Step Two Snacks III

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Again after coming home from a shopping trip I just getting produce ready for easy snacking and eating. I package all veggies and fruits in small snack size containers. I posted a few pictures above to demonstrate. Grapes we like to keep some fresh and some we place in the freezer for a fun frozen treat. Plus frozen grapes make great ice cubes in fun kids drinks. I also like frozen grapes in fruit water. I pre-cut melons and place them in a big ziploc bag so the kids can grab a melon slice whenever they have the desire to snack. The kids know that produce is an allowed snack at anytime, even minutes before dinner. All produce is washed and ready to snack on at any time right after coming into the house. Trust me having them done right after buying them makes it so you will have healthy snacks available to your family. If you wait a day or two you may never get around to getting the produce ready for snacking.

Step Two Snacks II

We eat pretzels instead of potato chips in our house. These are my favorite pretzels. The flavor is good and no one realizes its wheat or with less sugar than most pretzels. One serving is defined as 1 oz or about 8 pretzels. This one serving contains 110 calories, 1 gram fat, and 23 grams of carbs (1 g fiber and 3 g sugar). The kids love these pretzels. There is no high fructose corn syrup in these pretzels which is a must when it comes to snacks in our house.



This is a typical serving of pretzels if I just allow the kids or me to eat right out of the bag. AS you can see it is well over what the recommended serving size is. This is a 2 1/2 serving size. Which means it would have contained 275 calories easily.



This is what I do instead of just allowing the snacking straight out of the bag. I portion out a single serving when I bring the bag into the house. The family knows they can have one bag for a snack. Bags are returned to the empty bag box and I reuse the bags for future snacks. This teaches proper serving size and portion control.

Step Two Snacks

Seriously this is a huge down fall in our house at times. I keep plenty of fresh fruits and veggies that are ready to eat ready for anyone who wants a snack. Yes this means one day I spend about one hour washing and cutting and prepping the said goods for snacks. A fun and very popular snack in our house is frozen grapes. Just wash them up and throw them in a baggie in the freezer. Another snack that's popular is a little bag of salad. I bought little containers that are filled with homemade dressing that are easy to dump into the salad for a small snack. I'm talking like a 100 calorie snack that is quite popular. Buy big blocks of cheese and chop it into cubes and place tooth picks in the container with them. My kids love eating cheese for a snack if they have the little sticks. Another popular snack is fresh fruit or veggie kabobs. They place their favorite veggie or fruit on a kabob stick and they eat the whole thing. Also if you buy pretzels, crackers, chips, or whatever divide them right away into snack size bags. Have healthy snack easily available and ready for when you have the urge to snack.

I'll be spending the next few days showing our favorite snacks and portion sizes on the snacks.

Step One Part Three Bowls

Again if you move your family to smaller size bowls the odds of you over eating and consuming more calories then you intended is less.

The first picture here is of 3/4 cup (one serving size of Cascadian Farms Multi Grain Squares). It comes up to about 1/2 up the bowl. Add in your 1/2 cup of milk (skim in their label) and it looks like a full bowl of cereal at a count of 150 calories.



This second picture is of 3/4 cup (one serving size of the above) and it barely covers the bottom of a typical household bowl. Most people would double the amount easily just to make it look like a bowlful after milk. So your talking 300 calories in your big bowl of cereal.


I suggest you play around with your dishes to see what your dishes look like at the serving size for your food. When you downsize your dishes your lowering your chance of overeating just because we've learned to fill up our plate and eat everything on it.

Okay starting tomorrow I'm doing step two. Overhauling your family snacks. I'll share photos, tips, and ideas.

Examples in sizes

Meal on a typical sized dinner plate. One sandwich, one serving of carrots, and an apple. See how the plate still looks empty.



Same meal as above but on a salad plate. Notice how your meal looks bigger and like you have lots of food yet it's the same as above.



Two glasses with orange juice. Each glass contains 8 oz of juice which is what one serving size is with the juice I used as an example. The glass on the left looks only half full yet the glass on the right is almost to the top. Each serving of this orange juice is 110 calories so just by filling the cup on the left up you would be drinking at least 220 calories.

Step One Part Two Glasses

The next step would be to downsize your glasses. The big glasses are fine for water but filling them up with juice jumps you up to a more calories and sugar then you probably think. 6 oz. is the guideline for fruit juice. Most glasses that I see friends using are at least 12 oz or more. That's two serving sizes and your thinking I only had a glass of juice. If you have smaller glasses on hand for juice and other drinks besides water and you fill them up your family doesn't look at the barely filled glass and think "geez Mom is cutting back on the good stuff." Instead the smaller glass tricks the family into thinking they are still getting a full glass, which they are but an appropriate serving, and they are less likely to realize you are changing their eating habits.

I still keep big glasses on hand cause there is no limit to water. The kids know small glasses are for all drinks but water. It will take some time to get them into the habit of only using big glasses for water so don't give up but just give gentle warnings.