does anyone not give their kids snacks?

[iona]

i looked at the www.nosdiet.com mentioned in another thread and was thinking about the tendency to snack, and how it is almost a given. i know there are healthier ways to snack, but has anyone cut it out almost completely?

[Entropymama]

We don't do snacks in our house.

 

I will concede that this year we've started having an after-school snack.. but that's because it seems as they get older they need more. When they were toddlers they didn't have any snacks.

 

It does seem like it's the normal thing to do; all the nutrition guides and books suggest it, but I found with my kids that they would only eat their favorite foods at mealtimes because they weren't really hungry and they knew they were getting a snack in an hour or two. So they ate lots of bread and fruit and almost no meat or veggies. Skipping snacks meant they were good and hungry come mealtime and ate better.

 

I guess it's different for every family, though.

[unsinkable]

i looked at the www.nosdiet.com mentioned in another thread and was thinking about the tendency to snack, and how it is almost a given. i know there are healthier ways to snack, but has anyone cut it out almost completely?

 

I wouldn't do this diet with kids, esp. littles like yours.

[justasque]

My kids need to eat every 3 hours, or they get grouchy. I'm the same, and so are many members of my family. So we listen to our bodies and snack. By "snack", though, I mean "eat a healthy but small meal". It's not different food.

[JudoMom]

My kids eat breakfast around 8, lunch around noon, snack at 3, and dinner around 7.

[UnsinkableKristen]

Nope, we do snacks here for adults and kids. Our family also gets cranky and grumpy when we haven't eaten for a few hours.

 

We keep our snacks the same as the food we eat at regular meals, though - fruit, nuts, doritos. You know, the normal stuff :D

[Ellie]

We didn't do snacks, at least not formally. We might have had pretzels or graham crackers around the house, and some fruit of various kinds, but I didn't schedule snacks or offer them unless the dc asked for them and it wasn't time for a full meal yet. I didn't have snacks when I was growing up, either.

[Shelly in IL]

Breakfast at eight, lunch at noon, dinner at five. However, we set substantial meals at that time.

[iona]

do you think a body comes to expect snacks, and can be "trained" to rely on them. i am thinking of this mainly for myself, but snacking seems to be the norm. could another eating schedule become the norm?

[MaMa2005]

I think your body can become very accustomed to a schedule of meals. We eat breakfast at 7, lunch at 12 and dinner at 4:45. Without ever looking at a clock, DS can tell you when it is lunch and dinner time within a 5 minute window. He doesn't snack (except on RARE occasions) and I truly think his body rhythm has become ingrained with meal times.

[MomOfOneFunOne]

I don't *forbid* snacks but I dont' buy anything even like typical snack food: chips, graham crackers, gummy "fruit," et c. aren't even on our radar.

 

However, if my kiddo wants something in the afternoon, she can have some fruit or veggies. We're usually busy; sometimes it comes up, sometimes not.

 

But no, I don't buy "snack food" and I don't encourage snacking.

[prairie rose]

We don't snack. We used to but then I realized that my kids always just picked at their meals and were eating way too much between meals. It was healthy stuff they were eating, fresh fruit and veggies, trail mix with dried fruit and nuts, yogurt...but then they wouldn't eat meals. The cost of snacking all the time was getting out of hand, especially as we had more children and I was afraid we were instilling a habit of always having to be eating something. So we stopped the snacks. When they were little and really did need to eat more often, I broke the meals up. For breakfast they would have scrambled eggs and a couple hours later when they were hungry again they'd have a piece of toast. Then they would have a sandwich and some cut up veggies for lunch and a couple hours later a piece of fruit. Instead of giving them the whole meal in one sitting I just spread the meal out a bit. Once they got a little older (around 4 or 5?) they were able to just eat 3 meals a day with nothing in between. So far they are all a healthy weight and no one has shriveled up and died from lack of snacks.

[JennyD]

No -- we are all about the scheduled snack here. Mealtimes are 6:30, 12:30, and 6. Snacktimes are 9:30 and 3. No eating outside of the set meals and snacks, but 5.5 hours is just too long an interval for all of us.

