Making Healthy Food Choices - Are Gummy Fruit Snacks in Your Child's Diet?

You try to eat a healthy diet and you want to find healthy food for children too. Do you give your kids gummy fruit snacks, thinking a little fruit is better than none? How about baked potato chips instead of regular? Do you drink diet soda and eat light ice cream in a quest to eat healthier and lose weight? Your food choices may not be as healthy as you think.

Are Gummy Fruit Snacks Healthy Foods for Kids?

There are dozens of products these days, which contain added vitamins but what you need to look for is how much sugar is in them. Gummy snacks are loaded with sugar, such as high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oils, or trans fats. These are linked to obesity, heart disease, diabetes and more health problems.

Baked Potato Chips - Are they Better Than Regular chips?

Potato chips are empty calories. They are high in calories and contain no nutrition or fiber. Baked chips are a little lower in fat but they are still high in calories and contain no nutrition. Not a healthy food. Try popcorn as a side dish for your kids as a healthy option.

Is Diet Soda Good For You?

I gave up diet soda years ago in favor of green tea or regular tea. To me diet soda is nothing but a can full of chemicals. Recent studies confirm that drinking just one diet soda a day can give you what's called metabolic syndrome. Some of the symptoms of metabolic syndrome are belly fat and high risk of heart disease.

Both my sisters proved to be allergic to NutraSweet and had vision problems as a result of this. They thought they had macular degeneration. But when they quit drinking diet soda, the problems disappeared!

Drinking soda is just a habit. You can break it by finding something healthier to substitute. Try different kinds of iced tea or even water with a spritz of lemon or a sprig of mint.

Is Non Fat Salad Dressing a Healthy Choice?

I have to admit I've bought fat free salad dressings for my husband without even looking at the label. However, I discovered that the fat free versions contain more sugar, which he isn't supposed to have, being pre-disposed to high blood sugar.

Fat free salad dressings are still usually loaded with calories. Besides which, a heart-healthy oil, like olive oil or grapeseed oil, actually helps you absorb the vitamins in that salad.

Make your own salad dressing with olive oil, apple cider or red wine vinegar and a little seasoning. It's easy and saves you money too.

These are just a few healthy food choices you can make for your family. Check labels and look for hidden sugar, non-hydrogenated oils, chemicals and preservatives. The more fresh and whole your food is, (like eating almonds instead of chips), the healthier your diet will be.

Read this new book, Eat This, Not That to help you make healthier food choices for yourself and your family.

Eat This Not That! Supermarket Survival Guide: The No-Diet Weight Loss Solution

Help you kids eat healthy too!

Eat This Not That! for Kids!: Be the Leanest, Fittest Family on the Block!