時尚雙語:自己動手 爲所愛的人更加健康

I was at my brother's house this week with his 2 kids and I noticed something disturbing. 90% of what this family eats comes from a box or a restaurant. There's nothing wrong with convenience per se, but it seems so unnecessary, expensive and simply unhealthy.

In 15 minutes per week, you could prepare most of these things at half the cost. Making them yourself also allows you near-total control of what you and your children eat. Have you ever looked at the sodium content of snacks out there today? Kids get 3 times the recommended daily allowance of sodium before noon!

The true cost of packing up these snacks yourself seems to be in the time and effort, which many people treat like a very precious commodity. If you can spare a few minutes each day in an effort to push some healthy foods down your kids throats, you can be on your way to saving money at the grocery store and at the doctor's office as little Johnny becomes healthier.

Here are 5 easy ways that you can get moving in the right direction and I challenge you to open your pantry or cabinets and identify other ways you can whip up some Do-it-Yourself magic and come up with healthy alternatives to your snacks.

Kids Snacks

I've priced it out and buying a tub of pretzels and parceling them into snack bags is literally 3 times cheaper than buying the individual bags. No coupon in the world will save you what 20 minutes will.

If that weren't enough of an incentive, this also allows you to customize your kids snacks too. Make Chex Mix without the sugar, take the raisins out of the trail mix since your kid doesn't eat them, etc. Perhaps the best part is these snacks last just as long when you pack them up yourself as they do in their individual packs.

Rice Crispy Treats

Yes I know pre-made rice crispy bars are awesome and while no one eats them for their health benefits, have you looked at sodium content? Wow.

If you make them yourself and keep them in Ziploc bags, they taste better, last just as long, and have much less sodium. As a bonus you can substitute brown puffed rice so you actually get a little fiber.

Microwave Popcorn

Regular microwave popcorn costs about $1 a bag. Bulk popcorn costs about a nickel a bag. There isn't even a choice here. All you have to do is drop a 1/4 cup of kernels in a paper bag with 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Then staple the bag shut and microwave it just the same as you would any other bag of popcorn (no, the staples will not cause sparks if your microwave was built after 1986). Cheap, fast, and 0 cholesterol or artificial flavors.

Fruit Cup

Tupperware and similar sealed container companies have been striding forward at a remarkable pace; especially in the area of smaller containers. There's no reason you have to buy pre-fab fruit cups anymore. Dicing your own fruit means your kid isn't drinking down the high fructose syrup that most fruit is packed in.

DIY fruit cups last about a week so you can do up a batch Sunday night and you're good for school. If you're using apples or some fruit that browns, just sprinkle in a little lime juice.

Yogurt

Have you seen how much sugar is in yogurt these days? My nephew's literally, I'm not making this up, had M&Ms in it. I found that interesting since my sister-in-law is one of those semi-self-righteous moms who would never let her kid eat a candy bar.

The same little Tupperware that worked for fruit cups can be filled from a tub of vanilla yogurt with the exact amount of fresh fruit, jam and honey you want your kid to eat (yogurt, strawberries and honey is the best thing ever). If not, you may as well give the kid a candy bar - the sugar levels are nearly the same!

Packing your own food for your family has a ton of advantages. It's cheaper, healthier and it gives you total control over what you eat. As I showed here, it's also pretty easy. A hidden value to all of this is that your kids will actually see what you're doing and learn healthy habits early in life.

If everything they eat comes shrink-wrapped, zip-topped and in individually wrapped portions, how will they ever learn to cook for themselves? How will they even understand the concept?

