Episode 74: Realistic Ways to Reduce Kids’ Junk Snacks

Episode 74: Realistic Ways to Reduce Kids’ Junk Snacks

As a Paediatric Dietician and mum, I know snacks can make or break the day. In this episode, I share three realistic, low-stress strategies to cut back on ultra-processed “sometimes foods” without going cold turkey.

We look at why kids crave salty-sweet, crunchy packets, how “fast sugars” spike and crash energy and mood, and the simple swaps that stabilise blood sugars, support gut health, and keep children satisfied. If you’re juggling school runs, lunchboxes and picky or fussy eaters, this is your quick, easy food roadmap to more nutritious foods—minus the overwhelm.

Links:
https://nourishwithkarina.com/feedingbabies
https://nourishwithkarina.com/membership

Highlights:

Realistic Ways to Cut Back on Junk Snacks for Kids (00:00.116)
When Kids Demand Treats: How to Handle Snack Battles Without Losing Your Sanity (02:23.628)
How Junk Food Hooks Kids: The Science Behind Snack Addiction and Sugar Crashes (04:37.864)
Finding Balance: Why Restricting Junk Completely Doesn’t Work (and What to Do Instead) (07:00.578)
Simple First Step: How One Whole-Food Snack a Day Can Transform Your Child’s Eating Habits (09:18.028)
Smart Swaps: How to Pick Better Packaged Snacks Without Spending Hours in the Supermarket (11:33.88)
Easy Weekend Prep: How One Homemade Snack Can Simplify Your Week and Boost Nutrition (13:55.956)
Quick Win for Busy Parents: How One Homemade Snack a Week Can Make a Big Difference (16:15.86)
Small Steps, Big Wins: Simple Snack Swaps That Transform Your Child’s Nutrition (18:33.388)
Progress, Not Perfection: Simple Steps Toward Healthier, Happier Snack Habits (20:44.652)

Show notes

READ TRANSCRIPT

Show Notes

Five discussion highlights

Whole-food first
Smarter packets
One homemade fix
Dopamine & “fast sugars”
Progress, not perfection

Show notes & resources

Healthy recipes for kids: https://nourishwithkarina.com/healthy-recipes-for-kids
Over 100 Free Kids’ Food Reviews: https://nourishwithkarina.com/food-reviews
Blog on Reducing Kids Junk Food Snacks: https://nourishwithkarina.com/blog/junksnacks
Supermarket Guru Program: https://learn.nourishwithkarina.com/offers/LYqTBCzM
Karina’s Recipe Book: nourishwithkarina.com/recipebook

More about Karina and Nourishing Kids!

Join Karina’s 5 Days to Healthier Kids Challenge https://learn.nourishwithkarina.com/5-days-to-healthier-kids-challenge

📒 Grab Karina’s Time Saving Healthy Supermarket Kids Snacks Guide now for the INTRO offer https://karina-savage.mykajabi.com/offers/GkPU49mj

Karina's popular Nourishing Kids lifts the "food stress" load, giving mums a clear plan to get kids trying new healthy foods and guidance on how to feed their family more easily! Learn more here https://nourishwithkarina.com/nourishingkids

Karina is a regular on Channel 7, Sunrise. Check out her segments here: https://nourishwithkarina.com/press

For online consultations & personalised support. Click here https://nourishwithkarina.com/nutrition-consultation

Karina's popular Kids Food Reviews are here https://nourishwithkarina.com/food-reviews

If you have a Fussy Eater, register for Karina's online training and learn the 3 Essential Steps required to end fussy eating. https://nourishwithkarina.easywebinar.live/endfussyeating

Realistic Ways to Cut Back on Junk Snacks for Kids (00:00.116)
You're listening to the Easy Feed Podcast, episode number 74, realistic ways to reduce kids' junk snacks. Hi there, I'm Karina Savage and with over 20 years experience feeding children, including my own, I've learnt all the secrets that busy mums need to get their children eating better and actually enjoying healthy foods. So a huge welcome to the Easy Feed Podcast.

back. It's great to have you here for another episode of the Easy Feed. I hope you are well. hope if you have school aged children that you survive the school holidays well, that you enjoyed it, that you enjoyed having a break from lunch boxes and the regimented routine of getting them up, getting breakfast, getting out the door in time. You know, it's nice to have a little breather sometimes. So I hope that you enjoyed that break. If you were working through it and you still had to get out the door and get them to daycare then

hats off to you. hope that you're okay and I hope that you are being kind to yourself and finding ways to make life a bit easier for yourself as well. Because you know, some people don't get that break and it's important to acknowledge that school holidays can mean a little breather from all of this, but for working parents, it can be just as stressful because nothing stops for them really. And then they've got kids on school holidays that they have to pay to put into care. So it can be just as stressful for those. So

