A.Fannin
It is difficult to believe that you could get your child to prefer healthy snacks over junk food but it is true; you can actually make this happen. The trick to doing this is to make healthy snacks easily accessible, tasty, attractive and fun.
One way I do this is I have a shelf in the fridge that my children are allowed to help themselves to any time they wish. It is filled with mom approved snacks. If they want cookies or candy, they know they have to ask Mom. But if they want to eat off of the healthy snacks shelf, they can anytime. I try to give them a wide variety to choose from, too. They actually get excited to see what I have stocked it with for them.
What do I stock the healthy shelf with? You will find yogurt, string cheese, cut up veggies in zip lock bags, fruit salads in miniature containers that they can grab. The fruit salad always disappears quickly.
I also try to always keep TruMoo or at least chocolate mix to add to their milk. Popcorn is a popular nighttime snack and the kids don’t seem to notice if it is the extra butter or light and fat-free so I go for the light option. Baked Tortilla chips and salsa is a snack that goes over well as does cheddar or mustard flavored pretzels. While those crunchy things aren’t as good as fresh fruits and veggies, they are much better than fried potato chips. Peanut butter and fruit spread on wheat make for great healthy snacks, too.
There are many options you can find, you just have to get creative and think about what would have tasted good to you when you were a child. More than likely, you will find yourself snacking off the kids shelf, too. Those healthy snacks are just too good to pass up.