Be Aware of Snack Traps!

Several food companies advertise processed snacks as great healthy choices for kids. We've all seen kids cereal loaded with sugar and artificial colors! Excessive amounts of sugar, fat and sodium not only cause healthy problems, but also damage kids' ability to develop good taste buds!

We compiled a list of common snack traps for kids available at grocery stores. Some companies make healthy versions of the list below. So read the labels to distinguish them!

- Sugary cereal.
- Frozen pre-packaged pizza, cheese balls, fried sticks in general.
- Sugary yogurt with artificial colors.
- Cereal bars loaded with sugar (they should be labeled as candy!).
- Chips, including the veggie versions.
- Juices and smoothies loaded with sugar and artificial colors.
- Artificial cheeses
- Caloric cookies as a result of high fat and sugar, and poor in fibers.
- Fried doughnut and pastries.
- Crackers and cream cheeses high in sodium.
- Hot dogs, and high fat meats such as pepperoni

The list can be very long, and impossible to memorize! Improve the quality of kids' snacks by reading labels, and limiting fat, sugar and sodium intake. Stick with natural versions whenever possible.
Note that  many ingredients are variations of sugar such as corn syrup and high frutose, which can be misleading.