I hope that if you are working that you have been able to have a little reprieve from lunchboxes at least. And if you have taken some time off, then I hope that you've had a nice little break. Today, I want to talk about some realistic ways to reduce junk in kids' snacks because let's face it, it's a challenge that we all face. You know, some families are super strict with snacks. Some families are super lax with snacks.

And a lot of families are sort of somewhere in the middle. We want them to be healthy, but on the other hand, they love those packets of chips and cookies and anything that's white and crunchy and salty or sweet. So it can be a real challenge. And I wanted to pass on some realistic ways that we can make some simple changes to our day or to how we feed our kids that will help add up over the weeks and the months and the years to improve their nutrition.

When Kids Demand Treats: How to Handle Snack Battles Without Losing Your Sanity (02:23.628)
because some simple swaps can make a big difference. I believe kid snacks can be the most stressful part of feeding kids. Aside from dinner, perhaps for some families, which pain in the absolute butt and stressful and chaotic. Kids snacks can be super stressful because, know, case in point, my son, comes home from school and he's like, I don't want toast and I don't want cereal.

I don't want breakfast after school. I want a treat. I want chocolate ice cream. I want chicken chips. And I'm like, hang on, mate, this is not an everyday snack. You know, we need to be thinking about this as sometimes food, not creating the expectation that this is an everyday food. So it's this constant struggle I find or constant negotiation between what we want our kids to eat and what they want to eat. I...

know that as younger children, toddlers and you know, the five to eight, nine year olds, it was easier. They kind of accepted what we gave them or what I gave them. Whereas as they're getting older into upper primary, they see what their other friends are having. They start to become more confident to try and dictate what they're having and they push back more. And I find it's harder and harder and they know what

is around, like they see the Oreos, they see the chocolate muffins, they see the chocolate ice cream, they see the chips and they want them. And when they're in the house and when they're in my house, which they are, I'm not going to name who buys them. But anyway, I think it's important that we limit the purchasing of them because the more that they're in the house, the harder it is for us as parents. So what I'm going to say is that

buy the treats sometimes, but try and leave them in the supermarket as much as possible because it's harder for you. So I know I'm preaching to the converted here because you're listening to my podcast because you care about your child's health, but I just wanted to recap why you should have the confidence to say no and why we should be concerned about our kids having these junk foods all of the time. And I do talk about this sometimes on my channel seven segments when we talk about junk food addiction.

How Junk Food Hooks Kids: The Science Behind Snack Addiction and Sugar Crashes (04:37.864)
and one segment I did actually, likened junk food addiction to drug addiction because really it's the same chemical pathway in the brain. Cause when we eat junk food, gives us dopamine hits and activates the brain's reward center, the neural pathways in a very similar way that drug addiction does. So junk food addiction makes us want more and it's this vicious cycle. And what it actually also does is it makes healthy food.

taste a lot more bland and we don't get the dopamine hits with the healthy food anymore. And so it really drives this push towards this dependence and this addiction and this want this constant desire for sweet, salty, crunchy, fatty foods that food manufacturers have done a brilliant job of creating so that it hits all of the senses in our brain so that it makes us feel good. gives us this dopamine hit and we want more.

And this is what's happening to our children. And this is what we're up against as parents. So it's no wonder that it's really hard to try and stop our children from wanting these foods because we're up against companies that are pouring billions into creating this desirable addictive type food. And most of them deliver what I call fast sugars. So they are sugar hits for our children, which creates this sugar level swing. It sends the sugar levels right up high.

And then after 20 minutes, the sugar levels gone in their blood and the sugar levels come crashing down again. And then they're moody, they have tantrums, they're lower in energy. They can't concentrate. can't focus. This is terrible for school. And then what happens is they want another hit. So then they have another hit of something and then it goes shooting up again. And then when that sugar wears off, then the blood sugar levels come crashing down again. And then they want another hit. And so it's these shark tooth like blood sugar levels.