 

I have a tendency to skip the morning snack myself in favor of doing other things, but ever since I had gestational diabetes with #2 I try to remember to at least eat a small bit of protein to keep blood sugar levels even.

[Dawn in OH]

Snacks in our house are vegetables, fruit, peanut butter on crackers. The older kids don't snack often, but sometimes I can tell that they really need something...unable to focus, cranky. The 3 year old gets fed every few hours. He generally eats small portions, and he's all go all the time. He gets really cranky when he needs more food.

[RoundAbout]

We have to snack here or we get cranky. Blood sugar issues run in my family.

 

BUT I don't schedule it for certain times, I base it on behavior and how much he ate at previous meals. I also don't buy specific snack foods - I don't think crackers even are all that healthy. A snack at home usually means fruit or veggies, hard boiled egg, olives, or cheese. I control the snacks to help round out what he misses at meals. For instance if he only had oatmeal or toast for breakfast I'll offer something with protein a few hours later. If he's been light on veggies for a few days he'll get carrots and brocolli for a snack.

 

I know some people (especially Montessori followers) believe in encouraging independence by stocking a snack shelf for very young children, but I think training my child to eat what's available is an important lesson as well. I also want food to be seen as sustenance instead of fun. A little creativity and kid-appeal is fine for meals or when I need some motivation for our long bike rides and hikes, but snacking these days looks a lot like entertainment (colorful packaging, character themes, cute shapes, etc.).

[sewingmama]

When I was a kid we rarely had snacks - three meals a day and not one kids was fussy - we ate everything.

 

I planned to do this with my kids (its just what I was used to and so never got into a habit of snacking myself) but I married a DH who gets himself a snack every 15 minutes - he cannot watch t.v. or work on the computer or drive a car or read a book without a snack - I've never in 8 years seen him do it. He is constantly in the kitchen and thus the kids hang around asking for stuff whenever he gets it out and as a consequence they hardly ever eat their meals - despite many "discussions" DH will often give the kids a snack even if he can see I'm right there in the kitchen in the middle of making dinner.:glare:

 

Funnily enough - nobody in my family my mum/siblings/myself -have ever had weight issues - we are all on the thin side. My DH is grossly overweight and so is all his family who are ALWAYS snacking.

 

When DH is at work my kids eat three meals a day with a snack in between (because they are used to it now) but when DH is home - they are ALWAYS eating non-stop. Drives me insane.

Edited February 3, 2011 by sewingmama

[HappyCrazyMama]

We don't snack regularly. We never have a morning snack but occasionally an afternoon one. Our meals are at roughly 8, 12, and 6. I don't allow an afternoon snack any later than 4. :)

[Heather in OK]

I do not tell my kids when they can or can not eat. They are perfectly capable of listening to their bodies to know when they need to eat.

 

I do, however, only allow healthy foods. But then again, I don't keep junk in the house.

[IsabelC]

If you read some of the NoS stuff, a snack is generally taken to be something you nibble on between meals, the idea being that this kind of eating is likely to be junk and/or surplus to requirements. But there's nothing to say that you can't plan more than 3 meals in a day, which is entirely appropriate for the majority of kids. There's a big difference between, say, planning a vegetable platter for the mid afternoon energy slump, and having a cupboard full of artificial food items that get munched on non stop.

[KatieH]

I can't imagine telling my kids they can't eat when they're hungry, honestly. If dinner time is coming close, I encourage them to wait, but if they're very hungry, they can get a piece of fruit, or something like. Children go through growth spurts and periods where they're experiencing increased hunger, and need extra food, and I think they know better than I do if they're hungry. I'd be really pissed if I were hungry and someone told me I wasn't allowed to eat until an appointed time!

 

That said, I don't schedule or offer snacks. I offer breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and between that they eat if they're hungry.

[KatieH]

I do not tell my kids when they can or can not eat. They are perfectly capable of listening to their bodies to know when they need to eat.

 

I do, however, only allow healthy foods. But then again, I don't keep junk in the house.

 

:iagree:

[catz]

We have to snack here or we get cranky. Blood sugar issues run in my family.

 

This is our house too. I consider it more spreading out meals. Most of the time a snack is some kind of fruit and some kind of protein. I try to buy whole grain, healthy, natural options. Organic when I can. We tend to eat very small meals.

