There is room for nearly every type of food in your diet as long as high-fat foods do not become the staple foods that are eaten daily. Too often children obtain far too many empty calories every single day from non-nutritious but high-fat sources such as fried snacks and sugar-filled drinks.

When educating parents, I’ve borrowed a slogan from one of my colleagues: limit the “-os” in your kids’ diets. This means cut back on purchasing and feeding your kids foods and snacks that end in “-os”: Fritos, Doritos, Tostitos, burritos, Spaghettios, Oreos, and Cheetos! It’s simplistic, but parents usually get the point. The “-os” rule isn’t meant to single out the products that end in “-os” but to remind parents to limit all fried chips, baked crackers, cookies, snack cakes, juices, and nondiet sodas in their children’s diets. Most parents wouldn’t serve a dinner of Pringles, and yet most of their kids’ calories may be coming from non-nutritive chips, crackers, cakes, and soda.

Unhealthy snacking will, at the extreme, lead to obesity. Fast food, unhealthy snacks, and sodas are the unholy trinity of childhood obesity and the arsenal of what one of my mentors calls “carbo-lipo-terrorism.” Childhood obesity, which can lead to heart disease, diabetes, strokes, and other problems for your kids later in life, has reached epidemic proportions. In the meantime, unhealthy snacking causes children to have poor appetites at meals. When kids fill up on snacks in between meals, they are less likely to try new, healthy foods at mealtime and more likely to become picky eaters.

Stock healthy snacks in the pantry and encourage your children to drink water. If you find it difficult to stop purchasing soda, switch to diet. Save chips, cookies, and cakes for weekends or special occasions. These few simple changes will go a long way to ensuring your children’s future eating health.

Related posts:

1. The basics of healthy children: limit eating to the table and high chair

2. The Basics of Children Obesity – Snacks

3. The basics of healthy children: some children prefer softened vegetables

4. The Basics of Unhealthy School Lunches and Snacking

5. The basics of healthy children: don’t leave your healthy eating rules at home when you go on vacation

6. The Basics of Regular Meals for Obese Children

7. The basics of healthy children: don’t put your child on a diet unless directed to do so by your physician

8. The basics of healthy children: children need vitamins and minerals every day, but not necessarily a daily multi-vitamin

9. The basics of healthy children: foster a healthy self-image in your children

10. The basics of healthy children: acknowledge that your children have their own tastes