Video:Tips for Keeping Kids's Snacks Healthy

Transcript:Tips for Keeping Kids's Snacks Healthy

Hi, I'm Katherine Lee for About.com. And this is Danielle from Cooked in Brooklyn.  And today we're going to show you some great tips for how to keep afterschool snacks healthy. So, Danielle, what are your tips?

Fresh Fruit Keeps Kids' Snacks Healthy

Okay, all-righty. First of all, with snacks, I just believe in a lot of fresh fruit because people don't eat as much fruit as they should, which is just a shame. That's true. I've heard that. And so I do a lot of fruit. And I do a lot of nuts. Almonds in particular are quite filling, and just healthy -- and they have good oils in them. They're just the perfect snack, I think.

Choose Unprocessed Food to Keep Kids' Snacks Healthy

One of my other things is that I try to think of the fewest ingredients, like not a lot of processed food, so you want to keep it to the most natural state as possible. With, you know, here, just popcorn, for instance. Just pop in a little bit of oil, add just a touch of butter. I mean, I want more butter, but we can't go there. And just a little bit of salt.

So this is much better than, say, getting a bag of chips or something and putting it on the table. Yes. That's what you mean when you say few ingredients, right? Absolutely. And no preservatives. And the thing is that if you put chips on the table, you're gonna eat it. They're gonna eat it. You're gonna eat it. I will. Everyone's gonna eat it because they're chips.

Avoid Juice to Keep Kids' Snacks Healthy

So basically another thing too is that I try not to do too much juice, per se. Because it has a lot of sugar in it. And I usually just try to do water and milk. And that's, you know, it's kinda a no-brainer. It's a lot of empty calories in juice. I mean, it's tasty but…

What if your kids won't drink milk? Is, like, chocolate milk okay? Chocolate milk is actually better than juice, I think. And you can always water down a little bit with the juice if you have to but I'm not a big juice person. Right.

Choose Protein to Keep Kids' Snacks Healthy

Another great item that I serve to my children all the time is just applesauce. It's just an easy, quick snack. And then also I try to sneak some protein. Sometimes I just do some apples with some almond butter or peanut butter, and you just dip ‘em in there. And they love it. They love the creaminess of the peanut butter or almond butter and they love the crunch of the apples with that.

Right. And the protein will keep them less hungry, right? Yes. And they're good to go. We're ready to rock. Awesome. Great. Thank you so much, Danielle, for telling us those wonderful tips for how to keep afterschool snacks healthy.