Redefining Snack time
Redefining snack time.
With Nurture's founding vision to provide quality nutrition and wellbeing as part of our curriculum was the desire to redefine snack times. With a little trial and error we have worked out a formula that seems to work well, and so the Nurture sharing platter was born! On this platter, you will find at least 3 food groups - meeting nutritional needs- colour, texture, social connection and autonomy!
Our goal is to normalise vegetables by making them a familiar sight at all meals (including breakfast!). Our homemade foods are nutrient-dense and additive-free! Our children choose what to eat and how much, in the context of sharing with friends and from what is available. Our Nurture Cafe offers the ideal space for connecting with each other and checking in with our selves as we celebrate the rituals of eating.
If we were to believe everything that we see and hear on our vast array of media outlets, it would be fair to say that our idea of a snack food would be something that comes in, or from, a packet. With this lens, perhaps this is what our children believe is a snack, especially when we regularly respond to requests for a snack with individual packets, or foods from a packet. Unfortunately, because packaged foods are generally ultra-processed this also means that the manufacturers have deliberately achieved the ‘bliss’ point of taste - that totally hits the mark of being just right, and moreish. A packet snack always tastes the same, no matter where you buy it always has the same texture and mouthfeel. You know exactly what you are going to get, and in that regard, it doesn’t let you down. Compare that to a punnet of fresh blueberries - they come in different sizes, some are quite hard, some are soft and squishy, and there is no way to tell if it is going to be super sweet or just a little too sour. The unpredictability is unsettling.
But the evidence is overwhelming. These ultra-processed foods are providing little or no nutrition, so while your child has eaten their ‘fill’, they still don’t feel satisfied and continue asking or looking for more.
When your child is familiar with these foods, and they are exposed to them daily, maybe at a friend's house, in the supermarket or at a party, it can be very tricky to manage snack time. Our top tips to redefine snacks in your house are
Regularity: structure mealtimes and snacktimes during the day. Young children have small stomachs and burn a lot of energy so around 21/2 to 3 hours is about right. They gain a sense of security from knowing when food will next be served.
Serve a small variety of items. Between 3 and 5 is about right. Less than 3 offers limited variety both nutritionally and also if your child is not a fan of the items offered chances are they won’t eat! However, more than 5 items become too overwhelming both in volume, choices and also opens the opportunity to overeat.
Cover 3 or 4 food groups in the snack - fruit and vegetables both for their nutritional content, for exposure and, in the case of vegetables, to open up the idea that vegetables aren't just for dinner! Offer a protein as this is what their body will be craving nutritionally. And a good/healthy fat - feed that developing brain!
Mix sweet and savoury. When we always serve biscuits and cakes at snack times, they become associated with snack time. Many adults tell me that they struggle to change their mindset about sweet snacks because of habits developed in childhood. The child that grows to adolescence and can happily ‘snack’ from any dinner leftovers in the fridge are well set up to continue these healthy choices into adulthood.
Don't leave out treats!. Everyone loves a treat and if they are removed from your child's balanced diet, they will simply seek it out elsewhere. By offering a treat, whether it be a piece of chocolate, a liquorice allsorts, mini easter egg, biscuit, small piece of cake or slice, lollipop, the need for sweet is satisfied. You can also serve packaged food as part of the snack. I would recommend taking it out of its packaging and simply place it on the plate alongside the other choices. By serving it alongside the other foods and not drawing attention to it, the treat food does not gain elevated status and your child is given the opportunity to learn to manage all foods.
Make it an ‘event’ or ritual. Making snack times an event rather than eating on the run, gives you all a chance to pause, breath and reset. Try to plan your activities around mealtimes, even if snack time is out and about. Rather than reacting every time a child mentions hunger or asks for a snack, you can direct them towards the next opportunity to eat, when you will sit down (park bench, beach, in the car, at home, in the garden) take out what you have to snack on and share together. Whether it is a 2-minute pause and eat or a 15-minute pause and eat, you will all benefit from it. Make it special by highlighting the ritual with a song, a flower or special snack mat, sharing a story or using a special cup or plate.
Give it a beginning and an end. Ten minutes is plenty for the eating part. Leave your child to work out that if they are hungry they need to eat at the times you set. They will learn to control their distraction in time.
Role model! Taking the time to fuel your body and nourish your mind sends the strongest message of self-love and self-care to your child.
Learning to wait. If you buy your snack from a cafe or bakery, carry it home before eating it. Instant gratification will just leave them seeking the next hit!
Serve foods that you like too! Avoid limiting your options to foods that they like. There is huge value in a child seeing you eating foods that you like, they also learn that people have different tastes and that they won't always see their favourite foods at every mealtime.
It's ok to say No. You are the nutritional gatekeeper for your child.
While it may feel that you need to be super organised to provide a snack offering like this, perhaps it is simply a mindset shift to view the foods that you already have with a different perspective. Trawling the supermarket aisles other than the snack aisle can turn up some interesting options!
Fruit - limit dried fruit and focus on fresh and frozen. With fresh fruit, try to stick to what is in season, and local - they are generally the tastiest!
Vegetables - anything is fair game...carrot, celery, cucumber, tomato, mushrooms, frozen peas or corn, corn on the cob, leftover roast or steamed vegetables, steamed potato or kumara, tinned beetroot, avocado, leafy greens or herbs, gherkins, red cabbage, sauerkraut, capsicum….
(Frozen fruit and vegetables are nutritionally sound. As they are snap frozen at the peak of their nutritional lifespan, sometimes it can be a better choice than a fresh vegetable or fruit that has been picked early, then kept chilled until it has arrived at its point of sale, then treated to hasten the ripening process. Sticking to locally sourced, in-season produce, sold in smaller specialist stores rather than supermarket chains reduces the ‘processing’. Feel free to ask your local supermarket about the farm to point of sale process)
Protein - the options are endless but sometimes keeping it simple is easiest. Leftover meat (chicken, sausage, steak, meatball ), deli meats, salmon, tuna,pate, cheeses, nuts, seeds, eggs (boiled, omelette, protein pancake), yoghurt, roasted or simply drained tinned beans (butter beans, red bean, white beans), hummus, bread (unprocessed) keto bread/slices
Good fats - some ideas are avocado, coconut cream, full-fat yoghurt or milk, butter, nuts,nut butters, dark chocolate, cheese, fatty fish, animal fats (eg chicken skin). It can be in the form of a spread or a dip.