[Heidi]

We eat snacks, but only apples, carrots, raisins, bananas, oranges, or celery (or any fruit or vege we happen to have).

[happypamama]

We eat four or five times a day, but we don't really have typical "snack" foods around. The closest we really come most of the time is homemade banana bread or similar. Cookies are a rare treat. But my kids don't really like to go more than about three hours without eating something, and I don't generally either. So we might have a couple of eggs for breakfast, then some banana bread or a smoothie a few hours later, then lunch (which is generally a protein, and some fruit and veggie combination, plus milk), then maybe a piece of fruit or some baby carrots or a glass of milk mid-afternoon, then dinner, and sometimes some milk before bed. Seems to keep everyone's blood sugars more level and everyone happier that way. :)

[LibraryLover]

Oh gosh, no! When things are melting, I know it's because somebody needs to eat. A hard -boiled egg or a tuna sandwich can cure a world of ills here!

Edited February 3, 2011 by LibraryLover

[dirty ethel rackham]

Not giving my children snacks would be like denying them medicine. They eat healthy foods, junk food is rare and they eat a normal amount at dinner. To limit snacks would cause low blood sugar which would interfere with learning. Heck, if I go without snacking, I am peaking and troughing for the next 3 days (which happened today when I shoveled without a high protein snack. - it's going to be a fun ride.)

[LisaKinVA]

I guess we don't technically "snack" -- we have 6 small meals, and occassionally a 7th if people are hungry after swim practice. Our current routine is a bit of a mess, simply because of where we are currently living (we broke ground on our house yesterday...YAY!). When we get there, life should be a lot less complicated... especially when it comes to mealtimes.

 

My children usually get up before I do, and have "first breakfast" (bowl of cereal) around 6am. They are usually hungry again around 7:30... at which time it's protein smoothie time (yogurt, frozen berries, banana, stevia -- or eggs/omlette with side of fresh fruit)

 

By 9:30/10 it's time for a raw veggie snack... probably with some cheese.

 

Lunch is at noon, and it has more protein and a green salad (romaine lettuce, spinach, carrots, red cabbage, and broccoli)

 

2pm is time for a protein/fresh fruit snack (favorite is peanut butter with apple slices).

 

4pm is dinner, with another green salad... because we have to leave for swimming at 5pm.

 

If the kids are hungry when we get home (7:30 or so), it's probably some granola on about a half-cup of yogurt with a bit of fruit, and then time for bed.

 

We don't generally keep snack foods, or cookies around to munch on. Popcorn is my weakness.

 

The limit on fresh fruits is new here, but I noticed that the children were eating way too much fruit (sugar) and not enough vegetables. So, we have started having fresh fruits as part of a planned "mini-meal."

 

We're sort-of combining my husbands "favorite diet" (the 4-hour body), with my "favorite diet" (Belly Fat Cure), and putting an emphasis on raw fruits and veggies, vs. grains.

[Paige]

We don't officially snack and never have. I don't remember having snacks as a kid either. If someone asks for a snack and I have time, then they can have it but I don't usually offer anything or get anything for myself. We are so busy that we don't have time to think of snacking. DH irritates me when he randomly passes out snacks they haven't asked for because I wonder what the point is? I have blood sugar issues myself so I do understand a need to eat regularly but our meals are pretty evenly spaced and if someone wants to eat they can. I think we might have a snack once or twice a week. It will be more often on the weekends and other times when DH is home because he's a snacker and if the kids see food, then they want some.

[Upstatemamma]

We rarely do snacks in our house. Sometimes my kids ask for a piece of fruit but aside from that we don't do snacks. And it bugs me a lot that every mid-morning or mid-afternoon get together seems to include snacks. They are just unnecessary.

[Mommyof4ks]

My kids tend to over eat at meal times if they don't get snacks, and during our 'experiment' of giving up snacks my kids all gained weight that they should not have. That may not be the norm, but that is what happened to us.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Just as adults need different eating patterns depending on their bodies needs, so do children. Some get along fine without snacks, some like my children would (and have had) major bloodsugar crashes in the afternoon if they do not have a snack with protein. And they eat just fine at lunch time and are not overweight.

