect of children’s mood on their eating pattern. Many times, children confuse boredom and fatigue with hunger. If your child has just eaten and complains of hunger again, see if changing his mood with a new game will solve the problem.
9. Accompany your child in eating snacks so that they understand that they are eating something good.
Be creative in preparing snacks
Children under 7 are neither boring nor like boring things, so why should their snacks be? You don’t have to make anything complicated or time-consuming to be creative in preparing their snacks.
Here are some tips to get you started:
take! Use fancy cake cutters to cut cheese, vegetables and sandwiches.
Dip it! Dip pieces of fruit, vegetables or biscuits in peanut butter, cream, jam, sauce, yogurt and liquid chocolate or let your little one do it himself.
Create! Create art from food. Make shapes with different fruits. Make flowers with apple slices. Make eyes for your dummy with cherries and make mouths with bananas.
mix! Want to give your child a healthy snack? A fruit smoothie made with low-fat yogurt or milk and fresh fruits provides a lot of nutrients to your child’s body.
play! Turn healthy snacking into a game. For example, try to make a “rainbow” on the plate with food and let your child decide which color to eat first. Next time you can do this with different shapes.
