Usually, I counsel patients on healthy eating and balancing their plate, eating enough vegetables, limiting sweet drinks, and daily physical activity. Oftentimes I counsel my patients on nutrition for specific disease states like Diabetes or cholesterol, but these days, I see a lot of obesity in adults, teens and children. The quality of the obesity is also getting scarier: I am seeing more patients with fatty liver issues(and a higher risk of non-alcohol-induced liver cirrhosis due to the fat content overpowering the liver), higher rates of diabetes in children, and higher rates of cholesterol and malnutrition. It is scary. I honestly believe the life expectancy of generations born in 1995 and beyond will have a much shorter life expectancy given the poorer average quality of diets and larger variety and availability of junk foods than previous generations.
So I'm hoping some healthy snack advice and great recipes might help.
If a sweet or creamy snack is desired, offer
- Smoothie made from blending 1 cup of low fat milk with 1/2 cup of fresh or frozen fruit
- Fresh apple slices dipped in peanut or almond butter
- Homemade souffle if you feel daring
- Fat free cottage cheese or yogurt with pieces of fresh or frozen fruit.
- Homemade sweet or savory baked sweet potato fries
- Homemade fruit chips you can dip in fat free vanilla yogurt
- Baked apple slices with cheese and honey
- Homemade candied nuts
- Homemade milk pudding, a family favorite for adults as well as the kids!
- Pretzels with fat free cream cheese
- "Baked" potato chips with pico de gallo salsa
- Homemade popcorn with oil and spices instead of butter
- Slices of fresh fruit, jicama or cucumber with fresh spices (Hispanic around here use chile powder and/or lemon or lime, but Arab friends & family often feed kids the same veggies but with Arab-style spices-- zaatar (dried thyme & sesame), or cumin, sumac, salt and/or lemon)
- Homemade (savory version) baked sweet potato fries
- Whole wheat crackers with guacamole
- roasted peanuts or almonds
- Carrot, celery or broccoli sticks with light or fat free ranch dressing or guacamole
*steps on little soap box, clears throat*
So, I find it scary that I've been seeing a 28 year-old mom regularly for 3 months now for diet management: her diet is weakened by her addiction to sweet and salty snack foods, and oftentimes replaces her meals with these. She has developed pre-diabetes, cardiovascular disease and the beginnings of fatty liver that are giving her blurred vision, night sweats, urinary frequency, unusual amounts of fatigue, chest pains, and scarily vivid dreams. Meanwhile, she still doesn't mind feeding her 4-year-old child top Ramen for lunch, Doritos for a snack on the way to see the dietitian, and after finishing the bag of Doritos in my office the child was promised ice cream if she is a good girl. Wait what? A junky treat after eating junk for lunch and snack?
I don't care if the child is thin, nor do I care if she will "burn it off," it is a poor quality fuel, and will cause problems internally after a year or two before mom even sees that child start to gain weight.
I know children should be allowed to be children, have an ice cream for a treat, have a candy with friends... I agree they should enjoy life rather than worry about what they eat. This is true.
Please, parents, if your child asks for something unhealthy and you know that they've eaten nothing but junk, then tell them sorry, not today, you've already had a lot of special foods today. You can have some in a couple weeks. Save the special food for a special day. If you do, that special day will be so much more special! They will understand if you spend 20 seconds explaining to them. Offer them a variety of healthy choices, like grapes, apples and peanut butter, strawberries, carrots, wheat crackers, yogurt, low fat milk or a string cheese, and give them the freedom to choose one of these healthy options they like best. If they are truly hungry, they'll eat what is offered. If they keep begging, chances are that they aren't really hungry, they just want to see how far they can push your authority. They have the right of freedom to choose, but its your job to provide them with guidance of what to choose from. Please don't feel bad, they will get over it.
Your body deserves more than unreal snack foods that exist just to get you addicted. You are too good for that. You deserve better. And so do your children.
*steps off soap box, somber, deflated*
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