[Soror]

We have always done snacks and I have let them eat them whenever, I keep only fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, pickles(lactofermented dye free), olives and such for snacks. Well, my problem is that my kids are small, really healthy, but small. I am thinking part of my problem is that they do eat so many snacks and then not so much of meals. Especially my daughter who gravitates towards the fruit and would eat it all day.

 

Now, perhaps it is just our genetics that the kids are small. However, right now I am experimenting. We are still doing snacks but they are at set times and then only for a certain amt of time- no more of this snacking for 2 hrs straight and then not wanting lunch. Besides it makes a hastle for me and food everywhere. I am also cutting down on the fruit- making sure it is just a few servings a days instead of 10!

[Peela]

do you think a body comes to expect snacks, and can be "trained" to rely on them. i am thinking of this mainly for myself, but snacking seems to be the norm. could another eating schedule become the norm?

 

I think that is that square meals and "dont spoil your appetite" were the norm in past generations. Meals were all cooked from scratch and so considerable effort went into them.

Meal time was also more of a communal event, and an important social one.

 

Nowadays food is so freely and widely available, easily prepared or grabbed from a packet or take away, and it has been stripped largely from its social context. That may well have something to do with why people generally overeat.

 

As the No S author says....while frequent snacking has been normalised and we justify it as good for our blood sugar.....what person can actually do it without consuming more calories than they need? If we could divide our meals over the day, fine, but if we are eating more than we need because of all those snacks- which I know I have been guilty of...well, not so fine. I think it IS worth considering that free snacking might contribute to overeating for many people. And once you are used to it, your body is also used to it.

 

As for kids...no, not sure no snacks is so good for them. I don't know for sure. Quite likely we over pamper our kids and they could do perfectly well on it. BUt I think if my kids were young I would just have an official morning and afternoon tea..and so make regular 5 meals. But I am not sure it is necessary. I would not do it to my teenagers, because I have brought them up snacking- but they know what I am doing (no S diet) so can always choose to do it too if they want.

 

It really made sense to me that snacking stops us really seeing how much food we are eating, wheras if we were to put all that food on a plate at 3 mealtimes, it would LOOK like a lot of food, so we wouldn't be fooled.

[EKS]

No snacks here. It is possible to eat enough at meals to be satisfied between meals. And there's nothing wrong with being hungry for a while before a meal either. It just makes the meal, when it comes, more enjoyable.

 

We've never done the snack thing.

[Anita in NC]

I try to limit snacking and they certainly DO NOT get free range.

 

I like to stick to this schedule:

Breakfast

Lunch

Mid-afternoon snack (usually a fruit smoothie)

Dinner

Bed time snack (usually a piece of fruit or a protein shake)

 

If someone is moaning that they are really hungry and they can't wait their choice is an apple, banana, or a cheese stick.

Edited February 3, 2011 by Anita in NC

[lovinmyboys]

My kids are 5, 2, and 1 and we have major meltdowns when they dont have a snack. We have scheduled meals and snacks, and like others have said the snack is a small meal-or part of a meal. We dont just graze all day or eat because we are bored, etc.

 

I think sometimes if you get too hungry you end up overeating at the next meal.

[angela in ohio]

We don't snack. We eat three nice healthy meals a day, and sometimes we have a treat (last night we had croissants and hot cocoa with French vanilla marshmallows after everyone came in from playing in the snow all day, but that was a rare treat.) Little ds has issues with keeping weight on, so he gets a glass of Ovaltine in whole milk morning and night, too.

 

When they were little, they ate more frequently, but they outgrew it as their stomach s got bigger, and they could eat decent-sized meals. Every once in a while, someone will be going through a growth spurt or have played very hard, and they ask for a snack and can have one. I trust them. But other than that, we sit down to meals three times a day, and we don't think about food other than that. I figure it worked for generations before the obesity epidemic.

 

I have noticed in my friends that those with much snacking and open fridges have heavier dc, even if they are eating healthier foods. It's not a scientific study or anything, but it gives me enough pause to balance out the "eat every hour for your blood sugar" crowd.