I was wondering if anyone else is having this challenge? I have two year old daughter who is constantly eating. She has things around the house like pretzels, graham crackers, mostly carb things....Things I cannot eat. I have been pretty proud of myself for not digging in the last 3 weeks but man a triscut or chicken nuggets sure sound good.

I know how that is, and my son's are share kind of kid lol.

I was just wondering if there's any way that you could offer your children some different kinds of snacks that focus more on fruit and raw veggies or cheese sticks? Please don't take that as a criticism -- I have grands, and I know that sometimes getting them to eat stuff is a battle of wills. I was just thinking it would be easier for you and maybe get them into really good eating habits early in life.

My kids are older and they do have those things in the house. I've got a 9 and 7 yr old and the baby will be 1 on Saturday. I put that stuff in a way high cabinet I don't use for anything else. I know they're there, but I don't see them all the time. I also keep washed and portioned fruits, veggies, cheeses and yogurts ready to go in the fridge. They tend to stick with the stuff that's easily visible, the fruits n veggies instead of the junk.

That is a good comment, no offense taken. She loves fruit cheese and veggies. Tonight she ate two cheese sticks, strawberries and olives. We are fairly anal about what she eats. But the problem is the other snacks.

Oh boy I feel you there. I don't give my son cookies and crackers every day all day, but I don't think it's fair to take them away because I want to lose weight. So right now it's a challenge not to have a cookie or have a sugary cereal instead of special k with skim or hot oatmeal. But I just keep reminding myself that the more I do that, the further I am pushing myself away from my goal. And realistically, while any sugar is better than none when you have a craving - I remind myself I'm really not that crazy about what my son likes. So since I love ice cream, I'd rather pass on his cookie or a handful of goldfish and reward myself with an ice cream after a week of doing good. Don't want to waste calories on mediocre kid snacks!

Great point. Thanks

I've got two toddlers, snacks galore in my house. It's healthy stuff but it's still a constant battle not to nibble all day or "clean their plates"

You don't necessarily have to "take them away." It doesn't have to be an on or off thing. It can be a gradual thing, and you'll all begin eating better, even if it's slowly.

Some things we've done:

• Started offering cheese and fruit instead of cookies/crackers once in a while (to get them used to the idea of these being acceptable snacks)
• Gave them an option between two healthier snacks: "Do you want a tangerine and cheese, or Monster Picnic?" (Monster picnic is apples and peanut butter) This gave them some buy-in in what they eat, within the framework I set.
• When the unhealthier items were eaten up, we bought them less often, until I just didn't replenish them. Kids understand "we're out of that right now, but you can have this". And eventually, they forgot they'd ever had Goldfish (or Doritos) almost every day, and the healthier snacks became the norm.