Photo Courtesy of www.ElanasPantry.com.
Thanks for all the positive feedback on last week’s post on healthy breakfasts for kids. I’m glad to know this was helpful to many of you. It was awesome to hear so many of you are already making such healthy breakfasts at home – way to go!
Like I promised, I am following up this week with healthy lunch options. Nope, Lunchables, while convenient, are not healthy. And chances are your child’s hot lunch program delivers very little in the way of healthy lunch options.
Any Jamie Oliver Food Revolution fans out there? Have you seen what some of those schools are serving?!?! Not only is it unbelievable, it is disgusting and disturbing. If you’ve followed Jamie’s work at all, you know it is a MAJOR undertaking to get healthy foods in schools. Crap food is cheap and schools have no budget for healthy upgrades. Sad, but true.
So, unless you *really* know what your kids get in the cafeteria, I urge you to send them with a brown bag lunch (or a super cute lunch box!) This is the only way you can be sure they are getting their essentials in every meal – provided they don’t “trade up” for someone else’s Oreos….
Lunch is significant for many reasons. This is a chance for kids to re-fuel. Fueling your body is the main purpose of eating. Kids need that fuel for brain power all afternoon. Lunches full of junk will likely inhibit focus, concentration, brain power and positive behavior in general. Yes, food can play a role in your kid’s behavior!
So, you can see why it imperative that your little ones are fueled well for the afternoon. Make sure their lunch includes some protein and complex carbs. This will keep them full for the afternoon, so they can be attentive and focused and well behaved (hopefully!) If they have a bunch of sugar or simple carbs at lunch they will likely be bouncing off the wall (wait, is that why recess follows lunch – so the kids can digest the crap food/sugar rush the cafeteria serves???) and then have a dramatic crash awhile later. Not fun for the kids. Not fun for the teacher. Not effective for anyone’s learning process.
Lastly, but perhaps most significant is the research we are seeing on the impact of school lunches on children’s health. Kids who eat school lunches are more likely to be overweight and obese, increasing their chances of diabetes and many other chronic health conditions. These kids are also likely to have high cholesterol. What??? High cholesterol in school age children. Yup, in fact I’ve seen it myself in some of the kids I’ve worked with. Not ok. This article, by Dr. Elizabeth Jackson, outlines this University of Michigan research in detail. Very compelling reasons to avoid school lunches.
The most significant data from this article: “Children who ate school meals were more than twice as likely to consume fatty meats (25.8 percent vs. 11.4 percent) and sugary drinks (36 percent vs. 14.5 percent), while also eating fewer fruits and vegetables (16.3 percent vs. 91.2 percent).”
Side note: For some reason I thought I could find good information to share with you if I Googled, “school lunches suck”. I think I’m over tired. I couldn’t find my usual Google stride. Anyway, I found this snippet from Seattle’s Stranger to be quite entertaining, and disturbing. Cilantro air freshener???
Here are my recommendations for (cilantro free) healthy kid lunches:
*Sandwiches/Wraps on sprouted grain bread/tortillas with lean protein (chicken/turkey/Canadian bacon), hummus, tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, cabbage, cheese, mustard,
*Terra Chips/FoodShouldTasteGood Chips or pretzels
*Hummus and veggies (cukes, zukes, brocolli, carrots, cherry tomatoes, celery)
*Hard Boiled Eggs
*String Cheese
*Whole Fruit (apples, oranges, kiwi, grapefruit, bananas, pears, grapes)
*Cut Fruit (melons, pineapple, mango)
*Berries (strawberries, cherries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries)
*Sun/Nut Butters and fruits/veggies (carrots, celery, apples)
*Homemade Trail Mix: Nuts and seeds/dried fruits/chocolate chips/coconut trail mix (use sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds in nut free zones)
*Organic Applesauce
*Homemade Power Bars (that can be disguised as dessert – see photo above!)
*Fruit Leather
*Popcorn
*Celery/Nut Butter/Raisins
*Greek Yogurt with nuts/granola/dried fruit
As always, if you have other ideas, please share in the comments below or on Facebook. Also, pass this along to other moms who want their kids to be the smartest, brightest and most well behaved kids in the class!
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