By Scottie Brown
The Selma Times-Journal

With school set to start in the coming weeks, parents may be concerned with sending their students back with a healthy snack.
If you’re looking for a good place to start, Kathi Needham, the director of HealthLink, suggests turning to your local supermarket’s produce section.
“Fresh fruits and vegetables are always number one,” Needham said.
While Needham acknowledged how expensive buying fresh produce could be, she said buying in bulk and packaging the fruits yourself can cut costs.
“If you buy an apple and split it up yourself, it’s a lot less expensive than buying the apple slices in the pre-packaged container,” Needham. “However, it is a timesaver for mom, so you have to think about that.”
While with fruits and vegetables, Needham said parents could be more lenient about how much a child is consuming, she warned to watch portions of snacks, such as fruit drinks and other snacks packed with sugars.
“Especially with kids, you want to stay away from sugary snacks, especially sugary drinks or anything that says fruit drink,” Needham said. “You have to check the labels to make sure it’s not just artificial flavor and too much sugar.”
Needham stressed if a child was already drinking multiple sodas, or other sugary drinks, to try cutting back by alternating a sugar-filled drink with a glass of water.
“If they drink three, four or five a day, start substituting one of those for water and alternate,” Needham said. “A lot of times the kids are addicted to the sugar, but they’re also really thirsty. That’s really not quenching their thirst. It’s making them thirstier. So if you quench their thirst, you’re eliminating their need to [drink sodas].”
Giving children a choice of foods was another way Needham said parents could try to get their children to eat healthier, but also have control over what they’re consuming.
“Not everybody likes the same thing,” Needham said. “It gives them control over what they’re eating, even though you have the ultimate control. You’re giving them the freedom that’s more grownup. You’re saying, ‘Here, I’m going to let you choose what you want to eat.’”
But ultimately, Needham said getting children to eat healthy must start in the home.
“If you’re not going to give it to them at home, and then you’re going to put it in their bag for school, they’re going to throw it away, and then it becomes a waste,” Needham said. “So, you really have to start them at home. Start with cut-up fruit that they can dip in something like cream cheese and or a little bit of sugar and cinnamon.”