10 worst snacks for kids......

In continually trying to be more healthy in my life I often read health blogs, magizines, etc. I also have become interested in kids health. I have a 2 year old. I am not completely nazi about everything he eats. He eats fruit snacks at church once a week and he eats treats at my parents house but other than that I try to feed him healthy foods and stay away from processed/ sugar/ etc. It is getting a little harder when he throws a tantrum because he wants a treat but reading about children health helps me say no and stick with it. Here are some of the worst things to feed the kiddos....

1. Potato Chips - in one 1 oz bag there is 225 calories and 15 grams of fat. If you look at the label there is nothing but fat and carbs. The worst unhealthy snack for your kids. no nutrition and way too high in sodium to a child.

2. Donuts - let's take "Crispy cream donuts", one serving 200 calories with 12 grams of fat. It's dough fried in oil. Give it to your kid for a snack only if you want him/her to have type II diabetes the rest of their life.

3. Cookies - even fat-free cookies are full of sugar and carbs. When we say fat-free we don't say calorie free. One chocolate chip cookie has 130 calories and 6 grams of fat. Not a good choice for a snack. Forgot to tell you, no one eats one cookie. If kids start eating cookies they'll eat 3 or 4. So you can multiply 130 x 4 = 520 calories.

4. Chicken nuggets - especially those Wendy's "4 piece Kid's Meal Nuggets" are the worst. 190 calories and 12 grams of fat. full of saturated fat. Make your own or bake the frozen ones if you have to resort to them.

5. Soda - any kind of soda. There is nothing good in soda. Did you know there are 10 teaspoons of sugar in one can of soda? Your children should not have more than 6-7 teaspoons of sugar per day, and that includes all the sugar they get from fruits and veggies during breakfast, lunch and dinner. Don't even get them started so they won't ask for it. Don't have it in the house so you don't drink it either.

Did you know that you can clean coins by placing them in a glass with coca cola for 1 hour? Can you imagine what soda does to your kid's stomach? There is a lot of caffeine in sodas too, in case you are wondering why your child is so hyper.

6. Cupcakes - 1 cupcake has 130 calories 1.6 grams of fat 17 grams of sugar. As you can see there is no nutrition value in cupcakes. It's mostly carbs and sugar.

7. Candy - nutrition nightmare. There is nothing but sugar and as we know sugar is one of the leading causes of obesity and type II diabetes.

8. Crackers - My favorite are Ritz Crackers with cheddar cheese on top :) Nothing but carbs and fat. 80 calories per serving and 4 grams of fat. You can replace it with wheat crackers for nutrition. they have whole wheat ritz, my son really likes those. He likes the all bran ones too.

9. Ice cream - 1/2 cup of chocolate ice cream has 143 calories, 7 grams of fat (4g of saturated fat) and 16 grams of sugar. So there is nothing but carbs, fat and sugar.

10. Chocolate whole milk - packed with saturated fats. Tall-sized chocolate milk from Starbucks has 264 calories, 12 grams of fat and 27 grams of sugar. Children over 2 can drink low fat milk.

Now that you know how many calories and fat are in all these snacks try to avoid them. Your kids deserve better and healthier snacks. If you already feed your children these snacks slowly switch them out for healthier ones. Or put 1/2 whole grain cereal w/ 1/2 sugar cereal and slowly get rid of the sugar cereal. The key is being an example to your kids and providing healthy choices for you children. ONe of my favorite children's health blogs is...

http://healthy-snacks-for-kids.blogspot.com/