Happy Children's Dental Health Month From My Best Smile!

As we all have heard, the obesity and diabetes rates have been on the rise, not only for U.S. adults, but with our children also.

Approximately 98% of school aged children report eating at least 3 snacks a day. 50% of these same children are actually up to 5 or more snacks daily. So snacking is a very large part of our children's diet.

Unfortunately, snack foods usually mean packaged chips, cookies and pastries. These refined snacks are high in fat and sugar and can cause excess weight gain, chronic diseases and tooth decay.

Eating a diet hight in fruits and vegetables not only keeps us healthy, but has also been linked to higher cognitive scores in our children.

Growing children should eat 5-7 fruit and vegetable servings each day. For more information on the food pyramid, check out our government's website "MyPyramid.gov".

To get you started, here are a few snack suggestions:

• Peanut butter spread on apple slice
• Baby carrots or celery sticks dipped in salsa or humus
• Light popcorn mixed with grated cheese or chili powder
• Fresh fruit cut up to make kabobs