QUESTION:
Hi Racheal, my daugther is almost 2 years old and only wants to eat biscuits or crunchy things for snack. What else can I feed her?
ANSWER:
Hi mama,
That's a great question and actually very common! As little one's grow up, they start discovering textures and flavors that they like and enjoy. While a biscuit is okay in moderation, you still want to try and provide as much variety as you can into their diet for their nutrition as well as long-term eating habits.
An easy way to do this is just to look at her meals, (regardless of whether its snack or lunch or dinner), does it look pretty colorful or is it predominantly only one color or two? If so, just try to build a natural rainbow (foods and fruits that are red, orange, green, blue, etc) and that's an easy hack to see if you're getting enough variety.
As for crunchy healthy snacks, you can make fun stuff like tempeh chips, carrot chips, beetroot chips, (just slice thin and bake!) or if you want to skip the baking step, thinly sliced green and red apples also make a really yummy snack! Rice crackers - plain or with toppings, puffed quinoa, roasted lentils, cucumber sticks, thinly sliced jicama or guava are also some firm favorites!
There are also a variety of freeze-dried fruits and veggies in the market just make sure to read the label and see that there is no additional salt or sugar added to it.
My daughter also really loves kale chips and I like to involve her in the process so we make it a fun activity too. She washes it, spins it, tosses it, puts it on the tray, and a few minutes in the oven later, we sit down and eat snack together!
Good luck mama, you got this! <3
