What Can I Eat For a Healthy Summer Snack?

This post is in honor of my parents, who taught me how to eat right.  Now, you might be a parent, and your children might be depending on you to teach them to eat right (and even if you're not a parent, these skills will still be beneficial for you personally).  Summer is a great season to start eating well because everything wonderful and deliciously healthy is in season.

So what are you going to eat on this fine summer day? Let's look at some of your options.

1) Mixed fruit with fruit dip

This snack is one of my favorites, although I must admit I usually don't add the fruit dip. I've added it here for those of you who don't particularly love fruit plain.  You can cut up various fruits, mix them together, and dip away.  My favorites to mix are strawberries, bananas, cantaloupe, honeydew, raspberries, blueberries, mango, and many more (you can probably tell that fruit is my favorite food group). Pick up some fruit dip from the store or make your own.  You may be able to feed your picky eaters by making a game out of dipping the fruit (be careful though, this could get messy).

2) Celery and Peanut Butter

Peanut Butter is surprisingly delicious as a topping for many fruits and vegetables.  Celery is one of them (apples is another).  Fill the crevice of the celery with a bit of low fat peanut butter, and eat up.  Most kids can't resist a peanut butter filled airplane flying into their mouth.  It's a fun snack to try.

3) Cheese and Crackers

Kids need a lot of calcium for their growing bones, and a little extra milk fat won't hurt them (or you), so cheese is a good choice.  Slice a couple of pieces of low fat cheese and stick 'em on top of some whole-grain Ritz crackers, and you've got a simple but beautiful masterpiece.  If you prefer, you can microwave the cheese-cracker combo for a few seconds and melt the cheese on top.  Both are delicious!

4) Whole Watermelon

My personal FAVORITE!  I love watermelon, and summer is the best time to dig in.  Most kids love watermelon because it is messy (kids love making messes lol) and sweet enough for their taste buds.  The great thing is that they can get both vitamins and the extra water they need in the summer from this delicious treat.  I like to cut a whole cross section and eat the whole thing! When it comes to watermelon, I forget all about moderation lol :)

Kamie's Diet Sin

Most importantly, if you can convince your kids (or yourself) to have fun while eating in the sun, they will learn to love these and other fun  and healthy summer snacks.

-Kamie