Then these dopamine hits that keep kids coming back for more and they keep kids wanting these foods. And it's this vicious cycle. The more they have it, the more they want it. And it goes on and on from there. So these blood sugar level swings are not good for them, nor are the foods. These foods are high in salt, they're high in saturated fats, processed hydrogenated oils and often very low in fiber. And you've heard, I'm sure lately all of the information around.

Finding Balance: Why Restricting Junk Completely Doesn’t Work (and What to Do Instead) (07:00.578)
fibre and the importance of fibre for gut health. And so not only are we creating, you know, these dopamine addicted kids and not to mention screens and everything else where they're getting dopamine hits, we're also reducing their fibre intake and their intake of other valuable nutrients. Because whenever they're putting in a white processed crunchy snack, they're not having a healthy wholesome food, which is going to offer them protein or fibre or healthy fats or other vitamins and minerals. so

It's a lose-lose, but we need to manage it whereby they are still allowed to have some of these snacks because going cold turkey, I don't think is the answer. It's not the answer that they want. And it's not going to be, I think the answer for us, because otherwise you're going to have a child that does start to sneak food. And when you're too strict, they will sneak food without you seeing it. And you know, I've experienced this with one of my children. My children have both been raised the same way.

And they're both very different in terms of their approach with food. I must say though, that they are becoming more similar the older they get, but my son certainly went through a stage where he would sneak lollies and chocolate and I would just find all these wrappers behind his drawers. And I'm like, buddy, you can have these foods. You don't have to sneak them. And I don't know if he just thought I was.

going to get mad at him. but I guess that's just his personality a little more than my daughter's anyway. My daughter, you know, could trust her 100 % with anything. It's just the personality of the child. And if you've got a child who's a bit more sneaky, it's probably nothing that you've done wrong. It's possibly their personality. However, if you are too restrictive, then it's going to encourage them.

to sneak food and that's where we don't want to encourage that behavior. I mean, if they're sneaking it anyway, it's not saying that you are too restrictive, but if you are, then it can encourage that sneaky behavior, if that makes sense. So it's just about trying to teach them how these treat foods fit into a healthy balanced lifestyle. And I go into all of that inside my membership. But what I wanted to do today is just to give you three take home tips on how to reduce the junk food snacks, because

Simple First Step: How One Whole-Food Snack a Day Can Transform Your Child’s Eating Habits (09:18.028)
That's really going to help in the long run. And remember how they're eating now as children really develops their taste preferences and their taste buds for life. They carry these tastes preferences with them into adulthood. And so we want to make sure that we are setting them up for healthier futures. Okay. So number one, and these are all very realistic, very doable. For some of you, might sound too simple, but at the end of the day, I want this to be super practical for

any busy parent and sometimes advice is too overwhelming and sometimes we don't know where to start. And so I'm here to really break it down into the granular three steps today. And even if you did one of them, then it would be a win and an improvement for your child. number one is serve one whole food snack per day. Start with one. Okay. And if you do more than one amazing, but

Whole food snacks are snacks that come straight out of the ground, straight off the tree. They're basically not processed at all or very minimally processed. They might've been washed or picked or cut, but they will provide whole food ingredients, fiber, nutrients. mean, typically they're going to be fruit, fresh fruit or vegetables. It could be dried fruit. It could be nuts. It could be seeds. It could be oats. And I'm talking about us as a snack. And look, if your child likes a bowl of raw oats as a snack,

Amazing. Go for it. Whatever floats your boat. But try to offer, I mean, it might be frozen peas, for example, it might be carrot, cucumber sticks. could be plain popcorn. It could be a little mini tin of baked beans. It could be some roasted chickpeas or it could be some hummus. And I would still classify hummus in that category. mean, if you make it yourself, then it's going to be even more whole food. But hummus, you could potentially put into the whole food category because it's pretty much just ground up chickpeas and some tahini.

So with maybe a bit of lemon juice and garlic and whatnot along the way, but whole foods as a snack are always going to trump anything in a package and you're always going to get more fiber, antioxidants and nutrition, probably healthy fats could be an olive. The list goes on and on. Actually, I've got a really great.

Smart Swaps: How to Pick Better Packaged Snacks Without Spending Hours in the Supermarket (11:33.88)
healthy snacks list for you. It's a free healthy snacks list. And I'll include the link to download that healthy snacks list in the show notes. But the thing is once you give them one whole food snack and you get into the habit of doing that, can have a ripple effect. And then the next day or the next week or the next month, then you start giving them two whole foods snacks a day, or you might start giving them platters with multiple whole foods snacks. And then you'll slowly bit by bit moving them over to a more whole food.

diet rather than these packaged snacks all the time, which they seem to, you know, gravitate to, or certainly my son does at the moment. And remember you're benefiting their gut health big time. Okay. Number two is to choose smarter packaged snacks. And look, let's face it, life is really busy and who's got time to spend half an hour in the supermarket aisle looking at music bars and crackers and whatnot.

