Do you consider......

[DaisyD]

I wouldn't give my kid artificial sweetener. I still think they have no idea on the long term effects of many of them. I'm not letting my child be a guinea pig. I don't think sugar is harmful in moderate servings. A pudding once a day is fine. Now if the kid is eating a lot of sugary junk food a day then I would say no pudding.

 

[mickeyboat]

I am not going to get into the artificial sweetener debate ...

But I would not consider pudding a heallthy snack, but I would consider air-popped pop corn. My kids do get pudding as dessert on occasion. Today my kids took grapes for their snack.

Denae

 

[Miss Jasmine]

I never considered pudding to be a snack. I consider it to be a dessert. I would say jello is though.

Truthfully I don't consider the sugar free healthy either. I believe the fake sugars we have are far more unhealthy for a body (just look at those with digestive issues and headaches for example) than normal sugars. I am one who *GAINED WEIGHT* by eating Nutrasweet. I get massive headaches with Splenda. Highly processed foods are far more dangerous to a body than the ones that are less processed.

Sugar is bad in high quanities. Not in moderation. You can say all you want, but I won't agree with anything other than that. And adding in someone who is diabetic means that they either have a disease or were NOT moderating sugar in the first place. Same goes for fat or anything else... moderation is key, not adding in fake and highly processed foods that our bodies were never meant to process & digest.

I'd send jello in, but not pudding.

I'd also talk to that teacher about popcorn and even microwave popcorn has far fewer calories than many things otu there!

I totally agree with this post (except about eating Jell-O, I stay away from gelatin as hooves are not appealing to me as food).

 

[puffkin]

I fall in the lines of pudding being neither healthy or unhealthy, but somewhere in the middle. I don't think it is bad to have once in awhile, but wouldn't send it in everyday.

As for the artificial sweetners, thank god for them, as my DH is a Type 1 diabetic (had since 6) and my brother is a Type 1 diabetic (had since 5) so I grew up on the stuff since we didn't have a lot of sugar in our household. I think sugar is much more dangerous than artificial sweetners, but I might feel differently if they weren't a necessary part of our everyday lives.

Oh, and I agree about the yogurt. There is so much sugar in that stuff.....I probably won't be giving it to my son. I like what my sitter does. She buys plain yogurt and then sprinkles some jimmies on the top. It is fun for the kids and adds some color and taste, but isn't as much sugar as the flavored yogurts.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

I also wanted to add that I do not consider High Fructose Corn Syrup an acceptable sweetner. It reacts differently than sugar causing insulin levels to spike even more. I belive HFCS is a big reason behind the obesity problem in this country.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

If it was pudding vs. anything else my DD would want for snack, the pudding would win out as the 'healthy' snack.

The school sent home a Snack Guide Pyamid and invited us to post it on our refridgerator. The school is really promoting healthy snacks this year.

BEST:
water
applesauce
carrot and celery sticks
vanilla wafers
low fat popcorn
100% fruit juice
animal crackers
non fat milk(flavored or unflavored)
fresh fruit
pretzels
vegetable juices

GOOD:
sports drink
chex mixes
breakfast fruit bar
popcorn
low fat cookies
raisins
baked chips
granola bar

MODERATE:
cheese
puddings
peanuts
snack cakes
milk
trail mix with candy

LIMITED:
carbonated beverages
candy
chips
pastries
chewy candy

 

[kpk89]

And again, my point is that it is not "equally" dangerous. Sugar is a lot more dangerous.

For some.

Sugar is "dangerous" in huge quantities, without the balance of healthy stuff too. And without regular exercise. At least it's a known entity.

Artificial sweeteners, for many, are actually debilitating. I would prefer to limit intake of "sweets" altogether than ingest something that causes me headaches and fatigue. I used to think I was just weird, but there are tons of cases of this, and I'm not feeding that junk to my kids.

Back to the OP's question -- to me, it's all relative and in balance. I'd rather give my kids the pudding than a candy bar. At least there's calcium. And I'd just not give them the pudding every day -- rotate other stuff into the snack lineup. Popcorn (since WHEN is popcorn not healthy??), raw veggies, crackers and cheese, fresh fruit. It's the pattern of healthy eating that's important, not one snack on one day.


Wanted to add -- it has occurred to me that different people have differing ideas about what "healthy" means. For some, low fat. (so fat-free cookies, cakes, pudding, jello, etc would be healthy) Others, low or no sugar. (Cheese, sugar free yogurt, etc.) Still others believe healthy means no artificial ingredients, or all the way to totally organic for everything.

 

[grlpwrd]

Truthfully I don't consider the sugar free healthy either. I believe the fake sugars we have are far more unhealthy for a body (just look at those with digestive issues and headaches for example) than normal sugars. I am one who *GAINED WEIGHT* by eating Nutrasweet. I get massive headaches with Splenda. Highly processed foods are far more dangerous to a body than the ones that are less processed.

Sugar is bad in high quanities. Not in moderation. You can say all you want, but I won't agree with anything other than that. And adding in someone who is diabetic means that they either have a disease or were NOT moderating sugar in the first place. Same goes for fat or anything else... moderation is key, not adding in fake and highly processed foods that our bodies were never meant to process & digest...

