Healthy Eating and Snacks

As most know, I have 2 older grandchildren that I write about fairly frequently.  It seems as though the older they get , the more they are fixated on snacking all day long!   I know from raising my own children, that the teenage years can literally make you feel as though you need to take out a personal loan just to be able to feed them on a daily basis.  I am certain there must be some type of science behind why they start eating exorbitant amounts of food when they reach puberty, but to be honest with you, it is irrelevant to me. My focus is on how to feed them without breaking the bank and to get them to develop healthy eating habits.

When I do the weekly grocery shopping, I buy tons of fruit to keep in the house for healthy snacks.  Both the girls like yogurt, so that is another big hit that I try to keep on hand. I am very careful on how many chips I purchase.  I generally will only buy them if I know we are going to have a family BBQ or if we are doing something like a planned day trip to the lake.  

During the summer time it seems to be an even bigger issue because the girls are bored and as we all know when we are bored, the first thing we want to do is eat.   Or maybe that is just me? With the new age of technology, kids aren’t going outside and playing like they did when my kids were little. They have “screens” of some type to entertain them:  TV, Tablets, XBox, Phones, Computers, IPads, IPods, etc. I am careful to only allow so many hours of “screen” time, yet it still seems as though they spend an awful lot of time laying around watching something.  We have a trampoline , a swing, and bikes, and yet they still have a hard time figuring out what to play with. They eventually figure it out, but there is a period of time their brains have to “unplug” from technology before they actually start playing.  

With my oldest granddaughter, as she started getting older , I would say from age 11 and 12, she started putting on a few pounds.  I know part of that is her body changing and starting puberty. Girls especially tend to put on weight during those years, especially if they aren’t eating correctly.   With Angela, my oldest, she had some other emotional things going on, so she would eat not only out of boredom, but she tended to do some emotional eating. So it became especially important to be certain I was teaching her healthy eating habits.      

I do my best to stay focused on Healthy Meals when I plan out what I am cooking for the family.  Back when I was a working mom, I wasn’t always able to do that. I can remember nights where I would just open a box of something, add some meat and call it dinner.  It was a challenge to make sure what I was fixing for the family was healthy. I have learned over the years that it is just as easy to grill up a piece of skinless, boneless chicken, add a couple of vegetables to the plate and call it a meal.  Obviously I change that up, but that gives you an idea of what I am referring to. Healthy eating doesn’t have to be expensive and can be simple and easy to prepare meals.

The biggest issue in my house is snacks.  I am always on the lookout for new and healthy options for the girls to snack on something.  For that matter, healthy snacks for the whole family is something I try to focus on. My husband is a diabetic, so diet and healthy eating habits has become even more important to me.  There are wonderful places online that enable you to have a  Healthy snack delivery to your job  Which for a busy mom or parent is a God send!!  After all, we as parents, need healthy eating habits while we are at work, so we have the energy to take care of our families when we get home.   

It is extremely important to teach our kids to eat healthy from a young age, while not really telling them that is what you are doing.   If they learn to just simply eat healthy, as they get older it will be second nature. It will be what the body craves. If we feed them a ton of processed sugar and starches, then that is what they will crave.   

The good news is we live in a world of never ending information, that we can access at the tip of our fingers.   There are some wonderful websites out there that will give you hints on how to eat healthy, websites that have healthy recipes, sites that will give you a list of foods to avoid and what to focus on eating.   We just need to take an extra few minutes from our day to take the time to find what is healthy and include that in our weekly grocery shopping trips.

I am curious how many other families have the same issue that we have been battling?   Do you feed your kids healthy snacks, or do you battle trying to find things that are healthy that the kids will eat?   What is your favorite healthy snack or meal you prepare for yourself or your family? Let me know in comments, as I am always looking to hear feedback from my readers!!

As always, thank you for stopping by and visiting me today!!