So I try and be as helpful as possible with my Friday food reviews and giving you a weekly tip on whether this kid's food is a good food or a food to leave on the supermarket shelf or a food to have as only a treat. And I've certainly got over a hundred kids food reviews. They're all free on my website. And you can head to nourishedwithkarina.com, head to the free information section, and then you can click on my food reviews. Otherwise you just go to nourishedwithkarina.com forward slash food dash reviews.

And you'll find the food reviews there. But with label reading, if you are spending the time looking at the labels, whether it's an online shop or whether it's in the supermarket, then flip the packet round and look at a few things. First of all, look at the ingredients list. Is it a short list? Does it contain real food ingredients? Then look at the nutrition panel. Look per hundred grams, compare everything per hundred grams. And that's the way you're going to be able to compare the products easily because often the serve size will

differ, but if you're comparing per 100 grams and you can compare like apples with apples, for example. So I'm not saying you're comparing apples. This is just a vigor of speech, but say two Musi bars, for example, compare the sugar, compare the salt, compare the fiber. And look, I've also got a blog all about this as well. So if you had to nourish with Karina.com forward slash blog, and you can find my blog about this, where I go into the details about the label reading as well. And that's just the basic info. I give a whole lot more information.

Easy Weekend Prep: How One Homemade Snack Can Simplify Your Week and Boost Nutrition (13:55.956)
inside my supermarket guru program where you become a supermarket guru in label reading and in knowing exactly what to buy for your child. So that's a brilliant comprehensive program. It's easy to follow it step by step guides, plenty of guides and tips there. And I'll include the link to that in the show notes as well. Just to give you a few simple tips though, in the packaged food aisle, instead of potato chips, I would go for a plain air popped popcorn instead of a

super sweet yoga, I would go for like a Greek yoga and some berries. If you're looking at muesli bars, try and flip the label around and look at the sugar per hundred grams and aim for less than 15 grams of sugar per hundred grams. So there's some tips for you just to get you started. But as I said, in my supermarket guru program, I've got all of the information there about it. And I've also got my supermarket guide for kids snacks. I've got over 85 other kids snacks in there as well. And all of these are

free from nasty food additives and preservatives. They are low in sugar, they are low in salt and include things like music bars, crackers, ice creams, breakfast cereals, all the typical foods that kids eat that you're confused about buying and you want to know which one is the best one for them. So that is available, as I said, in my Supermarket Guru program. Okay, tip number three, and this is not to increase the stress level of your week.

It really can be done on the weekend. will literally take 15 to 20 minutes maximum out of your week. Don't ask me how many minutes we have in a week, but it will take 15 to 20 minutes maximum. The tip number three is to add one homemade snack each week. Okay. It might not even take that long. I'm expecting the 15 to 20 minutes to be perhaps making some cookies up with oats or something like that. Really it could be.

getting some celery and putting some peanut butter and sprinkling a couple of chocolate buds in to make it a fun homemade snack. But ideally making a baked good, such as homemade muffins or my black bean brownie, which has always been a big hit, or my muffins or really any baked good, a big banana bread. just helps set you up for the week. It just gives you an extra nutritious snack to put in their lunchbox, to put on an afternoon tea platter.

Quick Win for Busy Parents: How One Homemade Snack a Week Can Make a Big Difference (16:15.86)
It makes it so much easier when you've just got a few extra things up your sleeve to give them, because they're snackaholics. They always want food. And if you've got an extra healthy snack that you've made, that you know what's in there, it just adds to their nutrition. So when you're making it, would generally, if you're following any of my recipes out of my recipe book, you will be using oats, wholemeal flour, probably eggs. You'll probably be adding ground flaxseed. You might be adding chia.

fruit, you know, it's nutritious ingredients. So whenever you're making something from scratch, A, you know what's in it. B, there's no emulsifiers, preservatives or flavors or additives. And C, it's going to be so much better for their gut health. So that's tip number three, wherever possible once a week. And look, if you can do more amazing, but I'm only saying once a week because I think that's realistic. And look, to be honest with you, full transparency, I don't even do that once a week at the moment.

