Healthy options urged for children’s after-school snacks

Freepik.com

Grains and juice are what's on the menu for after-school snacks at SeeSaw Children's Place.

That's how Trina Beale, director of licensing and services, and the rest of SeeSaw's staff keep their students from growing hungry while making sure they adhere to healthy snack standards.

"We offer juice everyday," Beale said. "They do get juice, and we actually rotate snacks. They get mainly grains for the afternoon. They get things like Goldfish, graham crackers, animal crackers, Cheez-Its, a lot of crackers."

When it comes to after-school snacks, it's the healthy options that officials want young people to reach for.
So-called "smart snacks" are important, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service says, because more than a quarter of children's daily calories can come from snacks.

Giving children healthy options means they're more likely to perform better academically, and the department notes that offering healthy choices makes it easy for students to develop healthy eating patterns.

For its food guidelines, the USDA focuses on whole grains, dairy, fruits and vegetables.

"Smart snacks" include whole-grain products, such as granola bars, in which the first ingredient is grains, fruits, vegetables, dairy or protein.

Healthy snacks are identified as being 200 calories or less, with less than 200 milligrams of sodium and less than 35 percent sugar.

The department's healthy beverages include water, milk and juice.

SeeSaw participates in the state food program under the Texas Department of Agriculture, Beale said. That means it has to adhere to healthy foods.

"On the food program they have, there's the five components of the food groups and we have to offer two," Beale said. "So usually it ends up being a grain. We can offer milk, juice, meat or a vegetable/fruit. So we usually do the grain."

It can get tricky when it comes to allergies, Beale said. They stay away from peanut butter and any other potential problem foods.

Beale expects some changes to their menu after she attends training in September.

"I do think they're taking graham crackers off the list and any types of cookies," she said. "But I don't know what that change is yet."

And while they've offered things like grains or yogurt to students, she said the favorite item is leftover sandwiches they sometimes offer on Friday when they have fewer students attending.

"Sometimes we have kids who are not here on Friday, so we'll go ahead and make up the rest of the lunch meat and bread for sandwiches," she said. "The kids seem to love the sandwiches in the afternoon for a snack."