Last week I told you about a high schooler who actually GETS it, but around here, it's not always so simple.
“I just don't understand why there can't be a middle ground with our food around here.”
This is what our teen said to me the other day, as he was complaining that we never have any “decent” snack foods to munch on.
So my response to him was…
“You ARE living in the middle ground, you just don't know it!”
- “That apple you're eating is organic but came from timbuktu.”
- “The peanut butter you're dipping it in is organic but the peanuts aren't soaked.” (So it's probably blocking mineral absorption. I didn't add this or other details though, or I'd lose him for sure. Here's where to find soaked nut butters.)
- “This chicken I'm cooking for dinner is free range and hormone/antibiotic free, but I'm not sure what's in their supplemental feed.”
- “The pasta we had last night was organic but it was white.” (At least it was Einkorn pasta. Here's why einkorn is better and here's where to einkorn flour.)
He went on, “But there has to be a middle ground from where we are now to where others are.”
To which Mama Bear replied,
“Why, you don't like not being sick?! Or still being able to function pretty well even when your papers and exams and your job have you up at all hours of the night?”
Then I let it go before he zoned out on me.
I could tell I hadn't irritated him so far, so I wanted to stop before I did. I could also tell he was thinking about it. I was really thankful that we could have that discussion without it getting snippy or heavy. He's maturing. 🙂
What else I didn't tell him about our real food…
- I also didn't tell him that all the frying in lard or tallow from pastured animals that I do
- Or using liberal amounts of pastured butter on our veggies or bread, is super protective for us and helps our immune systems.
- That the powerhouse smoothies we make cover a lot of nutritional ‘sins'.
- That the probiotic and the cod liver oil he's been fairly regular about taking also makes up for a lot. (Here's more about cod liver oil.)
- Or that the bone broth I sneak into most meals, and the pastured eggs we eat almost daily are super nourishing.
- That all the crap we don't buy or the places we don't go out to eat make a huge difference.
Thankfully he doesn't complain about our main dish meals, he likes most of those, he just wishes I bought convenient boxes of something fast to crack open when he's hungry for a snack. Part of the problem is that Kent and I are not snackers, and I don't see snacks as that important. If we fill up at meals, what do we need snacks for? It's just one more thing to mess up the kitchen again. Or something else to keep them from being nice and hungry for the next meal I make.
I'm curious what you guys think about snacking?
Either way, I do have to get better about keeping more healthy snacks around for those times when the kids need something. (Here are some healthy snack ideas.) Not that it would matter much for this son anyway. He doesn't go for crispy nuts (but he does actually like these chili lime almonds) and he won't eat things like Pâté, but I guess he will go for a lot of the other ideas there like deviled eggs, my homemade salsa, or my popcorn, and a few more that I really should get better about keeping on hand.
***Get a whole printable list of Real Food Snack Ideas if you click here & sign up for my emails (you can choose weekly, monthly, or as posts go live)!
Anyone else have some easy snack ideas to share?
When it comes to that middle ground, I do know that many families are doing much better than we are, though, and some have a lot more kids, too… Here are a few areas we need to get better in:
- We should get more organ meats into our diets! (Update: how to sneak liver into your family, it really works!)
- I wish the kids would drink more raw milk without the added organic chocolate syrup incentive. (Read more about raw milk here.)
- We don't always eat raw, pastured cheese, but at least I RARELY buy it pre-shredded because that stuff has “anti-caking” chemicals in it.
- We still have more sweets than we should.
- All of our grains aren't soaked or fermented.
- We sometimes eat at not-so-good-restaurants when we're visiting family.
Just because I write a health & nutrition blog doesn't mean I've finished the journey or that I've got everything down pat.
I'm doing the best I can, just like you, and some weeks that's not so great! But when I look at where we were, we are leaps and bounds ahead of there, and that's the most important thing, that we continue to get better.
I hope you're growing in your journey too, and as always, let me know if I can help. Email or send me a message on Facebook, and if you ask something that I don't know (which happens often), I'll put it on my page to ask others, because my readers are really smart. 🙂 Just be patient as it sometimes takes me a while to get to it.
Thanks for being here so we can grow together!
