School Snacks – Healthier Options
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The amount of sugar that passes through our students during the school season every year is absolutely astounding. It is estimated that a child eats 16 POUNDS of sugar per year! SIXTEEN POUNDS! That’s incredulous! Krispy Kreme even released a statement about their Report Cards program that seems more like an oxymoron to me than anything:
“In the midst of a healthier school-food movement and childhood obesity epidemic, Krispy Kreme is rewarding students with a doughnut for every A on their report cards — up to a half-dozen per grading period.”
Really? Combating obesity by offering doughnuts? It made my laugh, but it truly is sad. These thoughts were sparked by my attendance at my son’s K-4 Orientation the other night. The director had to “remind” parents to give the kids nutritional snacks and breakfast so that they weren’t coming to school hyped up on chocolate doughnuts with sprinkles.
So I decided to make a visit to the grocery store to stock up on a few pre-packaged items in case we got extra busy in the morning or if I forgot to pre-pack a lunch. It was tough finding fairly healthy snacks! There were tons of pre-packaged individual fruit candies, chips, desserts, cookies, etc. I settled for pretzels, crackers, nuts, etc. I wanted to list some good snacks to send to school with your children. Instead of chips, soda, cake, cookies, or candy why not send:
These are just a few of MANY different options you can send as snacks to school with your child!
Cereal (some!)
Cheese (some!)
Pretzels
Apple Slices
Rice Cakes
Wheat Crackers
Carrots
Raisins
Yogurt (check the sugar!)
Plain Popcorn
Grilled Chicken Strips
Baked Sweet Potato Fries
Grapes
Cucumbers
Frozen Bananas
Fruit Jello Homemade
Hummus and Tortilla Chips
Coconut Water
100% Juice
Water
Blueberries
These are really great options! We haven’t tried some of them and will plan on it.