With the kids back at school now, here’s a simple snack that you can give them when they get home. Like most snacks that kids reach for, it’s quick and tasty. The difference, this one’s healthy!

It involves deli meat, some greens, a few olives or nuts on the side, and a fruit if necessary. You can call it a snack, but really it’s just a small, well-balanced meal that should hold your kids over until dinner.

It’s Time To Go Against The Grain!

Deli meat rolled in greens (such as kale, spinach, cabbage, romaine lettuce, or iceberg lettuce) is a healthy alternative to the typical sandwiches that kids eat.

Many parents report an instant improvement in the body composition and behaviour of their children when grains are removed from the diet (and that includes grain-fed meat and dairy). Lettuce is a great substitute for grain-based pitas, wraps, or breads.

Kids love deli meat, but it’s important that you get the right type. Most of the ones that you find at the grocery store are loaded with binders, fillers, sugars, and preservatives. Stay away from those. Instead, look for choices like uncured pastured prosciutto that has pork, salt, pepper, and nothing else.

When it comes to fat, natural fats like those found in olives and raw nuts would make better snacks than hydrogenated, partially hydrogenated, or trans fats found in many processed and packaged foods and spreads.

Fruit is typically a good snack for kids, but too much fruit is not ideal. Instead, try coconut chunks, which are loaded with healthy fat, minerals, and fiber, or go with vegetable alternatives like carrots, celery, cucumbers, or red pepper slices dipped in hummus, nut butter, or goat cheese.

Paleo-Friendly Snacks And Desserts For Kids

Here are some more healthy alternatives to consider for your kids:

• Instead of a can of beans, Beefaroni, or Spam, give them canned salmon, tuna, sardines, or anchovies in olive oil.
• Instead of a bowl of cereal, instant oatmeal, macaroni and cheese, or canned soup, give them a bowl of homemade soup that has been cooking in a slow cooker (Crock-Pot) all day long or left over from the night before and quickly heated on the stove. Give them an incentive: for every spoonful they eat, they get to watch 5 minutes of television.
• Instead of bread sticks, cheese sticks, or licorice, try beef, buffalo, turkey, or ostrich jerky (a great choice is Bokkie’s Biltong).
• Instead of milk chocolate eggs, try hard-boiled eggs but make it fun by carving a character. If they guess who it is, they get 10 minutes of computer time. If they eat it, they get 20 minutes!
• Instead of fruit juice or milk, make a smoothie with berries, coconut milk, and a rice-based protein like our Macronutrient Formula.
• Instead of apple sauce or apple pie, try baked apple slices with some cinnamon sprinkled on them.
• Instead of cookies, animal crackers, or Rice Krispies squares, sauté nuts like almonds, walnuts, cashews, or pecans in butter or coconut oil.
• Instead of potato chips or popcorn, go with kale chips, shelled nuts, coconut flakes, or roasted pumpkin seeds.
• Instead of ice cream or pudding, try heavy whipping cream with cacao powder.
• Instead of yogurt, go with a combination of coconut cream, berries, and gelatin (Vital Proteins is one of the best products on the market).
• Instead of Jell-O, just go with with gelatin, a few drops of stevia, and some hot water.
• Instead of peanut butter, go with a nut butter (peanuts are not nuts) or try coconut butter (RealRawFood.com makes the best one on the planet).

Take-Home Message: Snacks can be healthy. There are many ways to come up with natural choices that are quick, convenient, tasty, and will provide your children with all the nutrients they need. Do not settle for cheap, processed, packaged, and refined foods that typically lack essential nutrients and are high in carbohydrates.