So if you had to list them, where would your strong and weak areas be? Hopefully I'm not the only one who isn't all that sparkly in the kitchen all of the time…
- Read my newer post: How I Got Lazy and the 5 Ways I Have Recommitted to Real Food and Healthy Eating!
- Or check out this one: Don’t Roast Me: My Dark Secrets Then and Now (the 10-20% of my 90/10 or 80/20 Lifestyle)
Rachel Blauwkamp says
Question: are there benefits to soaking pastas and grains before cooking them? I make brown rice and I’m wondering if that applies to that?
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
Hi Rachel! No, you wouldn’t want to soak pasta, it’s better if you buy sprouted grain pasta or you make your own with soaked grains, but we didn’t love the taste of those. So we just don’t eat pasta a lot, and when we do we eat this kind: https://kellythekitchenkop.com/pasta-einkorn. For rice, you can buy germinated rice, but this post from my friend, Sarah, explains which kind we eat now (we just get it at Meijer): https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/what-white-rice-better-than-brown/.
Sharon says
I completely understand this! If friends start going elsewhere, your child can start to feel bitter and that can lead to rebellion and refusing to eat any healthy food at all. Since friends don’t come over every day, I have “compromise snacks” that I serve when they’re over. They’re basically snacks I find at Trader Joes that are better than what you might find at the regular grocery store, but can still be sugary. It helps my daughter feel like she isn’t a totally deprived daughter of a health nut, and her friends enjoy the snacks. We choose relationships over food in our house. I can always make up for the compromise later with healthy meals.
Jacquelyn Lindsey Hoag says
Always out on the table: fresh fruit in season, dried fruits, array of raw seeds and nuts, separated in a lazy susan. Daily changing treat specials…..crackers and cheese, chips or cookies…..kale chips or other homemade…nutritious bar or cookie…yogourt, kefir, popcorn w/brewers yeast, celery w/nut butters.
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
Excellent ideas Jacquelyn Lindsey Hoag
Jacquelyn Lindsey Hoag says
Kelly the Kitchen Kop its what I did with my four kids and visitors…..i also had tea time. English style. Even ifjust me!
Jodi Beckley says
I’ve been trying to get my 9 and 10 yr old sons to understand why pop is not a treat and why I don’t buy it, why I wish they would politely decline the Gatorade and snacks people bring to sports, etc. Sometimes hard when dad buys pop/etc at his house despite having been on a cleaner diet. I also told mine that I do it because I want them to be healthy, not sick, and even though something tastes good, it’s full of very unhealthy stuff. Ugh
I was on the snack emails for sports before and suggested healthy snacks and water, due to food allergies AND “because i know we all want our kids to be healthy.” Well I had to laugh when a mom said her son was probably going to be bummed because a parent had brought apple slices (and it was a fairly common snack brought)….I found it sad a kid would be unhappy that he had a bag of sliced apples once a week at ball! Sheesh
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
Big deal if he is bummed, geesh, how about teaching them thankfulness! The whole bringing snacks to a one-hour soccer game drives me crazy anyway, if kids need a snack after that long, why can’t everyone bring their own?! Kind of my pet-peeve…
Jodi Beckley says
I agree, we do not need snacks, most of us eat just before or just after the activities!! Yes it’s a bit of my pet peeve too!
Jennifer DeMarcos says
Don’t be too hard on yourself. We live in a chemical laden, over processed world and its tricky to navigate. I had a friend tell me that organic foods still have chemicals “so what’s the point?” I felt great about my response, “yes, even when an effort is made to keep it out – it’s still there. What a contaminated world we live in.” Since I didn’t get emotional, I felt she actually heard me. Day in and day out, we do our best and that’s good enough for me.
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
That was perfect Jennifer DeMarcos.
Katherine Vaporis Herron says
Well, when my son was at school and before I got into trying to eat healthier, he always had Little Debbie’s and chips in his lunch box. I would try to educate him as I was educating myself about what is in our food and being a kid he could care less. Fast forward to homeschooling in high school, I started making and buying healthier “junk food”, so now when he has the opportunity to eat snacks from “the old days” he can taste the chemical difference and now he “gets it”. He will occasionally eat the old way but then he regrets it because it doesn’t taste as good to him any more. Some make him feel sick afterwards. Makes me happy 🙂
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
Katherine Vaporis Herron I love when that happens too!!!
