I’ve been wanting to write a blog post on 10 Easy and Quick Snack Ideas for Kids for some time. My daughter is not on any special diet. When I started the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) over a year ago as a means of managing my Crohn’s disease symptoms better, I vowed it would not impact on my husband and daughter’s life. After all, they had no need for a diet overhaul. My breakfast and lunch would often differ from them but I only ever made one dinner. We would have the same meat (if there was some) and vegetables and then I would cook either: rice, potatoes or pasta for them.
Over a year on, I can see big changes in all of our diets. As a result of me being on SCD, we are all healthier. We all eat more vegetables, virtually no processed foods, consume minimal sugar and they eat substantially less grains than before. Without any effort, my daughter now eats salads and a lot more vegetables than before. I put everything on her plate and she chooses what to eat or not. Often she’ll eat vegetables before her carbohydrates now.
I have also become a lot more conscious of sugar content. I certainly am not claiming to be some sort of super-mom who’s child has a perfect diet. She eats chocolate and has treats like any other child but they are occasional rather than the norm. I don’t have a ban on all refined sugar in the house (although I consume none myself) but I do strive to keep all of our diets as low in sugar as possible.
Some of the first steps I made when looking at reducing sugar in my daughter’s diet was limiting breakfast to porridge, eggs and just occasionally allowing Weetabix (usually when we are in a rush). We don’t keep juices or soft drinks of any kind in the house unless my husband buys them which he does rarely. I started reading labels vigorously when I eliminated gluten, grains, sugar and additives of any kids. I was amazed at the amount of sugar in children’s yoghurts and other snacks. It is so wrong that food companies are allowed to masquerade sugar-laden foods as “healthy” or “nutritious”.
My main motto is to make food at home the majority of the time so that we know what goes in to it. Below are some snacks which I regular give to my daughter as I deem them to be more healthy than the store-bought options. It’s important for me to say that they are NOT all SCD-legal. They are all refined sugar and gluten-free but not all grain-free. Here are 10 Easy and Quick Snack Ideas for Kids. My daughter loves them all!
1. Apple slices dipped in almond butter
2. Rice cake with almond butter and banana slices
3. Homemade yoghurt with fresh fruit. You can find my recipe for homemade probiotic and lactose-free yoghurt here.
4. Prosciutto, cheese and cherry tomatoes. Ideally, the prosciutto should have two ingredients: pork leg and salt. Also, consumption of prosciutto should be limited to a few times a week due to salt content.
5. Cucumber hummus “sandwiches”.
6. Apple chips. Get the recipe for this delicious snack here.
7. Raisins/dried mango. My daughter loves these but I only give very small portions as dried fruit is very high in natural sugars.
8. Dates filled with almond butter. Again due to high natural sugars, one large date or two small would be enough.
9. Homemade “ice-cream” or Nobó. Nobó is a firm favourite dairy-free ice cream of ours made with healthy ingredients such as avocados. To make a healthy banana and almond butter “ice-cream” without any ice-cream machine click here.
10. My daughter loves smoothies and they’re a great way to get some hidden vegetables in. To see a selection of my yoghurt-based and dairy-free smoothies, click here.
