Snacks-what do you give your 4+s?

BitterAndTwisted

When I looked after small children as a career snacks between meals were completely discouraged, we didn't want the children to get used to between-meals treats. If they were hungry between meals fresh fruit or a yoghurt were available but sometimes an after-school snack of a toasted cheese sandwich or raw veggies with ranch dressing were offered

Lunar_Eclipse

Maddie wrote: »

Also the sugar in fruit is very different to the type of sugar you'd get in chocolate, aside from the fact that chocolate also contains lots of fat, and as GR says, is lacking in nutrients somewhat!

I used to think that sugars were not equal until I looked into it a while back on behalf of my children, fuelled by an article in the well respected press.

Essentially sugar is sugar and nutritionally speaking, all sugars are roughly equal in terms of their calorific value and most importantly, their effects on the body.

Medical studies suggest that sugar is the biggest culprit in modern diet (ie the growing Western obesity issue) and that ideally, we need to eliminate it from our diet completely.

Sorry for pulling this thread off topic; must be time for some chocolate now ...

ETA: surely you know there's a glass and a half of milk in every bar of Cadbury's! Not a fan of Cadbury's personally and milk is a bit debatable in some circles too ....

Lunar_Eclipse

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

When I looked after small children as a career snacks between meals were completely discouraged, we didn't want the children to get used to between-meals treats. If they were hungry between meals fresh fruit or a yoghurt were available but sometimes an after-school snack of a toasted cheese sandwich or raw veggies with ranch dressing were offered

Sounds good.

Gingham_Ribbon

Lunar_Eclipse wrote: »

More interestingly I do find them empty calories; far less filling than chocolate (or fresh fruit), hence I don't eat them.

I don't want to develop this too much as bylromarha isn't getting ideas from these posts, but if frutina bars are 80% carbohydrate, and full of vitamin C, apart from obviously not being ideal for teeth (just like anything with any sugar content) what is it that's harmful or 'empty' about them?

If there's something I'm missing I really want to know.:o

Felicity

We recently discoverd Ryvita flatbread multiseed, delicious.
Oatcakes, ricecakes, ryvitas.
Cherry tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, peppers, chunks of cheese.
Grapes, bananas and apples, well any fruit really but those three seem the most 'portable' for whilst out and about.
Humous (easy to freeze in little pots) and yogurts if at home.

I agree that those little yogurt covered fruit things seem like a huge marketing con! They are effectively sweets, yummy I agree, but a healthy snack I think not!

bylromarha

Gingham_Ribbon wrote: »

I don't want to develop this too much as bylromarha isn't getting ideas from these posts,

I'm good GR! Find it fascinating-discuss away!

fernliebee

Just gonna put my t'penny worth in about the dried fruit debate!

Personally I think it is all about balance, yes they have sugar in but they also contain vitamins, minerals and fibre which chocolate does not. I would prefer my DD to eat a small amount of dried fruit (she has raisins in her breakfast and brushes her teeth afterwards, though I realise that there are other problems with too much sugar in the diet than just tooth decay.) than eat the same amount of chocolate ie on a daily basis. My DD never has sweets (as she is too young at the min, but I will allow her a very small amount when she is more aware of what they actually are, and personally chocolate is preferable to multi coloured, sugary sweeties.

As long as you are confident that your child is receiving a balanced nutritious diet, I don't think a bit of dried fruit is as bad as is being made out. If they constantly have a box of raisins in their hands then it's a different matter, but even then I would prefer that than to permanently have a bag of choccie buttons in them as at least they are getting the good with the bad, unlike with chocolate.

Maddie

Lunar_Eclipse wrote: »

I used to think that sugars were not equal until I looked into it a while back on behalf of my children, fuelled by an article in the well respected press.

Essentially sugar is sugar and nutritionally speaking, all sugars are roughly equal in terms of their calorific value and most importantly, their effects on the body.
QUOTE]

I'm by no means an expert but my understanding is that fruit sugars are converted to energy more slowly than glucose etc and therefore less likely to cause diabetes and other problems.

Calories are of course very important in our diets and so long as the children aren't overweight are surely not to be limited too strickly?

galvanizersbaby

I stopped buying the humzingers/school bars etc for my 2 when I realised they were coming back from school in their lunchboxes uneaten and still in their wrappings - I sampled one and found it rather vile so I put 2 pieces of fruit in for lunch instead and that gets eaten

If DS (7 years) DD (5 years) are hungry between meals they tend to have (he is always hungry )
Cheese and marmite sandwich on wholemeal/pitta bread or marmite and fresh tomato or tuna
Cherry tomatoes
Carrots (raw) - I peel and DS will eat as is (no need for cutting in to sticks)
Apple (I am starting to ration these now as they are DS's favourite fruit and he is eating too many - he also eats the core :eek:
Salad potatoes (cooked and cold from fridge)
Ham
Yoghurt
Cooked plain pasta spirals (DD only)

DS doesn't have a sweet tooth but DD is like me and loves chocolate so if she is good I give her the odd treat

pukkamum

I don't really allow snacking ( as another poster said i offer fruit only and if it's not taken they can't be very hungry).
My children have a good breakfast (porridge and toast) and a filling lunch, ds has a packed lunch wholemeal chicken sandwich home made flapjack a yoghurt and a piece of fruit, DD at home with me will have soup or cheese on toast etc with yoghurt and fruit.
Dinner time is around 5pm so i really don't see why they would need a snack.
I want my children to grow up with thinking you fill up on a main meal then you wont need to snack.
I really don't know where this snacking mentality has come from children do not need to be eating constantly.