CORPUS CHRISTI (Kiii News) -
As children head back to school, it may be tempting to fill their lunchboxes with candy, chips and other unhealthy snacks. But not so fast.
On Tuesday, an HEB grocery store tour was held with a focus on healthy snacks and diabetes prevention. The goal is not to give your children foods they don't like just because they're good for them, but to find healthy alternatives that still taste good.
"Some better choices would be, instead getting prepackaged fruit cocktail, they should have fresh fruit," said Carol Carroll, a dietetic intern at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. "Some ways of getting more vegetables in their diet could be having cut up veggies, with a light salad dressing with lighter dips. Some other choices would be getting baked instead of fried items."
Start at the produce section, as half of what you eat daily should be vegetables; and when it comes to dairy, choose the low fat variety.
As for meats, stick with lean white meats, plus fish three times a week. Lean red meat is also okay, in moderation.
So what other good advice did participants learn on Tuesday's shopping adventure?
"I've learned how to plan a meal," said Faun Stone, a pre-diabetic who wants to learn more about healthy eating. "I've shopped for years, but since I'm pre-diabetic, I am wanting to learn more things that I'm not practicing in my home now."
The shopping tour was sponsored by health experts at the A&M Health Science Center's Diabetes Education Center.
Next Thursday, they will be hosting a free cooking demonstration. That will be from 11:30 a.m.-1p.m. Aug. 23, at the Texas AgriLife office located at 4639 Corona in Suite 30.