Jean Price says
This made me laugh! I recall my son as a teenager rolling in with all his friends and their first stop was always the pantry 🙂 whipped open the doors as I hear “oh, yeah, I forgot your mom only buys healthy stuff” Gentle compromises were made but he is a 35 y/o adult now and espouses a clean food lifestyle. Don’t give up!
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
Jean Price that gives me hope!!!
Sheri says
Good job, mama bear! How old is your son? Mine are 15, 17, 19 and 27. 27yo is married and the cook in his house.
KitchenKop says
Sheri,
Mine are currently 24, 17, 14, 11. It’s going by too fast! 🙂
Kelly
Rebecca Urbanczyk says
Well, we aren’t Amish, so yes, this is the middle ground.lol
Elihu says
We are in the middle ground too!
Im often guilty of the “eye-roll” when extreme whole-foodies blow an artery if people shop at Whole Foods, enjoy a sugar-laden PSL from Starbucks once in awhile, have the nerve to own anything plastic, use aluminum foil (gasp) or commit the ultimate sin of buying organic eggs from Costco. Honestly, it’s good to be aware and make careful choices, but not to the point that you make yourself sick from stress/exhaustion (or destroy your family budget).
Follow the 80/20 principle and enjoy life with your family and friends. You’re doing great Kelly, and thanks for keeping it real and inspiring all of us!
KitchenKop says
Elihu, I totally agree!!! Everyone has to decide where their “middle ground” is and what’s right for their family and their stress level. 🙂
Kelly
Kay Conway says
https://authoritynutrition.com/phytic-acid-101/ here is the article. Thanks!!
Kay Conway says
Hi Kelly, have you read a recent article from Authority Nutrition regarding soaking grains, nuts and seeds? We are wondering if soaking and sprouting are as necessary as we thought. We use nuts as a snack for the little kids along with raw milk and raw cheeses. Thanks!
KitchenKop says
Hi Kay,
Please go ahead and share the link here if you’d like and I’ll check it out.
I searched and found a post from 2012, was that it?
Thanks!
Kelly
emily duff says
my kids are very snack oriented so i try and have lots for them to go to when needed. we always have wild alaskan salmon jerky – they have been eating this since they are 10 months old – seaweed, crispy nuts, homemade chocolates (raw cocoa, palm sugar and coconut oil) with and without almond butter centers, coconut, date & prune rolls, thai summer rolls, fermented vegetable sushi, coconut flour orange pancakes – great cold like a soft cookie, almond flour chocolate cookies, homemade marshmallows, popcorn with coconut & olive oil & sea salt – we sometimes use our chicken drippings on the popcorn as the oil, cumin spiced guacamole with blue corn chips, corn cakes (made with kefir) toasted with butter and maple cream, cilantro meatballs (made with ground beef, heart and liver), green apples with nut butter, raw yogurt & kefir smoothies with berries and raw egg yolks, fresh watermelon juice ice pops, bacon wrapped dates, roasted beet anything, hummus – lots of different hummus – with blanched, seasonal crudite (lots of sea salt in the blanching water is the ticket), roasted corn salsa with fresh herbs and sungold cherry tomatoes, nut and seed crunch bars with honey and tahini, chicken liver mousse on green apple or rice cracker, buffalo kielbasa, lamb sausage with tzaziki……that’s just a few of their faves.
KitchenKop says
WOW, that is a ton of great ideas!!!!
Any chance you’d share some of those recipes for a guest post?! Especially the choc candy w/ almond butter centers!!
Kel
leah says
I think I would die of hunger without snacks. Lol. I eat every 2-3 hours. I usually have fruit, veggies, cheese, nuts or smoothies. My kids eat those things but I also buy them Annie’s crackers and they eat a lot of toast, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, etc. I do make my own bread but it isn’t always sprouted or sourdough…only when I have time (which is about half the time). I figure that I can only do what I can do and they still eat better than the average American kid.
