A Small But Mighty After-School Snack!

Want to provide your children with a nutritious after-school snack that prevents excessive calorie intake and increases satiety (feeling satisfied longer)?  Small but mighty, raisins might be your snack of choice!  A recent study found that children who ate raisins compared to children eating grapes, potato chips or chocolate chip cookies ate less after their raisin snack, felt fuller, and had lower cumulative calorie intake. 

All children participating in the study received the same standardized breakfast, morning snack, and lunch.  However, children who ate conventional snacks ate more of the standardized meals than children who ate raisins. Children who ate grapes resulted in 56% higher calorie intake compared to those eating raisins, eating potato chips resulted in 70% higher calorie intake, and cookies resulted in 108% higher calorie intake. 

Not only do raisins provide benefits in decreasing overall calorie consumption, but they provide a good source of fiber, potassium, and antioxidants and they are fat- and cholesterol-free. They also don’t have any sugar added--all sugar in raisins are naturally present. This snack is perfect for on-the-go or can be packed into your child’s backpack for a school bus ride home!

Overall, children eating raisins as an after-school snack had decreased energy intake compared to children eating other conventional snacks. Therefore, raisins may help contribute to the maintenance of a healthy weight in school-age children.

If your kids are picky and won’t eat raisins out of the box, get creative with some of California Raisins kid friendly recipes like:

• California Raisin Rice Cake Doodles
• Bumps on a Bagel
• Breakfast Raisin Banana Tortilla Roll Ups
• Rare Spotted Mice
• Raisin Peanut Butter Balls  
• Raisin Apple Mini Pizzas
• Sunshine Snack Mix  

Don’t forget that even though this study was on children, raisins make a great snack for adults, too!