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7 Surprising Foods You Shouldn’t Feed Your Toddler

7 Surprising Foods You Shouldn’t Feed Your ToddlerYou might be surprised to find out that some of your toddler’s favorite foods are detrimental to their overall health and wellbeing. In fact, many of the worst foods are commonly fed to toddlers and young children.

Everyone knows sodas, cookies and candies are no good for kids and should only be consumed as a treat, but plenty of other foods slip beneath the radar and get mistaken for healthy or at the very least acceptable food options.

Foods You Should Not Feed Your Toddler

Gummy Fruit Snacks

They are oh-so-delicious and many even advertise that they are organic or made from ‘real fruits.’  But the truth is that even the best fruit snacks are overloaded with sugar and other preservatives. Gummy fruit snacks and fruit rolls are all made of sugar and processed ingredients. Instead of a nutritional snack, view gummy snacks as a treat or desert. 

Alternative: Frozen grapes are a delicious treat that can replace your child’s desire to snack on something sweet and fruity.

Whole Milk & Unpasteurized Milk

The general consensus is that children should transition to whole milk after breast milk or formula. Yet, after age 2 your child is getting plenty of fat from other sources and may do better with skim milk or 1% milk.

Speaking of milk, raw or unpasteurized milk is not the best option either. Raw milk may be considered healthier because of the digestive enzymes and other intact nutrients, but since it has not been pasteurized it is more likely to cause food-borne illness.  Children’s immune systems are not as well developed as adults making them more susceptible to these illnesses. 

Alternative: Almond milk, skim milk or 1% milk.

Kraft Macaroni & Cheese

We all grew up on it, heck it’s a staple of the American childhood diet. Sadly, it’s not good for your kids. In fact, there is nothing nutritional about this boxed delight. There are not enough good nutrients to even begin balancing out all of the processed ingredients that make up every box. Not to mention, it’s incredibly heavy on the sodium and will actually program your child to crave salty, artificial foods in the future. Sure, the occasional box won’t do any harm; just avoid making this a normal lunch item in your rotation.    

Alternative: There are plenty of simple recipes for noodles and cheesy sauce that are WAY healthier and include less sodium and processed ingredients.

Sports Drinks

Sports drinks, like Gatorade, are said to be miracle pick-me-ups after a tough workout or sporting event. In reality, they are loaded with sugar. They provide a quick dose of calories and electrolytes, but the same vitamins and minerals can be found by eating a sliced orange, without all of the processed sugar. 

Alternative: Water and fresh sliced fruit.

Take Out

Even if you order what appears to be a healthy menu item you are likely getting a lot more bad stuff than you bargained for. Anything prepared outside of the home tends to be loaded with far more fat and salt than anything you’d make at home.  Experts recommend eating out no more than once or twice a week to avoid an overabundance of sodium and fat unknowingly sneaking into your child’s regular diet.

Alternative: Find quick and easy meals you can make at home. Kid-friendly crockpot meals are great for busy moms and dads!

Cereal Bars

Cereal bars tend to be super high in fats and sugar, after all they’re basically sugary cereal bound together with more sugar.

Still, there are countless cereal bars that advertise themselves as healthy and loaded with this and that nutrient, but have you taken the time to read the ingredients? Ignore whatever the front of the box advertisers and instead focus on the actual ingredients listed. If the first ingredient is sugar and/or there are too many words you don’t even recognize as food it’s not a good candidate for your child’s diet.

Alternative: Prepare a homemade granola mix by combining nuts, granola, dark chocolate chips and some raisons in a bag.

Honey

No honey for you, honey. Children under 2 should not eat honey. Honey has the potential to contain toxic bacteria known to cause botulism, a potentially fatal disease. While these bacteria won’t harm the average adult with a well-developed immune system, children don’t have the same immunities built up. The bacteria can be found in any kind of honey including raw, organic and highly processed.

Alternative: Small amounts of agave, brown sugar and cinnamon can help make foods tastier without resorting to honey. Once your child is 2 and older, honey is just fine.

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