The Ten Healthy Snacks Your Child Will Gobble Up

Mind is All

Trying to help your kids lose weight, but aren’t sure how? Exchange some of their unhealthy snack foods with these healthy snacks and see if that doesn't make a difference.

Start serving fresh fruit at least once a day. Bring home new fruit and have fruit taste testing events where your kids try a few different types of fruit and vote on which one they like best. Mix in some everyday favorite with the new exotic fruits.

Try serving air popped popcorn (without butter, please). Instead spray with a tiny bit of water and then salt it. To satisfy a sweet tooth, toss popcorn with a small amount of reduced-calorie maple syrup--it'll taste liek caramel corn.

Pretzel thins and cheese. You may want to buy cheddar cheese, which has a stronger flavor; a little goes a long way.

Boil up some eggs. Kids love to peel the eggs, and the protein will keep them full for a long time. Serve them with salt and pepper.

Ants on a log. Cut up celery sticks, smear a small amount of peanut butter on them, and dot them with raisins or a scant number of miniature chocolate chips.

Serve cut veggies with salad dressing. Older kids may like to use a knife to carve the veggies into flowers and shapes.

Boiled, seasoned shrimp. Just pour some cajun seasoning into a pot with some hot water and boil the shrimp until done; it's a perfectly delicious high protein snack.

Make roll ups out of lunch meat and cheese. Roll up thin slices of lean meat with thin pieces of cheese, then stick a toothpick in each one.

Get your kids hooked on smoothies instead of milkshakes. Blend frozen fruit and low cal juice and serve with a crazy straw. You can put yogurt in if your kids like it that way.

Buy some Greek yogurt. Greek yogurt packs twice the protein of regular yogurt and comes in nonfat varieties. You can find plenty of flavors; even chocolate!

If you set the example with your healthy eating habits, your children will make the transition more easily. Try picking up some healthy eating cookbooks for more ideas.