I have to say my daughter, her, has stepped up. She's become quite the baker. Having said that, her recipes are a little more sugar loaded than I would like, but actually on the flip side, she has started making some really good recipes. In fact, one of my recipes in my member recipe portal and also in my recipe book is her chick nut recipe where it's made with chickpeas, mashed bananas.

She puts in a bit of honey, peanut butter. So it's a fantastic vegetarian protein source and she loves it. It's a great snack as well. So that's a really good recipe. So I have to give her credit with some of those recipes and you know, she's the reason why perhaps, no, she's not the reason I'm just being lazy or running out of time, but.

Ideally, my goal would be to make something once a week as well, just to add that extra bit of nutrition to their week and, substitute out one of the muesli bars that might be a bit more processed or higher in sugar for something that you've made at home. My favourite tweaks when I am cooking at home is to always swap white flour for wholemeal flour, or you could even swap it for oat flour to add nutrient boosters such as chia or flaxseed or hemp seed for extra fibre and amigas.

Small Steps, Big Wins: Simple Snack Swaps That Transform Your Child’s Nutrition a(18:33.388)
Reducing the sugars are always good and adding natural fruit to sweeten such as mashed bananas or even dates. Where possible adding grated veggies or pureeing up some veggies, whether it's carrots or zucchinis or even beetroot. One of the members in my membership shared a beetroot muffin recipe that was delicious and made by many and loved, like it was a good one.

And olive oil is another good sub out. mean, it really depends on what the recipe is. Like if it's carrot, walnut muffins, then that lends itself beautifully to using olive oil. You just have to be careful not to use a very bold, robust olive oil because sometimes that's got quite a strong flavor. But if using a more mild olive oil, then that could be a great swap as well instead of butter, because then you're reducing the saturated fat. And if you are wanting my recipe book, just head to my website, nourishedwithkarina.com.

forward slash recipe book and you can find that there to purchase. It's got over a hundred of my recipes that I've created for my own family. And now my daughter's got a few in there as well. And they're just really nutrient rich loaded with nutrients that kids often lack. things like iron and fiber. So if you could just pick one of those steps, I'm not saying you have to do all three, even just starting with one is going to make a big difference to your child's day, week, month.

When done consistently, it's not about trying to overwhelm yourself with doing all of these things or reading all these labels or buying all these things. It's just making one simple change. Do it consistently, get some momentum, feel the win, feel like a good parent, feel like you're succeeding because sometimes it feels like we're not. So get that success and then keep going and build on it and build momentum because that's the way that you're going to get somewhere and start to change the way your child eats.

with respect to their snacks. And I'm not talking about their dinner, but that's a whole nother podcast episode. And you could probably look back and find some of my other podcast episodes on dinners and on veggies and on Fussy Eaters. But today's was all about snacks and having some simple, realistic strategies to improve their snacks. And one simple snack swap for the better each day.

Progress, Not Perfection: Simple Steps Toward Healthier, Happier Snack Habits (20:44.652)
will absolutely add up and improve their nutrient intake and improve their gut health. What it's also going to do is stabilize their blood sugar levels, which is so important for energy, concentration and mood, reducing tantrums, better for the whole family. So if you can stabilize blood sugar levels with healthier snacks, it's going to be better for your child and it's going to be better for you and the whole family. And at the end of the day, we're setting up our children to be healthier.

teenagers and adults and we're setting up their taste buds and their taste preferences to like good, healthy food. We want to teach our children to have a really great relationship with food and love food and understand how these, you know, more junky snacks fit into a healthy balanced lifestyle. They're not forbidden, but we need to teach them how they fit as sometimes foods, not everyday foods. So you don't have to do everything. You just have to do something to start small.

Think about one thing that you can change from listening to this podcast episode today. Send me a message. If you've got any questions or you'd love to share with me what you've changed that has helped, please reach out to me on Instagram. I'd love to hear from you. My tag is nourish with Karina because the goal is always progress, not perfection. I'm always about keeping it real and remembering that we are busy. We are overwhelmed. have so much information thrown at us every minute in our lives these days.

So just focusing on one simple achievable task is what we should be doing and see how you go. I'll pop all the links to everything in the show notes. If you are wanting more help or guides or information. as I said, reach out to me, if you've got any questions, I wish you a beautiful week and I look forward to chatting with you next time. Bye for now.