Choosing children's snacks based on 'seeming healthy' can lead you astray

“I want to choose things that seem as healthy as possible for my child.”

I think many parents feel this way.

Even at the store,

👉“What should I choose for my child's snacks?”

I am asked this very often.
—
What often happens then is,

👉choosing based on what “seems healthy.”

・For children
・Additive-free
・Contains vegetables
・Organic

These things provide a great sense of security.

But to be honest,

👉the more an snack “seems healthy,” the more it can lead you astray.
—
For example,

👉additive-free snacks for children.

They are popular at the store too.

Actually, I see them quite often myself.

But when you look at the ingredients,

👉there are plenty that have a lot of sugar.

Of course,

👉
・Having a lot of sugar is bad.
・It's good because it's additive-free.

I don't mean to say that.
—
However,

👉feeling relieved just because it's “additive-free”

is something I am a little concerned about.
—
What I look for in children's snacks is,

👉not “is it perfectly additive-free?”

What I care about most is,

👉“is the flavor too strong even if they eat it every day?”

Sweetness.

Saltiness.
Stimulation.
Children,

👉get very used to strong flavors.

—
Actually, my child was the same.
Once they eat store-bought snacks continuously,

👉they stop eating the additive-free snacks they used to eat before.

This happens quite normally.

—
That is why I,
👉am just a little careful about “everyday snacks.”

—
For example, what I often use are,
・Additive-free vegetable chips or fish chips

・Popcorn made at home

—
They are nothing special.

Just,

👉I choose things with ingredients that are as simple as possible.

—
When choosing snacks, I also,
👉

am a little conscious of “whether it serves as a supplement to meals.”Not just letting them eat, but,

even a little bit,

・fills their stomach

・has a sense of real ingredients

・provides nutrition
That is the feeling.
—

When I make popcorn in a frying pan,
my child watches curiously.
But they eat it normally.

—
What I think is important here is,

👉not losing the idea that “snacks = fun.”

Therefore,

At nursery school.

At grandparents' house.
At events.
They eat normally when outside.

—
They also eat cake.
They also drink juice.

—
But what is interesting is,
👉if they are used to things with mild flavors on a daily basis,

sometimes they say “I don't want any more” halfway through.
I feel that a child's sense of taste is,

👉

not a “talent,” but heavily influenced by “habituation.”
—
At the store,
I am sometimes asked,
“I want to buy snacks for my grandchild, what is good?”
But honestly,

👉



there are really huge individual differences in small children.

You can't decide just by their age in months.Children who eat.Children who don't eat.

Children who suddenly start disliking things.

How their teeth are growing.
It is really all over the place.
That is precisely why,
👉starting a “search for the perfect snack”

becomes quite painful.

—



It's not that it's safe because it's additive-free,
nor is it dangerous because it's a store-bought product.

—What is needed is,
👉


to slightly adjust the “flavors they encounter every day.”
—
I think that level is what is most sustainable.

—

【Next Preview】

Reading this far,

some of you might have thought,

“Then, what about drinks?”

Actually, I,

👉am a little more careful about children's drinks.

My child usually,

・drinks only water
・and milk.

Moreover,

👉they call water “juice.”

—
Honestly,
I don't know if it's good or bad.

(I am worried that they might have a little trouble when they grow up...)
—
But,
even if I give them juice,
they almost never drink it all.
They always leave some.
—
What I felt at that time was,
👉

“taste is heavily influenced by habituation.”—

Next time,
👉I will write quite realistically about what I am careful about regarding “children's drinks” as a store manager.
—

【Related Articles】

👉“What food should I change first?” The store manager's answer is “snacks”

I wrote about what I think is more important
than “avoiding things perfectly”👇

—
👉The story of when I worked as a manager of an additive-free food store and it was honestly tough (paid content)

Even though it was supposed to be “for health,”
I have seen many people at the store who became miserable.

The harder you try to be additive-free,
the more miserable you become instead.

I have written the reason for that,
quite honestly👇