Ditto. My nutritionist says the same thing. Plus, I do not have much credence on the FDA because only recently did they agree that teflon is more dangerous than once thought. Actually, they upgraded their findings of teflon non-stick coating as "suggestive carcinogen" to a "likely carcinogen" even if there is strong evidence against using it.

I am a health freak and I don't think jello and pudding are healthy at all. I think popcorn is unhealthy when it comes in a microwaveable bag. Vanilla wafers and animals crackers? If it is made with partially hydrogenated oils then I consider it unhealthy.

To me "unhealthy" is more than just about sugar. I am also considering additives, ingredients (like PHO), overall health consequences, etc.

 

[Makdyn]

dd 6 needs to bring in a heathly snack for her class also. the past few days she brought in cheese balls in these new convient package and today she brought fishes in a baggy. not all that healthy but it is better than the brownie she wanted to bring.

 

[Bob Slydell]

If it was pudding vs. anything else my DD would want for snack, the pudding would win out as the 'healthy' snack.

The school sent home a Snack Guide Pyamid and invited us to post it on our refridgerator. The school is really promoting healthy snacks this year.

BEST:
water
applesauce
carrot and celery sticks
vanilla wafers
low fat popcorn
100% fruit juice
animal crackers
non fat milk(flavored or unflavored)
fresh fruit
pretzels
vegetable juices

GOOD:
sports drink
chex mixes
breakfast fruit bar
popcorn
low fat cookies
raisins
baked chips
granola bar

MODERATE:
cheese
puddings
peanuts
snack cakes
milk
trail mix with candy

LIMITED:
carbonated beverages
candy
chips
pastries
chewy candy

Thanks for that list We've been trying to come up with different snacks each day and that helps.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

Vanilla wafers and animals crackers? If it is made with partially hydrogenated oils then I consider it unhealthy.

Good point aobut the partially hydrogenated oils. Microwave popcorn has them as well, unless you buy Smart Balance.

 

[summerrluvv]

I never give DS artificial sweetners either. Our school says healthy snack and sometimes I pack an apple, he hates veggies, and most of the time it's cheerios or other cracker type foods.

 

[offwegotoneverland]

Ds sometimes gets the calcium rich puddings as his not so great snack in his lunch.

He doesn't get a school lunch so gets a sandwhich (or salad with cheese etc), fruit or veggie, drink and one other snack (puddings, nut free granola bar things, fruit chews, nut free cookies etc).

The other snack is not to be eaten if he doesn't eat his fruit and often ends up coming home.

the no nut rule (all grades all the time) means that we often bake the stuff at home allowing us to better control sugar and fats and preservitives.

Muffins etc freeze really well individually so we often do the big batch thing and use those...two or three varieties in the freezer keep it from getting old.

(bannana yogurt/blueberry is one of his faves but he likes apple muffins as well)

 

[palmtreegirl]

Our school says healthy snack and sometimes I pack an apple, he hates veggies, and most of the time it's cheerios or other cracker type foods.

My kids love Cheerios as a snack too.

 

[SuBeat]

Quoted from DD's 3rd grade snack flyer: (capitalization theirs)
PLEASE DO NOT SEND CAKES, COOKIES, CHIPS, CANDY OR PUDDING FOR SNACKS.
Good snacks include: peanut butter crackers, packaged cheese and breadsticks or crackers, fruit bites, granola bars, fruit bars, carrot sticks, cut up fresh fruit.

They can also bring a water bottle.

HTH

 

[JennyMominRI]

Does anyone find it ironic that they want healthy options for snacks but serve disgusting high fat highly processed food for lunch?

 

[RNLUVSDISNEY]

I would much rather have my kids eat fat free pudding than cracker or chips. Having struggled w/ weight my whole life I have learned the hard way that crackers and chips are not filling, but filled w/calories. FF pudding on the other hand is a whole serving of calcium, slightly filling and very low in empty calories. Oh, I agree w/ the popcorn consensus. The 96% ff is very healthy, very high in fibre.

 

[pandamom]

Pudding is on my 1st grade daughters healthy snack list for school but I disagree.

 

[Aidensmom]

I think it all depends on whose health you are talking about. I think also, the keyword here is SNACK.

While I would not consider pudding a healthy entree for my 5 year old, it does have a lot of calcium and therefore as a snack does have some benefits and is healthier than some alternatives. It really isn't all that different than sweetened yogurt. Compared to the huge cheeseburgers and fries many people consider a normal meal, pudding is a healthy snack. Whereas I do agree that it is better to have a natural substance than an artificial one, as far as my child goes, sugary foods tend to aggravate his stomach problems, but artificial sweeteners do not, so like I said, it depends on the person when it comes to saying what is healthier.

If the school didn't give you a list of what it deems as healthy, I wouldn't fret over what you send too much if you think it is healthy. If they don't want it the next time, they can tell you.

 

[disneymom3]

I would send pudding long before I would send Jello. No nutritional value there at all.

And for the record, I don't use or allow my kids to consume artificial sweeteners either. Doesn't mean we have to go out and drink gallons of regular soda and are forced to ingest large amounts of sugar. We just drink water and milk. Oh, and 100% fruit juice once a day at breakfast. I think one of the problems with sugar free and low fat/no fat items is that people think then that they can eat more since it is "healthy."