The Power of the Nutritional Snack

Toddlers and young children grow rapidly, are ever active, and require good nutrition and plenty of healthy meals and snacks. Many toddlers are picky, or don’t want to spend time sitting at a meal. Making sure their diet is adequate is a challenge that all parents and guardians face. Here are a few basic tips that might help you establish healthy eating habits from the start.

Balance Is Important
Making sure a meal contains a balance of fruits, vegetables, protein, dairy and grains. Try to balance your nutritional needs based on the USDA’s Food Guide Pyramid of at least six servings of foods from the grain section daily, three servings of vegetables daily, two servings of fruits daily, three servings of meats daily, and three servings of dairy products daily.

Snacks Can Help
Many parents find it difficult to prepare and serve complete balanced meals all the time. Snacks are very important for growing children, especially those picky eaters who don’t eat much at meal times. This is why it’s very important to pick snacks for your child that are nutritious like fruits and vegetables. Vegetables, especially green vegetables, are high in iron and fiber, Vitamin C and potassium.

Keep healthy good tasting snacks readily available around the house. Foods that can make for nutritional snacks include microwave popcorn, graham crackers, fruits, frozen fruit juice on a stick, trail mix, pretzels, low-fat yogurt, and low-fat milk. Encourage plenty of milk and water rather than sodas and empty calorie fruit drinks.

Eat a Rainbow
Part of the strategy for having a balanced diet is to try to include foods of every color throughout the day. This means foods that are naturally that color, not processed or artificially colored foods. An example of a breakfast with color variation is cereal with milk and banana slices (white/ yellow), strawberries (red) and orange juice (orange). Snack on blueberries (blue) mid-morning, and a graham cracker (brown). Lunch could include a tuna sandwich and some cucumber slices (green). Snack on purple grapes or fruit spread on whole-wheat bread. Already the day’s menu has been full of color balance, which delivers a good variety of the vitamins and protein a person needs.

If your child is an overly picky eater or their diet continues to cause you concern, seek out the assistance of a registered dietician who specializes in working with children to develop strategies to provide for the good nutritional health of your child.