How many of you remember the School House Rock series? One of my favorite shorts was the Time For Timer: Hanker for a Hunk of Cheese.
To snack or not to snack, that is
the question when looking at healthy eating.
The key to this dilemma is to look at what you are snacking on. Your body is a machine, and so if you are active
during your day, a snack is appropriate.
Children definitely need planned snacks and healthy choices. There are some guidelines you can utilize and
you can be creative in what you are serving for snacks.
When looking at food consumption, it is important to look to the food
groups for guidance. A healthy snack has
a food from at least 2 food groups. The Kindergarten
favorite of a graham cracker and milk is a great choice! There is a bit of sugar to be found in a
graham cracker but looking at other food choices, it is not such a bad
choice. The goal of your daily food
intake should be to insure you have had enough food in each food group. Get creative and turn the word snack into a
positive.
A family favorite for us is to make our own chips and serve them with
bean dip and other items. It is very
easy to make your own tortilla chips, preheat your oven to 350 degrees
Fahrenheit, spray a cookie sheet with
non-stick cooking spray, take a large flour tortilla and cut it into eight
slices (a pizza cutter works wonderfully.), spread them on the cookie
sheet. If you like your chips to brown,
spray a light spry on the chips, bake in oven for 8 to 10 minutes, watch them
closely. For the bean dip, take a can of
chili beans (if you do not like things too spicy, you can use pinto beans),
drain half of the juice off of the beans, you can run them through your food
processor or blender to puree them or, you can use an old fashioned potato
masher. If you would like, you can warm
the beans up or you can serve them at room temperature. You can spread the beans on a plate and
garnish with lettuce, salsa, tomatoes cheese and whatever ingredients you would
like. Serve with the chips. This could easily be a main entree if you
would like it to be. Another great idea
is to take a small flour tortilla and spread a tablespoon of either nutella or
Peanut Butter on the shell. Then, wrap a
banana in it. This is not only a great
snack, but a good grab and go breakfast, so many things you can wrap in a
tortilla when you are in a hurry.
It is ok to give yourself permission to have a treat once in a
while! Another great idea is a 3, 2, 1
cake. You simply take a one step Angel
Food Cake Mix, a regular cake mix of your choice and mix together thoroughly in
a gallon self-sealing bag, place 3 tablespoons of this mix in a microwavable
coffee cup, add 2 tablespoons of water, blend well and microwave on high for 1
minute. This is a wonderful way to be
sure you have only the portion size you need. We got creative over the weekend and made mini black forest cakes. We took the Angel food Cake Mix and a Devils food cake mix for the cake part, when it was finished, we put a spoon full of cherry pie filling and a spoon of whipped cream on top. Healthy? Not so much, but we kept it to the proper portion size. You sometimes do need to give yourself permission to have a treat. This is a wonderful way to control the portion size.
Snacking is not a bad thing; it is what you are choosing. Be creative and make the snack include at
least 2 foods from different food groups.
When you do have a treat, make sure it is just that a treat! For more information visit our University
website at www.foods.unl.edu
Today more than ever, we are hearing the message that we need to eat healthy and stay active. So, what is the answer? To Snack or not to Snack? If you are active and choose wisely, the answer is a resounding yes! Don't forget that physical activity. It is 30 minutes most days of the week for adults and 60 minutes for our kids, so what are you waiting for? Get out and get moving!
