Madison and her mom visited “Bridge Street with Rick & Julie” to talk about healthy eating. Their discussion prompted a viewer to write asking for details on foods they mentioned… including a natural butter substitute for popcorn and some of the healthy brands they use. “It is difficult to read all the labels when you are shopping with children,” Teresa of Onondaga writes. “Healthy eating is easier when you know which brands are best BEFORE you get to the store.”
Maddie’s mom, Amy, had this reply:
I am not so much of a brand person as a label reader. I look for no hydrogenated fats, no artificial sweetener, lots of fiber (at LEAST 3 grams in a slice of bread), less processing, minimal artificial ingredients (color, flavor) is better. We drink 1% low fat milk, ice water or home-brewed decaf iced tea. (We rarely have juice… but if it is, it's 100% fruit). We don't do the highly commercialized and sugary/colored "fruit" roll-ups or "fruit" snacks as there's barely any fruit in them, but I do buy 100% fruit snacks in rolls or flats which are similar. As Julie said on the show, it's just conscious choices.
For cereal, a favorite is Multi-grain Chex w/ 8 grams of fiber (Wegman's is the only non-brand we’ve found made of wheat chex) but bran flakes are good too. Then my kids top it with a sprinkling of a sweet cereal. (Regular or chocolate Honeycombs happen to be sweet but still high fiber and lower sugar.)
Going back to a hot air popcorn popper is easy if you don't want to do it on the stove. And it's still no fat cooking and less processing and trash than microwave popcorn. The "butter" sprinkles we use are called "All Natural Butter Buds Sprinkles". I get them at Price Chopper in the regular spice section. (www.butterbuds.com)
Another suggestion is to try tofu dogs instead of hot dogs. At 80 calories and no fat and none of the nitrate stuff, they are much healthier and lower fat and my kids like 'em just fine. We only buy natural peanut butter (and cashew butter for Maddie since she has a peanut allergy) and my son lives on ham "sandwich" roll-ups on MexAmerica whole wheat tortillas at 5 grams of fiber and 110 calories each. (Unfortunately it does have hygrogenated fat in the ingredients although 0 grams of trans fats in the Nutrition Facts means it must be minimal.) He also eats them with a smear of whipped cream cheese and a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar for a snack/treat.
Hope this helps.
