Do you keep processed snack foods in the house?

[Anonymous]

My teens are athletic and trying to build muscle so they tend to go for snacks like hard boiled eggs, jerky, cheese sticks, meat rolled up around cheese sticks, etc. We tend to have more protein based snacks, their friends seem happy with them too.

When younger one had several food allergies, now outgrown, so that limited us to a handful of things like pretzels for processed snacks.

[Anonymous]

Yes, we have a stocked pantry. I have two teenagers who are always hungry. They play multiple sports, eat 2 dinners and constantly eating. They are both stick skinny. I always admire their six packs. I wish I had them!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have never meant anyone that has zero processed snacks in the house. I just don’t think that is realistic with busy kids in after school activities and such.

I buy pretzels, granola bars (we make our own too sometimes), triscuits, seaweed packs most regularly. Plus some chocolate almonds and sweet things on hand.

Of my social group, this is by far, the healthiest processed snack options at home. Most go to Costco and buy a ton of crap in bulk.

lol. I look forward to when your teenage athletes are burning 3000-4000 calories per day and you're tossing them some seaweed and chocolate almonds

you'll be pulling up to Costco like the rest of us

+1 We recently got a lecture from our pediatrician about how our teenage swimmer didn’t have enough body fat and needed to add more calories, she wrote a prescription for a bowl of ice cream every night and also encouraged all manner of snacks I don’t usually purchase. Low calorie healthy snacks are not always the way to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I try to take an “everything in moderation” approach, but my teens will almost always opt for Goldfish and other processed food if we have it. I’ve thought of not buying it, but I hate sending the message that anything is “bad.”

Omg

[Anonymous]

OP here- my kids are athletes too so it’s not weight I’m worried about, nor is it the amount they eat. I simply think that real food snacks like some of the ones mentioned here provide sustained fuel better than Goldfish. I just wish they would eat more of it. One of my kids seems to have struck a decent balance while the other one (fruit hater) has not. That coupled with the fact they eat fast food a couple times a week when out with friends…. I’m not saying I want to be an “almond mom” or “ingredients house,” just want to hear what other folks do. In addition to what I consider the not-so-bad processed snacks that we keep in the pantry, I also keep single serving bags of Takis, potato chips, buttered microwave popcorn in our gameroom for when friends come over. My kids are good about reserving that for only those occasions. I’m probably overly concerned right now, so it’s nice to get a variety of responses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I try to take an “everything in moderation” approach, but my teens will almost always opt for Goldfish and other processed food if we have it. I’ve thought of not buying it, but I hate sending the message that anything is “bad.”

Omg

OMG, what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I try to take an “everything in moderation” approach, but my teens will almost always opt for Goldfish and other processed food if we have it. I’ve thought of not buying it, but I hate sending the message that anything is “bad.”

Omg

+1 Goldfish are practically health food in my house. (As opposed to, say, Doritos in Pringles, which I rarely buy, but wouldn’t judge anyone who does.)

[Anonymous]

My kids are not athletes whatsoever and I still keep Goldfish, Ritz crackers, tortilla chips, etc. around at all times. Grew up with a severe eating disorder as a teen. Just let them some junk. It’s fine, really.

[Anonymous]

My husband keeps buying the worse stuff. He has high blood pressure and hasn't had a blood draw to check his cholesterol/triglycerides in years. He buys tons of processed snacks and ready-made food for our teens and himself.

It's so, so, annoying that he refuses to take care of himself, and shows a very poor example to his kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here- my kids are athletes too so it’s not weight I’m worried about, nor is it the amount they eat. I simply think that real food snacks like some of the ones mentioned here provide sustained fuel better than Goldfish. I just wish they would eat more of it. One of my kids seems to have struck a decent balance while the other one (fruit hater) has not. That coupled with the fact they eat fast food a couple times a week when out with friends…. I’m not saying I want to be an “almond mom” or “ingredients house,” just want to hear what other folks do. In addition to what I consider the not-so-bad processed snacks that we keep in the pantry, I also keep single serving bags of Takis, potato chips, buttered microwave popcorn in our gameroom for when friends come over. My kids are good about reserving that for only those occasions. I’m probably overly concerned right now, so it’s nice to get a variety of responses.

I have 2 skinny teen boys - athletes going through growth spurts. We have plenty of processed snacks around, but I’ve found they will often make real food for snacks if I keep ingredients around for things they like . Stuff for quesadillas, naan bread pizzas (they just assemble and throw them in our toaster oven), leftovers they like (pasta or stuff for tacos/burritos they can just heat up ). I’d rather see them eat that than the packaged stuff, and they often do. We also always have ice cream etc which is better for a growing teen than munching goldfish IMO. Kind of a compromise but works well around here.

[Anonymous]

I did when I started having major health issues that made packing healthy lunches impossible. At first my kids ate a lot of vanilla wafers, granola bars, Doritos, etc, but now they only eat them at school and at home they choose apples and other healthier snacks over the packaged crap.

[Anonymous]

I used to limit it but now my youngest is in HS and an athlete who is always starving. I just can’t keep up and if I don’t buy it, he brings it home. We have healthy snacks like fruit, veggies, string cheese, and unsweetened apple sauce. We also have yogurt. But I now keep a basket stocked with junky snacks too because the kid is always hungry. Granola bars, Belvita (which is basically a cookie), chips, etc. I’d say what he snacks on is a 50/50 mix of healthy and junky. That’s good enough for me.

[Anonymous]

Unless your child has issues under the care of a physician, moderation is the way to go. We prep healthy meals at home and have a mix of snack foods. My kids, now teens, are fantastic eaters, open-minded whatever the cuisine, non-judgmental, enthusiastic, and adventurous. They are at a healthy weight (slightly on the thin side, both athletes). I am totally convinced it's because we raised them to never, ever "yuck" someone's "yum," we cook a lot at home, and never talked about dieting. We have a lot of fruit as snacks, but also have chips, goldfish, and chocolate. We bake cookies often. We also buy Pringles for roadtrips. I'm confident that they understand and put into practice the difference between staple foods and occasional foods. This is really important, in my mind, as they will be heading off to college soon.

[Anonymous]

We keep an ample supply of snacks (granola bars, pita chips, popcorn). My teens eat a lot of snacks and I try to encourage them to alternate between pantry and fridge snacks.

We had a neighbor who was super strict - organic fruits/veggie only and it was really weird. Their DD wasn’t allowed to eat at our house. She never had French fries before - I felt bad for her and she was super stick thin skinny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I try to take an “everything in moderation” approach, but my teens will almost always opt for Goldfish and other processed food if we have it. I’ve thought of not buying it, but I hate sending the message that anything is “bad.”

Why wouldn’t you want to send the message that a bad thing is bad?

Not OP, but perhaps because it is widely regarded as harmful by experts in pediatric nutrition. A quick Google search about labeling food as “good” or “bad” to children will bring up pages of research. It is associated with shame, bingeing, and disordered eating.