這星期在我哥哥家裏，和他兩個孩子在一起的時候，我發現了一件令人擔心的事情。他們家吃的東西，90%不是包裝食品，就是餐館的外賣。沒錯，這很方便，但我覺得很沒有必要，而且也很貴，還很不健康。

每星期，你只要花上15分鐘，就能夠用一半的價錢做好平時所吃的大部分食物。自己做，還能讓你基本掌控你和孩子們的飲食。你注意到今天孩子所吃快餐的鈉含量了嗎？孩子們一個上午的鈉攝入量就已是專家建議的三倍。

自己動手做這些吃的只需花費你一點點時間和精力，但很多人卻惜之如金。如果你每天能花上幾分鐘，讓你的孩子吃上些健康的食品，那你就省了買藥看病的錢，小強尼也能變得更健康了。

以下五個簡單方法能幫助你朝正確方向轉變。我也支持你大膽動手，打開櫥櫃，看你自己是否也能弄出一些取代快餐的健康食品來。

孩子的零食

我算過，買一桶椒鹽捲餅，再把它們分袋裝要比單獨一袋袋買便宜3倍。也就是說，20分鐘的功夫能比任何優惠券都省錢。

如果這還不夠吸引人，那麼請想想，它還能幫你管理你孩子的零食。比如，你可以做不含糖的Chex Mix玉米片，還能把Trail Mix什錦雜果裏的葡萄乾都挑出來，反正你的孩子也不喜歡吃…..也許，最大的好處是，如果你自己把它們裝起來，它們能和在單獨成品包裝裏保存的時間一樣長。

全穀物小點心

我知道商店裏賣的小米棒味道很棒，也知道沒有幾個人吃它是出於健康原因。但你瞭解過這裏面的鈉含量嗎？如果你知道了，肯定會大吃一驚。

如果你能自己動手，並把做好的小米棒放在密封袋裏，那它們不僅更好吃，而且保存時間一樣長，並且鈉含量還能少很多。還有一個好處就是，它能代替食用膨鬆糙米，能讓你獲得少許纖維的補充。

微波爆米花

通常，微波爆米花的售價是1美元1袋。大批量購買的話，價格還可降到5美分一袋。在這件事情上，你幾乎沒什麼選擇。你所要做的就是把1/4杯的穀物裝入一個紙袋，再放入1/4勺的鹽和兩勺橄欖油。用訂書機把袋口釘緊後，放入微波爐裏去微波，就像你平時用微波爐來做其他爆米花一樣。（不用擔心，如果你的微波爐是1986年以後生產的，訂書釘就不會引起火花）。這樣做出來的爆米花，不僅便宜、快速，還沒有膽固醇和其他人工人造香味添加劑。

什錦水果

特百惠和其他密封容器製造商又有了長足進步，尤其是在更小容器方面。利用這些容器，你就沒必要去買現成的什錦水果。自己切水果能讓孩子不喝下太多的果糖。

自己動手做的什錦水果能保存一個星期。你能週日晚上做一批，然後週一孩子上學就有得吃了。如果你是用蘋果或其他變褐色了的水果，那你只需在裏邊撒上一些酸橙汁就行了。

酸奶

你知道時下的酸奶所含糖分有多少嗎？不誇張地說，我侄子喝的酸奶裏所含的糖跟牛奶巧克力豆裏含的差不多。而有趣的是，我嫂子是那種半自以爲是的人，從不讓她的孩子吃一根糖果棒。

你同樣可以用特百惠的密封盒來做一些酸奶。先往裏面倒入一些香草酸奶，然後再放入等量的新鮮水果、果醬。如果你願意的話，還可以加入一些蜂蜜。（酸奶、草莓、蜂蜜是最好的東西）。如果你不打算自己動手做這樣的酸奶的話，那你就完全可以給孩子吃糖果棒了，因爲它裏面含的糖分跟普通酸奶差不了多少。

自己給家人做吃的有許多好處。不僅更健康、更便宜，也能讓你很好地掌握你的飲食。如上所述，這做起來也很容易。還有一個你看不到的好處就是，看到你做這些，孩子可以從小養成健康生活的習慣。

如果他們吃的都是薄膜包裝好的、或密封罐內的現成的食品，他們又怎麼會知道自己做飯呢，更不要說理解健康飲食的概念了。