Every kid comes home hungry for a snack after school. Give them one of these Plan Z Diet approved noshes to keep them full and healthy.
Chief Dieter
Plan Z Diet
When I was in grade school my brother and I would walk home together each day. He was one grade behind me. It was about a mile from the school to the house. If we didn’t get any other exercise, at least we got that.
When we got home from school we’d drop our books on the dining room table and have a snack.
Most of the time, I’d do my snacking in the kitchen. I’d go to the pantry and pick up a donut or a pastry my mother had gotten at the bakery. I’d wash that down with a big glass of milk while I watched TV. I liked to watch Julia Child whip up a dish. Sometimes I’d watch Graham Kerr (another famous chef) cook a meal. Little did I know that my interest in cooking would carry on and become such an important part of my life as an adult. My brother had different tastes. He would grab a bag of potato chips and a 16 ounce Pepsi and he’d go off to the den and watch his favorite show.
After that, we went outside to play with friends until dinner.
I never really worried about my weight until boys came into the picture. At 12 years old I became obsessed with diet and food. It didn’t stop me from eating donuts, though. My tactic overall was just to eat less and less. The education at the time all revolved around counting calories. I became really good at that. I bought one of those pocket calorie books they had by the cash register at the grocery store. I memorized it.
Now I know better. My calorie counting was a waste of time. What I needed was a low-carb way of eating. I needed options, and I needed to eat the right stuff.
So now when I think of what kids could be eating after school, potato chips and donuts assuredly do not hit the list.
Here are some healthy Plan Z Diet snack options for you, your kids — or even your grandkids:
Apples & Peanut Butter
My favorite snack is apple wedges with peanut butter. I even eat this for breakfast sometimes on the Plan Z Diet. It also makes a great snack. Most kids are capable of slicing up and apple without getting hurt. They can choose smooth or crunchy peanut butter. My only caution is that you try to find unsweetened peanut butter. There are some brands now that are just ground peanuts in the jar.
I don’t like the stuff with the oil floating on top, so I buy emulsified, natural peanut butter. It says “no stir” on the jar. If you can’t find a natural peanut butter that you like, you can opt for one that has cane sugar toward the bottom of the ingredients list. That way, at least you won’t get an overload of sugar.
Cheese cubes and summer sausage make great after school snacks. I was born in Wisconsin. I wish I had known it was healthier for me to snack on cubes of cheddar and string cheese than to eat those low-calorie, over-processed “diet” foods.
I never even tried a cheese curd until I was in my 20’s. Boy, was I missing out. We used to save sausage and cheese snacking for Sunday football games. I could have been having that after school! Kids can help themselves from the refrigerator pretty easily with this easy snack. Sliced pepperoni or salami is easy to come by. Just skip the crackers.
Mini Pizzas
Mini-pizzas are also an option. You can make mini pizzas in muffin tins by the dozen and the kids can just take them out of the fridge and eat them cold if they want, or they can be heated in the microwave. I have a mini-pizza recipe made with biscuit dough or you go totally low carb and make them crustless.
Cookies
Cookies can be low carb if you make them yourself. I’ll give you our Plan Z Snickerdoodle recipe for today to give you a start. You can google low carb cookies on line and get recipes too. When I was a kid I used to make cookies almost every Saturday afternoon. That’s how I started my cooking career at six years old. If you have grandkids it’s a great way to interact with them and keep them productively occupied.
These are like little sandwiches with no bread (remember what we taught you about bread on the Plan Z Diet!? Check out all the facts here) They are super easy to make and kids love them cuz they can walk around with them and munch. They look like little meat cigars. Just get the good deli meat. That means standing in line and asking for the best the deli has to offer instead of buying the stuff in the packaging hanging on the wall. Those packaged versions are chock full of preservatives. Try to find the freshest you can. Same with the cheese. Ask the deli worker to slice what you want. That way, if you have kids with different tastes you can just buy the number of slices you need for each kid. One kid might like mild cheddar, while another one might like the hot buffalo pepper cheese.
To make lunchmeat and cheese rolls, take a slice of meat and place it on the counter. Spread on a bit of sandwich spread of choice (mayo, mustard or even Thousand Island dressing), then place the cheese on top and roll it up. Secure with a tooth pick if necessary. You can make up a bunch of these and keep them in baggies in the fridge or the kids can easily make them when they get home from school.
Nuts
Nuts. Nuts are an easy, healthy snack. Again, keep them in baggies so they are portion controlled. For a little sweetness, you can toss in a few raisins or other dried fruit bits. Just take it easy on the fruit. That’s where the sugar load would come in.
Fruit
A fruit bowl. You’ll find if you don’t feed your kids a lot of sugar that they will find fruit to be a real sweet treat. Ripe peaches or plums are easy for kids to eat. Those Cuties (clementines) are fun during the winter. The Plan Z Diet trick here is to try to stick to low-glycemic fruits. Anything that scores a 60 or less on the glycemic index would be good. Apples, berries, citrus fruits and, peaches, pears and plums are all pretty good. Things like pineapple, grapes and ripe bananas are not such great ideas if you are trying to keep sugar levels down. If you feed your kids grapes, just be good about portion control and know that each little grape is like a gumdrop in terms of sugar intake for kids (and adults too).
Granola. If you do a low carb granola and make it yourself you are fine. Almost all granola in the grocery store is a sugar-laden nightmare. Here’s a link to my latest Plan Z Diet Cinnamon Granola. Get with the kids on a weekend and have them help make this one. You can divide this into snack portions in little baggies too. This lasts a good week or more if you keep it covered. This is also a perfect breakfast for kids. It has enough sweetness that they feel like they are getting a fun breakfast. I mix this with plain yogurt I’ve sweetened with Truvia and make a parfait. Kids will stay full and focused all morning at school with this one or just the snack of a little baggie full after school will hold them til dinner. A kid won’t fill up on potato chips until they’ve consumed way too many of them.
Hard Boiled Eggs
Hard boiled eggs are another option. I know it might sound crazy to a kid who’s used to eating donuts after school right now, but they have a lot of protein and make a good, healthy snack. If you start your kids off when they are small with snacks like this they won’t know the difference and will see eggs as a treat as well as a breakfast item.
Ice Cream
Lastyl, as a treat substitute for ice cream for my Plan Z Diet Easiest Chocolate Mousse on the Planet. This mousse is made with mascarpone but you can use regular cream cheese if your budget doesn’t allow for mascarpone. It comes together in a flash. Older kids can make it themselves or you can whip up a batch. Just keep it in a covered container in the fridge, or you can cover it with plastic wrap and leave it in the mixing bowl. Serve a scoop just like you would ice cream. It’s just as dreamy but won’t pack your kids full of sugar. They won’t know the difference. I promise.
I hope these after school snack ideas inspire you to give your kids options that will keep them healthy. You don’t have to buy what the kids see on TV while they watch cartoons. You control the checkbook. It might be a bit of an education for you to change the direction of what your kids eat, but if it’s fun while healthy, I bet they’ll go right along with you and eat the more healthy options. You just have to keep the offerings yummy!
Cheers,
To read more of Zola's blogs CLICK HERE or head over to https://www.planzdiet.com/blog/
Cheers,
To read more of Zola's blogs CLICK HERE or head over to https://www.planzdiet.com/blog/
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