We have 7 kids in the house and they all love snack cakes! forget the fruit none of them will eat healthy snacks,what do you do about snacks in the house, I have NO wilpower to start with so this does not help, not to mention Im a night owl and eating at night all thoses sweets are killing me.. Help I really need advice here.....momof8

My husband still has snacks I wont spend my calories on. I have a shelf in the pantry all mine, right at my eye level. Filled to the brim with healthy snacks that I LOVE! Its great because if I get the urge to snack I have an area all mine and I don't even notice the other stuff. Because its right there and filled with what I love.

I keep a basket in the fridge filled with my healthy refrigerated snacks too, its so bright and colorful and just says this is all yours, its all the things you like to eat and it looks like a big rainbow of yumminess.

Keep a special area just for you, with healthy snacks that you love. Make it known that its mommies special bin. For me it really helps that its at my eye level, if its possible its a great help.

Hi momof8- I'm a mom of 6, and my kids love snacks just as much others, but I'm just not going to buy them now. I'll be stocking up on fresh fruit, oatmeal bars, baby carrots and hummus, and edamame.

Just lay down the facts- you need to lose the weight, you need to eat healthy, you want the same for them, so you won't be having those treats in the house anymore.

what about making healthy oatmeal "cookies" or bars? Or granola?

Hi, Momof8!

I have the same problem with that stuff.

We have 4 children, and while I didn't stop buying the snacks all together, there are a lot less of them. I decided that if I didn't LOVE it I wasn't going to eat it (as far as junk food goes). Because I can eat that junk, but very little of it do I absolutely love or think tastes real good.

And like others said - I don't want to spend my calories on stuff I don't really like!

You know what, next time you grab one to eat, sit down with it, and savour it, really chew it and taste it... I mean really take a long time with it. Here's the thing, if you do that you will actually taste what they really are and that is chemicals, not even any real ingredients of any sort, but purely preservatives, sugar, dyes and fat. You really can actually taste the chemically fake-ness in them if you take the time. There is not one single redeeming quality about them if you stop to consider that they don't even taste good. Don't buy them, the kids will complain bitterly but will eventually give up and turn to whatever else is available to them, which will hopefully be healthier options and is thankfully up to you!

I had to stop buying them all together. Snack cakes are the devil! .......the thing with kids is that if they are really really wanting something they will eat what you have. Sure they might complain at first but if you hold your ground and not waiver they will change

I don't have kids yet, but when we DO we just aren't going to keep crap in the house. I know it's hard but if you can get them off the junk now, just think how much easier it'll be for them not to go through what you have gone through with weight issues.

There are healthier snacks you can give the kids.

If you have a Whole Foods look for crispy green fruit snacks, I especially love the apricot. Crunchy and sweet and only 38 calories for a whole pack.

Mini rice cakes, you can find them without too much salt. Also if you just must there are baked chips, Cheetos, Doritos and such which might be good for weening them off the hard stuff. That's how we weened ourselves off of it!

If you have a Safeway look for Eating Right stuff. They have a version of Spaghetti'o's and canned Ravolis that taste just like the name brand stuff if you sprinkle a little garlic salt on 'em but have a fraction of the fat and are made with whole wheat pasta. I also like their frozen pockets, mac & cheese, and frozen mini pizzas better than the other brands... plus they have less sodium than Lean Cuisine or Weight Watchers on average.

Seriously I thought my DH was going to cry for joy when I brought home the ravoli!

Not sure if similar things can be found at other stores but it's worth looking into.

I must be a real harda$$ but there is NO junk in my house. Kids' snacks are fruit, mini yoghurts, carrots, cherry tomatoes, etc. And if they don't like the choice, too bad! I am not running a hotel or a café, they get what is available! And guess what? No one complains that there are no junky snacks anymore.

The same goes for my husband; if he wants junk he has to buy it himself and keep it out of the house. Consequently, he's lost a couple of kilos and is interested in becoming healthier now as well.

My point is, you are the parent, you are in charge. You can give in to what the kids want and use it as an excuse, or you can tell them that they have new choices which don't include junk.

My kids love fruit and peanut butter crackers. We only occasionally deal with snack cakes and such.

Velveteen, I love the way you put that, you sounded just like my dad when i was young,the kids ages are ,13,18,27 yeah 27!!,,the grand kids that live with me are,2,4,8,
Im going to do the fruit thing and just pass up the snack cakes all together when in the store, Im not going to tell them anything and just wait to see who says something first.
can some of you give me some examples of what you snack on,and maybe share your oatmeal cookie and bar recipes ....momof8

The kids don't need the garbage either. What would you be taking away from them? Sugar? Fat? Nutrient sparse foods? Nothing. How I wish I would have been brought up eating healthy fare. They call it junk food for a reason - because it's "junk". Worthless.

My kids snack on baked apples. I make a huge tray of them and they're good all week long. They snack on baby carrots and grape tomatoes. Berries, melon, grapes - try them frozen. Banana slices - I freeze these as well - they're a great yummy snack. Paper thinly sliced apples sprinkled with cinnamon. Peaches, grapefruits, plums and all other kinds of fruit. Yogurt.

Be firm. It may take some time, but they will get used to it and come to LOVE this way of eating. Each and every time one of my kids goes away to a friends house, they get stomach aches (& not from OVEReating)from eating at other people's home. They're not used to all the fat and sugar and - junk.

Showing your children the "proper" way to eat and to care for and respect their bodies is one of the best gifts you can possibly give them. Bar none.

That's exactly what I did this Easter, I just stopped buying cakes and cookies and didn't even say anything. I bought a good variety of fruit, yoghurt, breadsticks and healthy dips, granola bars etc and you know it took a full two weeks before my son (15 year old) realised and said where's the biscuits gone. I told him I wasn't buying those things anymore as they were no good for any of us and he shrugged and helped himself to a banana.

Kids are just like any of us, they only eat it cos its there.

Kitty

There were 5 kids in my family and there was no junk food allowed in the house. Snack cakes have no nutritional value, and are expensive (and gross if you really taste them.)

Snacks could be : cheese cut into cubes, carrot sticks with PB, grapes, crackers, anything.

if there are no snack cakes and only healthy options they will eat the healthy things if they are hungry.