Permissible Indulgence

: The New Standard In Children’s Snacking

Quick Summary

The 80:20 philosophy promotes a healthy balance between enjoying nutritious snacks while still allowing for treats, thus preventing children from having cravings out of deprivation and allowing for healthy emotional connections with food.

Deep Dive

For a long time, children's snacks have been considered to be either under-the-gun for only healthy eating or treated as free-for-alls. The idea of permissible indulgence allows for a third option that is more realistic. Instead of the common perception of snacks as purely healthy or unhealthy, this concept allows for a mixture of healthy and enjoyable. The element of enjoyment is also a valid part of the eating experience.

What Permissible Indulgence Really Means

The 80:20 rule follows a similar pattern about the types of ingredients that make up a snack. Approximately 80% of the ingredients would consist of nutrition-driven ingredients and 20% of indulgent components. Examples of permissible indulgences would be items such as nuts coated in dark chocolate, lightly sweetened fruit yoghurt, baked snacks with cheese or similar. The emphasis with these snacks is not on the calorie count of the products themselves but rather on achieving balance. 

Why Purely “Healthy” Snacks Often Fail

Restricting children to snacks that focus on nutrition instead of taste may create too many problems. Kids who are not allowed to have tasty snacks will associate food with transactions, with food becoming "what's for dinner" instead of something to enjoy. When kids finally get a treat, they may eat more than they really want to. Allowing for some indulgence allows kids to have access to "junk food" without the novelty or "forbidden fruit" associated with it. Additionally, when safe and controlled indulgences are available to children, they are less likely to obsess over them.

The Psychology Behind Balanced Snacking

Children develop how they eat through repeating a behaviour and developing emotional connections with it. Snacks that contain a small amount of indulgent ingredients create a feeling of reward without promoting addiction. Striking this balance creates awareness of eating, which helps kids stop eating when they are satisfied, rather than eating for enjoyment. Additionally, allowing for indulgent foods shifts the focus away from "good" and "bad" foods and reduces the guilt and anxiety associated with eating for young children.

What Makes a Snack Qualify as Permissible

However, not all "treats" can be considered a permissible indulgence. The base of the treat should be nutritionally sound (whole grains, nuts, seeds, dairy, fruit or legumes). The indulgent layer should be an enhancement to the base and not overpower it. In addition, the ingredient quality and portion sizes must be able to sustain a child during their growth phase while delivering pleasure.

How Parents Can Apply This Standard at Home

Permissible indulgence can be effectively implemented when there is consistency. Provide children with snacks that naturally align with the 80:20 Rule, and do not give these snacks any special meaning by labelling them as indulgences; as providers, avoid utilising indulgent foods as a reward or bribe, as this further encourages emotional eating. When children grow up seeing balanced snacks as commonplace, as opposed to as an exceptional circumstance, they will learn moderation as a habituated behaviour, rather than being taught that it is a rule or expectation from above.

The Future of Children’s Snacking

As there has been an increased focus on creating awareness around the principle of permissible indulgence, this has generated new ways for families, schools, and even food companies to support children's nutritional development, with an emphasis on sustainable parenting values, prioritising long-term habits over the pursuit of short-term perfection, and an overall emphasis on mental well-being.

Permissible indulgence provides an opportunity for children to develop ‘building’ habits with snacks rather than having them control or manipulate them. In addition, based on both psychology and nutrition, it also breaks down the ‘good versus bad' dichotomy regarding snacks.