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Children's snacks

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FelkaKate

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17
Through researching my own triggers for high blood sugar, I've realised how carb heavy my 4 year old's diet is. Does anyone have lower carb suggestions (to buy or make) for a picky child's snacks - at the moment it's often bananas, berries, kiwi, plums, crackers, peanut butter toast, breadsticks and hummus, carrot or cucumber (if I'm lucky!), veggie straws, oatcakes, mini biscuits, homemade cookies, cheerios. I've tried eggs but he doesn't view them as a snack item! He's definitely got a taste for sweet and salt unfortunately. I don't want to limit him too much (by no means putting him on the Newcastle diet!) but also want to offer a rounded options. Thanks!
 
Peanut butter on apple slices would slow down his bg rise or bake almonds for 12 minutes to make your own almond butter. If he likes that then you can get sachets of same at Pret if you're out and about and don't want to resort to cookies.
Berries in full fat yoghurt ditto
Cheese slice or even the string things!
M & S do a few snacky things that are low carb e.g. pork scratchings that look like cheese staws and seafood aperitifs if you are feeling generous.
Diet Doctor has a few ideas that he could help you make perhaps:
https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/recipes/snacks

if he can get used to sweet things as a weekly but not daily treat and stays off artifiically sweetened drinks (wish I'd known how sweet 'no sugar' fruit shoots are), then his sweet tooth should be replaced by savoury tastes.


He sounds as if he's a typical 4 year old but with more cosmopoiitan tastes than many at that age so well done!
 
Make your own granola bars, you can cover in chocolate. Google keto bounty bars, you can store in the freezer. Various sweet or savoury muffins, again Google keto muffins.
 
When I was younger a dietitian recommended I had sugar free jelly, ham or lettuce as a snack, I think my mum laughed at her but maybe ham or other cooked meats, assuming your son is not vegetarian.
 
@FelkaKate . Is your son diabetic?
If not then I would personally focus on quality carbs and not actual amounts.
The snacks you have listed in the main seem to offer a good diet for a non diabetic 4 yr old child.
Only my opinion, I’m sure others may offer different advice.
 
therower said:
@FelkaKate . Is your son diabetic?
If not then I would personally focus on quality carbs and not actual amounts.
The snacks you have listed in the main seem to offer a good diet for a non diabetic 4 yr old child.
Only my opinion, I’m sure others may offer different advice.
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot - no he's not diabetic and completely understand where you're coming from. His diet is quite carb heavy overall so just trying to sneak in a bit of variety. He also snacks a lot so wanting to try things that may sustain him longer
 
Would it not be easier to manage the amount of carbs in meals? Up the veg and protein and reduce carbs.

That way he can have the snacks and treats that are more carby and doesnt feel that they are 'bad' as they are all fairly healthy for non diabetics.
 
FelkaKate said:
Thanks a lot - no he's not diabetic and completely understand where you're coming from. His diet is quite carb heavy overall so just trying to sneak in a bit of variety. He also snacks a lot so wanting to try things that may sustain him longer
Click to expand...
Quality not quantity.;)
 
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately myself. I have a 9 yo and 11 yo, and shamefully we have allowed their sugar intake to drift gradually up.

I’ve been watching and reading a lot of stuff on t2 latest research and I feel Robert Lustig’s research on sugar is very relevant. So given that my kids are healthy I’m not going to worry about carbs but my wife and I have decided to try to minimize added sugar, and particularly fructose in their diets. So we are putting a limit on candy and sugary drinks but allowing unlimited fruit, and generous low sugar carb snacks (crackers for example).
I’m even planning to figure out how to bake with glucose or dextrose instead of sucrose.
 
I think one of things you have to take into account with children and small children in particular is the impact high carb/sugar foods have on their system. I believe it is far greater then that on adults with a much larger body mass and fully developed system. A child's system has to work so much harder to deal with food sources that are just not even needed and I'm talking about high carb, high sugar content stuff (Look at the labels on drinks and candy etc and how small a serving really is). It's little wonder I think more and more younger people are being diagnosed with T2. I think the youngest is 2yrs old, which is incredibly tragic.

Quality will beat quantity any day imo.

@NicoleC1971 offered some really good ideas.
 
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