Active Kids Should Have Healthy Snacks Available

Summertime means snack time. Children are more active, so parents need to have more snacks and drinks on hand. Peggy Papathakis, a pediatric nutrition specialist at UC Davis, offers these tips:

Keep kids healthy and hydrated with water, since soft drinks only make them more thirsty. Or, add mineral water or club soda to real fruit juice for a healthier “soft drink.”

Cool kids off with frozen refreshments. Blender drinks can be made with nonfat milk, fruit, fruit juice, ice and/or frozen yogurt. Healthy Popsicles are made by draining canned fruit and putting the fruit and some fruit juice in a Dixie cup and freezing.

Make fruits more interesting by involving kids in preparation. Fruit kebabs made with apples, pineapples, orange sections, grapes and berries are easy to put together.

Dips make foods more interesting. Have kids dip raw broccoli and baby carrots in ranch dressing. Add some zing to pieces of fruit by dipping in lemon yogurt.

For older kids: Put pizza sauce and cheese over English muffins or French bread slices and pop in the microwave for easy pizzas. Quesadillas are easy too, with cheese and salsa over flour or corn tortillas put in the microwave. Also, keep baked potatoes in the fridge so that kids can reheat them with cheese.