How do you follow a healthy diet?!
How do you manage to keep your kids happy if they're not allowed sweets, junk etc.?
I'm currently having an overhaul of our diet and I'm struggling to find additive free stuff that my kids will enjoy.
Everything seems to have artificial additives in these days.
I always cook our meals from scratch and don't give them fizzy drinks 'n' burgers etc. but my eldest son is still asking for stuff that he shouldn't be having.
I'm in the UK by the way.
What kind of sweets can I still give them just for the odd treat?
Answers: Do you go to great pains to avoid additives in your food?
How do you manage to keep your kids happy if they're not allowed sweets, junk etc.?
I'm currently having an overhaul of our diet and I'm struggling to find additive free stuff that my kids will enjoy.
Everything seems to have artificial additives in these days.
I always cook our meals from scratch and don't give them fizzy drinks 'n' burgers etc. but my eldest son is still asking for stuff that he shouldn't be having.
I'm in the UK by the way.
What kind of sweets can I still give them just for the odd treat?
The following are good examples of moderately healthy treats:
* ‘McCain’ Rustic Oven Chips - These are just potato with a brush of sunflower oil and score 'go ahead' green traffic lights under the Food Standard Agency's colour coding system for the content of fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt. Also, because they still have the skin on, they retain all the original fibre of the whole potato and are a good source of vitamin C.
http://www.mccain.co.uk/
* ‘McCain’ crinkle micro chips - despite being a type of fast food often associated with lots of additives, these contain only two ingredients as well - potatoes and sunflower oil. Perfectly portion controlled for slimmers and children and like all chips made with sunflower oil, provide a decent dose of vitamin E.
* Whole grain bagels
* Whole grain pretzels (lightly salted or unsalted)
* ‘Ryvita’ cereal bars
http://www.mccain.co.uk/
* ‘Quaker’ granola bars.
http://www.quaker.co.uk/ProductOatBar.as...
* Dried fruit - raisins, prunes, banana chips etc.
* Ready-salted crisps - Ingredients are usually just potatoes, sunflower oil and salt. In the constant search for new snacks so that packed lunches don’t become boring I picked up a 6 pack of ‘Walkers Baked’ Ready Salted a while ago from the supermarket – they were about ￡1.50 for the six pack.
They’re suitable for vegetarians and coeliacs and contain no artificial colours.
* Twiglets
* Natural yoghurt
* Light popcorn
* Quorn burgers (meat analogue made from mycoprotein - a generic term for protein-rich foodstuffs made from processed edible fungus) - even if you're not vegetarian these are still way healthier that beef burgers.
http://www.quorn.co.uk/CMSPage.aspx?ssbi...
make them pudding and add fresh bananas and strawberries. add some vanilla wafer cookies and light cool whip. make like a trifle. it is low in fat and calories, two types of fruit in this one dessert.. it looks so pretty. you eat with your eyes first. and they will think they are having a decedent dessert not knowing you are giving them good sweets.
you can also do peanut butter on apple slices and cover it on a banana.. that is protein and good carbs. make them homemade oatmeal cookies. add good oats, raisins, flaxeed, and whole wheat flour to the batter. lots of cinnamon and vanilla will make it taste better.
life's too short too restrict everything unhealthy. Yes- you shouldn't be eating junk food more than once per week, nor should your kids, but as long as you all have a varied diet you should find you stay healthy and so do your kids.
If you restrict all junk then, and I don't know how old your kids are, eventually they will just go out and eat as much junk as they can despite your'e hard work just because they were not allowed. I know I did!
Anyway that aside, let them choose some fruit based gums e.g rowntrees or the shops own versions as they contain less sugar than other a lot of other types of sweets or chocolates.
My sister deals with the same problem! Heres what she does;
Get some marshmallows (they can be ordered from perfectlysweet.com..GREAT sugar free and diabetic wholesale catalog).. and melt it...then mix it with some rice puff cereal..and bake em! Bam..you got yourself some sugar free marshmallow cakes, guarenteed to curb any hungry child's craving! and theyre fun and gooey to make!!