CCM says
My teenage boys like to snack on canned sardines, canned oysters, bacon, eggs, smoked salmon, lacto-fermented pickles (Bubbies), quesidillas (on white flour but loaded with cheese and cooked in butter). They also love coconut water – but that’s $$$$!
Maria says
Was looking through this and figured I’d add these in case you hadn’t come across them — cheese crisps! I made them the same day as kale chips and, whereas the kale chips were shot down by EVERYone, these were a huge hit!
You can use shredded cheese (best) or smaller chunks of cheese, or probably even thinish slices of cheese, but you put them in the [preheated to 350*] oven for 5-10 minutes on some parchment paper and then you get chips, of cheese, which are wonderful, quick, simple, easy, non-messy, and very tasty, oh and CRUNCHY, which seems to be the thing that’s lacking in a lot of the healthier snacks.. Plus you can customize however you want!
https://www.joyfulabode.com/2010/04/25/low-carb-snacks-homemade-baked-cheese-crisps-recipe/
(the above-linked blog is a lady who, along with her husband and [now] two young children decided to ‘go paleo’, so the vast majority of her stuff is in that vein, and her site’s awesome, if you haven’t seen it! — check out her flourless peanut-butter-and-honey-chocolate cake!)
-Maria :]
Commenter via Facebook says
Kelly, 80/20 sister, 80/20. You’re doing just fine. As you said, if you do what you are doing and your kids aren’t getting sick, then that 20% of the time that you’re not following the “rules” do even out. My kids are younger so that makes snacks easier I think. They just kind of ear whatever I give them. We have pâté like 2 weeks out of the month. They love it. I make eggs for snacks, fruit, raw cheese, teaspoons of coconut oil, leftovers from meals. But I have a question cause I’m wondering if my boys will be the same way as Kal… Did he eat pâté and things like that when he was young? I’m wondering if because I started my kids on it early, maybe they won’t know the difference and will just always eat that way??? I sure hope so. I’ve read a lot of trad foods blogs that say snacks are necessary if eating well. I don’t buy it. I serve nutrient rich meals and my boys need something for in between, and when they’re growing, they eat like teenagers. Yikes.
Commenter via Facebook says
My kids eat very well at all meals and still have a morning and afternoon snack. We’ve been on a modified Paleo/GAPS protocol for about a month and snack time has been horrific! It is so difficult to find things for them to eat. We recently added some dairy back in and that is helping a bit.
Commenter via Facebook says
I think snacks are very important. I’ve been recovering from low blood sugar over the past few years so frequent small meals were a must. My kids usually have a morning snack, but need less food throughout the afternoon and evening. A lot of afternoons they are too busy to ask for a snack, but they usually have a little something before bed since we eat supper at 5 they are usually hungry by then. Also, my kids get carsick and if they haven’t eaten for a couple of hours it is way worse, my son can’t even go 30 minutes in a car without throwing up if his blood sugar is low.
Kelly V. says
I’m working on this too. I usually make a smoothie with raw milk between lunch and dinner because we do early lunches and later dinners, but my hubby really likes to graze in the afternoon on chips and salsa!
Commenter via Facebook says
Kelly, I love your honesty. If we had no “middle ground” I would go insane trying to “be perfect”. My older daughter (21) likes yogurt and homemade granola/bars. When my son(23) is home he likes biscuits, as weird as that sounds. Those can be frozen and taken out as needed. A bonus for us. 🙂 Of course, he lives on the road 7 months out of the year,(and has since he was 18) so he appreciates ANYTHING that doesn’t come from a restaurant. haha!!!
Commenter via Facebook says
raw milk is the most frequent snack around here, followed by popcorn, fermented dill carrots, yogurt with honey, bananas, raisins, nuts, and sliced meats and cheeses.
Commenter via Facebook says
I just tried a whole wheat and sharp cheddar version of homemade cheese nips and my kids liked them except for the bitter aftertaste of the whole wheat. I feel like my only recourse is to give them nothing until they are so starved for something they’ll eat whatever I put in front of them. 😉
Commenter via Facebook says
I’m just like you – I’m not a snacker either. My husband loves snacks and considers them a “must” after dinner. And I don’t particularly love making another mess in the kitchen just so he can have a snack. So I compromise – I buy him whole milk yogurt (not raw, and with some added sugar), natural fruit strips, Annie’s graham cookies, stuff like that. I’d rather buy him these “compromises” then have him go to the store himself – I shudder to think of what he’d buy himself (Oreos and Cheezits!).
