Lunchbox makeover tips
Lunchbox makeover tips
By: Jamie Buckner
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Posted by editor Tue Sep 26, 2006 15:40:23 PDT
Viewed 583 times
0 responses 0 comments For many parents, back-to-school means back to packing lunchboxes and preparing after-school snacks. With childhood obesity rates higher than ever, the Central Valley Nutrition Network is providing Valley parents with some easy tips to increase the nutritional value of a sack lunch. Here are seven easy suggestions to give your child’s lunchbox a nutritional makeover:
• Include at least one serving of fruit in every lunch
Pack a new kind of fruit each week to let your child discover new favorites. Pears, melon slices, applesauce, grapes, pineapple slices, apples and bananas are full of important nutrients and filled with flavor. Individual containers of fruits like peaches or applesauce are easy and convenient. Fruit is great fresh, frozen or canned in natural juices. Dried fruits also make a great snack. They are easy to carry and store well. As a snack, spread peanut butter on apple slices or top frozen yogurt with berries or slices of kiwi fruit.
• Incorporate vegetables into sandwiches
Try dark green leafy lettuce, cucumber slices, tomato, zucchini and roasted peppers. As a snack, try a low-fat salad dressing with raw broccoli, red and green peppers, celery sticks or cauliflower. Research shows eating vegetables can reduce you child’s chanced of developing cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and hypertension later in life.
• Choose whole-grain bread and snacks
Breads that list “whole wheat,” “brown rice,” “bulgur,” “graham flour,” “oatmeal,” “whole-grain corn,” “whole oats,” “whole rye” and “wild rice” as the first ingredient are considered whole grain. Foods labeled with the words “multi-grain,” “stone-ground,” “100 percent wheat,” “cracked wheat,” “seven-grain,” or “bran” are in many cases not whole-grain products. Other nutritious whole grain snacks include low-fat granola, light popcorn, some cereals and oatmeal.
• Make sure juice is 100 percent with no added sugars
Replace sodas and sugary drinks with 100 percent juice. Make sure the label says “100 percent juice” and avoid any drinks with added sugars.
• Limit sweets
Replace cookies, snack cakes, donuts, brownies, candies and other sweets with naturally-sweet foods like 100 percent juice and fruit.
• Use lean meats and cheese in sandwiches
Supermarkets sell a wide variety of lean lunch meats and cheeses. Look for lean turkey, ham, chicken breast and roast beef. When buying cheese avoid processed cheese and “cheese food,” choose low-fat, unprocessed cheeses.
• Encourage choosing 1 percent or fat-free milk
Fat-free and 1 percent milk include the same amount of calcium and nutrients without the fat and cholesterol of 2 percent of whole milk. Also try low-fat milk-based snacks such as sugar free milk-based pudding, yogurt and cottage cheese. For those who are lactose intolerant, lactose-free and lower-lactose products are available.
For more information, contact Central Valley Nutrition Network at (559) 456-7210 or visit www.mypyramid.gov.
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