Top 5 Shocking Unhealthy Snacks For Kids

Top 5 shocking unhealthy snacks for kids that you should be aware of. The chosen healthy snacks may not be so healthy as you may think. Be careful in looking at the ingredients label of the healthy foods you pick for your kids and for yourself. Choose wisely.

Unhealthy: Inflammatory oil, high heat.

The tantalizing savory and mouth watery aroma of fried food are too tempting to resist. It is easier to cook and most of the kids just love it. The fried food doesn’t make its entry on the healthy food charts, in spite of the taste factor. The fat and calorie content is high. In addition, they have high levels of inflammatory Advanced Glycation End (AGE) products. The experts concluded in a 2015 review published in the journal Advances in Nutrition that – “sustained exposure to AGE gradually erodes native defenses setting the stage for abnormally high oxidative stress and inflammation, the precursor of the disease.”

Enjoy this Instead!! Replace the deep fried food with grilled or baked food. According to the Mount Senai School of Medicine research findings show that cutting down the high AGE foods like processed food and fried food, immediately reduces the markers of inflammation in the body.

Unhealthy: Refined carbs, extra added sugar, Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT), Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA).

BHA and BHT are found to be banned in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Japan, and much of Europe because they are thought to be carcinogenic. Most of us go for extra added sugar flavor. Sugar wreaks havoc on the body. Extra sugar leads to obesity. Other health problems like diabetes and heart problems often are a result of high sugar intake. Moreover, it stresses the liver.

Enjoy this Instead!! You can go for fiber enriched fruit and nut mix cereal sans sugary coating. It is usually healthy to mix some fresh fruits and dry fruit nuts with regular cereal at home. You can also add seeds like flax, sunflower to give a dash of extra.

Unhealthy: Yellow#6, Monosodium Glutamate.

The lovely orange-yellow soft snacks that melts in your mouth giving immediate craving of yummy have-mores. “Vanishing caloric density” dubbed by known food scientist Steven Witherly. When food melts in your mouth it tricks your brain in thinking that you are not having as many calories. The food developers know this fact well and use it to create food like Cheetos. Instead of eating less the eaters end up having more calories than they actually intend to have. Cheetos are mainly doused with MSG which is shown to increase appetite and make it tastier. The study in the Journal of Sensory Studies reveals that the crunchy sound is associated with freshness and tend to make crunchy food tastier.

Enjoy this Instead!! You can relish the crunch with rice and almond based crackers. Most importantly they lack the MSG and do not cause us to over eat. Plus they are more healthy than cheetos.

Unhealthy: High fructose corn syrup, alkali processed cocoa, palm oil

The famous dip and lick advertisement have every child going for the dip and lick treat of oreo. Oreo doesn’t come with a warning either. But like many other products available in the market oreo are rich in palm oil, which is a fat that promotes fat-causing inflammation. They are of more addictive nature. The presence of high fructose corn syrup and alkali processed cocoa is not healthy either.

Enjoy this Instead!! You can go for granolacookies which are a mixture of almonds, oats, chocolate, coconut, cane sugar, some spices and espresso powder. Great in nutrition and way better than processed biscuits.

Unhealthy: Artificial colours, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, carnauba wax, sugar

As a kid, the sight of little colourful candles on the cakes and ice creams made me happy. The sprinkles were just the edible version. They look pretty and yummy too. These little yummy eye-catching sugary accessories of ice cream and cakes are a little more than sugar. Not so healthy with those other ingredients just like your candles.

Enjoy this Instead!! Slivered almonds, raisins and cashews not only add nutrition but also add some healthy fiber and antioxidants to your cakes and desert.

It is always good to choose natural food over processed food. A well-balanced snack and diet full of natural fibre and micronutrients is always better than a quick grab and go processed foods. Enjoy my healthy bites. Keep on the lookout for getting more of my healthy writeup. Till Then! Healthy Workout!

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