Favorite Game Day Snacks for Kids

There is a lot of discussion about the quality of food children are served at school and at home but as the mother of two young, athletic boys I feel there’s an overlooked area of children’s eating and that’s sports-related snacks. It doesn’t matter if a game finishes at 9:30 or lunchtime you can bet donuts are lurking. Rather than call out the donut folks, I’ll focus on healthy, tasty, fun alternatives.

I was thrilled when Peeled, aware of my game-day frustration, provided their new Apple Clusters for one of my son’s soccer games. Yet, as we walked to the field with our Peeled bag filled with all three cluster flavors, I started to get nervous. My son was excited to share these treats with his teammates but I knew it was a risk. A food departure is a toss up. While I am fine with the title, I didn’t want my soccer player to be the healthy food pariah. I watched the game distracted by my "cluster" concerns.

With a few minutes left, I set the pretty Peeled boxes on the bottom row of the bleachers. Cinnamon was flanked by Berry and Apple. Soon the game was finished and the team stormed the bench. “What’s for snack?” I announced the flavor options; they made their selections and ripped open the packages. I have serious regrets that tape wasn’t rolling. It was like a 2012 Wheaties commercial. The kids loved them, the parents asked where they could buy them and said things like “it’s about time someone brings a healthy snack”. Kids grabbed extras yo take home. As a nutritionist, it doesn’t get any better than that.

The bite-size round clusters are organic, gluten free, dairy free, naturally vegan and non-GMO. The size we handed out is single serving and 75 calories each package has three grams of fiber. They are reminiscent of granola but grain free. We first fell in love with the apple flavor but were won over by berry (I hope Peeled isn’t offended by the comparison but healthy Crunchberry?).

I'm a fan of orange wedges, organic grapes and watermelon as "fun" fruit snacks and love the original Peeled dried fruit snack packs. There are a few other companies I feel do a great job:

• Go Go squeeze applesauces
• Seasnax Nori snacks
• Plentils Chips
• Pumpkin seeds (although consider nut/seed free restrictions)
• Natures All dehydrated bananas.
• Hint water

Just so you don't think I'm a snack grinch, my kids have a snack they love that's not Foodtrainers-friendly. Near the soccer field there's a man who sells empanadas. His wife makes them and my boys adore them. I was very happy to see "Mr Empanada" back after Sandy. 

Can you spot Mr Empanada? Not easy.

What do you think are great sports snacks for kids? Why do you think donuts dominate? Have you tried Peeled snacks or the clusters? 
I love hearing about people making healthy inroads. Tweet us @Foodtrainers with the hashtag #nondonutsnack with photos or descriptions of healthy sports snacks or even meeting fare.

Be Realistic, Give Your Kids Cheetos

I’ve mentioned Fooducate before. Via a supermarket app and blog, Fooducate exposes helps consumers and readers navigate today’s complicated food maze. In early May, I read a post from a fellow nutrition colleague entitled “My Kid Likes Junk Food and That’s OK” that may have had good intensions but rubbed me the wrong way. The gist of the post was that your kids are going to eat junk food due to media exposure and taste. You can serve quality at food home but you can’t compete with Lunchables’ millions of advertising dollars. Be realistic, you can’t live in a bubble (made of “flax and unrefined flour”) if you child wants Cheetos, so be it.

The timing of this post was interesting; I had just come from my 10-year-old's check up. At the end of the annual visit our pediatrician has my son leave the office and then discusses milestones for each age. I was told I was going to get questions about lots new subjects at this age. Dr R explained there were two things not to do when fielding questions. “If you’re asked if you’ve ever been drunk you don’t want to dismiss the question or glorify it." You don’t want to say, “how could you ask such a thing?” or “sure I have and you will too it’s fun.”  Rather, give a little information and move on.  If subtext of the first response is ignore it and it will go away, the second is from the school of “cool parenting”. I see both approaches when it comes to food and they don’t work in this domain either. Even those “cool parents” would think it wildly inappropriate for me to say “I know you’re going to get drunk in the future so here’s a shot of Patron.”

If the intent of “Cheetos are fine” advice is to put parents at ease, I am all for that. However, I think many parents swing way to far the other way in an effort not to be overly restrictive. This was my comment on the Fooducate site.

I like the idea that parents who are new to the healthy table shouldn't feel it's too late to make changes. However, I feel part of my boys' education is teaching them about food, ingredients and health. Though my kids have had Doritos, I don't need to buy them even "sometimes". My kids have tortilla chips or chips but they don't need preservatives, trans fats and food coloring to taste good. I've also worked with the grandparents and other family members suggesting alternatives to some of the things served. When approached without judgment, these substitutions have been well received. I get the "kids will have Oreos and soda in their lifetime" argument. I just feel that despite millions of dollars encouraging kids to eat Lunchables we still, as parents of young children, can have more influence.

I’m grateful to some fantastic companies: Purely Elizabeth, Stretch Island, Hint Water, Glow Gluten Free, Food Should Taste Good, Pirate Brands, Vigilant Eats and Pure Bar.  I’ve brought these foods for carpool, to my children’s sports teams and birthday parties. Treats and “fun” food can be a part of childhood. We just don’t have to do PR for soda or Doritos; they already have plenty.
What do you think is the biggest challenge in feeding kids a healthy diet? What do think of givings kids junk so that they don't feel restricted? Would you buy your children Lunchables if asked?