Keeping School Lunches Healthy

What You Need to Know

Though school lunches have come a long way in the areas of taste and nutrition since your day, they still quite often exceed recommendations for fat intake. An unhealthy mix of foods is still available if your child so chooses to indulge – and knowing your child, he will so choose if you don't give him reason and guidance for choosing otherwise.

How You Can Help

Don't just tell your child to choose a healthy lunch – explain to your child why she wants one. A nutritious lunch will cut down on the afternoon lag kids experience in the latter half of the school day, by giving them energy to finish the day strong with loads of energy left for after school activities.

Lunch selection tips:

• Look over the cafeteria menu together, talk about what your child normally selects, and talk about what a healthy lunch should consist of: fruits, vegetables, lean meats, whole grains, low-fat milk or water to drink.
• Suggest eating right Monday through Thursday, and dipping into a less healthy treat on Friday as a reward for a great week at school. Don't forget to discuss recommendations for how to handle vending machines or after school concession stands.
• Encourage your child to take the occasional packed lunch, so that at least every now and then you have a little more say in what hits that lunchtime palate. Brainstorm ways of making the nutritious lunch seem evermore appealing, such as cold-cut roll ups, cracker sandwiches, peanut butter and celery sticks, veggies with low-fat dip – low-fat pudding or oatmeal raisin cookie for dessert.

When packing lunch, don't forget safety:

• Wash hands first.
• Use a thermos for hot foods.
• Use cold packs or freeze some foods and drinks overnight.
• Thoroughly wash lunchboxes daily, or use brown bags to discard or recycle.
• Include wet-wipes to remind your child to clean hands before and after digging in!

For more on this topic, please see the full article:

http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_School_Lunches/