Jessica@ Bint Rhoda's Kitchen says
My kids are still in the preschooler crowd, but when I have people over, I have to come up with something for my goldfish cracker friends. I just slice up apples, and cheese, or make popcorn, or if I’m really on top of things, make crackers or graham crackers. Sometimes I even make the making of the crackers the event – that usually gets the kids excited. But, like others said, I have reduced snacks to ONE a day because it was WAY out of control. Teenage boys, though. That’s a whole other story. I spent a week with teenage boys and was stunned at how much they ate. It was like me, when pregnant (blush), so I get that they need to snack. I don’t know what to say, except figure out what he loves to snack on and make it for him. Maybe mini sourdough pizzas?
Andrea says
I’m not much of a snacker either but am finally realizing how much my nearly 14 yo son wants to eat! Crispy almonds, cheese, apples, smoothies, raw milk take us pretty far but some successful go-to snacks for him and DH are “Almond Bites”: 3/4 c. almond butter, 1/2 c. coconut cream concentrate, 1/3 c. honey, 1/4 c. cocoa/carob powder, 1/4 c. coconut flour, top w/ crushed crispy almonds. Mix together, spread in pan, freeze, cut in squares and freeze individually for a quick grab snack from the freezer. He also loves chocomole, https://drbenkim.com/jason-mraz-chocomole-recipe.htm.
When he and my high school daughter have friends over though, I keep a bin with some SAD snacks. I would rather them have their friends at our house than have a perfect diet. I found that their friends would be polite while here, but eventually started making plans at other kids’ houses where they liked the food better!
joleigh says
With 3-soon-to-be-4 boys, I don’t think a bowl of apples on the counter will cut it much longer. I will have to graduate to a 5-gallon bucket; one day, a trough!
I agree w/ the snacking, though. I find that if I cut them off, they eat much better for supper. On the weekends, though, snack foods are often our lunch. We’ll have a good breakfast, and (hopefully) a good supper, but lunch is normally an apple, cheese and crackers or PB&J. BEAST sammies have become one of our quick weekend ‘fixes’ (my spin on the BLT: Bacon, Egg, Avocado, Spinach, Tomato).
Teena says
My boys are hungry all the time! I try to keep organic crackers, fruit snacks, cookies, granola bars, white popcorn kernels (we have an air popper) and yogurt available. I too celebrate the victories of ridding our house of the worst offenders and don’t get too hard on myself if we have to order a pizza after an absolutely horrible, exhausting long week. We do the best we can with what we have and strive to make changes over time.
joleigh says
I have a sweet tooth, so I tend to keep fruit around and I’m thinking we’re getting too much of this. I keep a bowl of apples on the counter and that’s what the kids grab when they come home in the afternoon. We like our soaked oatmeal or vanilla Chobani yogurt loaded: applesauce, sliced strawberries, dried cranberries, blueberries (I buy frozen) and soaked/dehydrated walnuts.
One switch I’ve made is DS’s jelly on PB sandwich: it’s more expensive and labor intensive, but I’ve been buying strawberries on sale and freezing them. I need to make the switch on our PB, but it’s hard when the store brand is on sale for 2/$3.
Need to figure out how to make Amazon Prime work for my real foodie goals to justify the membership fee.
Pak says
Oh, Kelly…you could have been talking about our house. I don’t have any sons, but I do have one daughter in college living with us, and one in high school. I think the lack of snacks is the biggest “real food” complaint I get from them. They miss their crackers! And truthfully, I feel like you. After preparing so much of the main meals from scratch, do I really want to go into that kitchen again to make snacks?? Um, no. But, again, I need to think of ways to keep them on the real food path. So I might need to put on my big girl panties and make some crackers!
Dorsey says
I confess potato chips are my nemesis. For quite awhile I bought Gibbles because they were fried in lard. Gibbles sold out and the new owners have discontinued all the snack items. After an online search, I found a chip that is even better. It is called Honest Chips and there are only 3 ingredients…. Potatoes, sea salt and coconut oil. Yes, she fried them in the coconut oil and then salts them. I got some and they are very tasty. I do limit myself so don’t feel badly about eating them in the least. I wasn’t sure we could put up links here so just google honest chips. 🙂
As to the grazing concept. There are some of us who simply can’t eat that much in one sitting. I have always been one who needs a little something about every 3 hours. Guess I never left my baby schedule! LOL
I make the gelatin gummy squares, flavored almonds and keep raw cheese handy. Usually that works and I do have a glass of “soda” which is an inch of juice of my choice and a bottle of seltzer.
J in VA says
Gibbles just disappeared in my area too. There is Grandma Utz handcooked that are cooked in lard and another brand (starts with a D, I think) that are cooked in lard.
Audrey says
He is a 20 year old male – they are ALWAYS hungry, from about 10/11 till I don’t know, mid-20s? So keep some good snacks around for him or leftovers from meals he can heat up in between meals. His body needs it.
Janira B. says
Kids?! What about husbands?? All our kids are grown & on their own. My snacker is always desperate at 5 when he gets home from work. Since he’s home a few minutes before me, he’s always searching the cabinets. Thankfully, nuts, cheeses, beef jerky, yogurt or a slice of sourdough w/real butter – usually satisfies him, it’s hard to keep up!!!!
Thanks Kelly for the encouragement when living in the middle ground! 🙂
Kimberly says
We’re far from perfect, but the fact that soda is no longer in our home is HUGE. I try to focus on those victories:) I try to keep homemade granola bars, homemade yogurt with granola, and fruit on hand. It seems like with just those options, everyone is happy:)
Elizabeth says
Thanks for keeping it real! It’s good to hear you have struggles too, and that your diet isn’t “perfect” — if there even is such a thing!
I do think teenage/young adult boys seem to need snacks — especially when they are physically active, working and going to school, and as you say, up to all hours of the night!
KitchenKop says
You’re right, I have to get better. Why can’t there be 48 hours in a day???
Sherri @The Well Floured Kitchen says
This is so true! It’s hard to explain to the kiddos that the packaged organic pretzels ARE a compromise food. Or that even when I make homemade treats that are healthier it doesn’t mean we can eat them all up in one sitting. I am not much of a snacker and thankfully the kids are pretty good about it. But the snacks are toughest when all the friends come over. That’s when we are really in the middle ground, I still make everything from scratch, but not with organic ingredients.
Jo-Lynne {Musings of a Housewife} says
I do keep snacks around – things like Pirate’s Booty and lots of organic crackers, granola bars and things. I try to be wise in what I get. I’m not buying Oreos and Doritos. But I know that the snacks are not nutritious. I do try to serve fresh veggies and fruit and cheese a lot too. But as you know, kids like snacks!
Personally, for me, I wish they weren’t around. They call to me…. and my 40-y/o metabolism does NOT need snacks.
sarah says
Homemade peanut butter cups. 1/2 cup of Pb, 1/2 cup of liquid coconut oil, 1/2 cup of honey, a dash of salt, 1/4 cup of cocoa powder, a dash of vanilla. Pulse together in food processor until mixed together. Pour into paper muffin cups and freeze. Approx. 2 tbls in each one. Store in freezer.
KitchenKop says
I’m trying this!!! My kids don’t love the taste of honey though, so maybe I’ll try it with maple syrup… Or palm sugar…
Kelly
Brandis says
Snacking is the devil:) J/k… kind of. My kids are still little (4 and 6) and about 6 months ago I decided the snacking was out of control. They would graze all day (I tried to stick to scheduled snacks, but they’re such slow eaters their scheduled snack would often be finished just before meal time) and not be hungry for the nutritious meals I worked hard to prepare for them. We went cold turkey. One day I was just like “okay, one snack a day and that is IT.” They have a snack when Izzy gets home from school at 4. No morning or evening snack. No other grazing. And guess what… THEY DIDN’T DIE. They thought they were going to, but that’s beside the point. And they eat much more at meal time. It works for us because of that and because I don’t have to be constantly monitoring their snacking.