Posted by KiddieBase on January 4, 2012

Here’s a post from our very own Guest Blogger – Nutritionist Victoria Greaves Dip ION, mBANT.  This might not be for everyone but if you are looking to make your children’s lunchbox a little healthier there are some very useful tips in the below.

Healthy Lunch Box Ideas

Lunch should supply approximately one third of the daily energy requirements your child needs, as well as a third of protein, carbohydrate, fats, fibre, vitamins and minerals.

Try to include:

• One protein-rich food such as fish, meat, eggs, poultry, tofu, pulses/beans or houmous.
• One carbohydrate food such as wholemeal or granary bread, pasta, oatcakes or rice. Try wholemeal/brown ‘complex’ carbohydrates as they release sugar much slower to help give children sustained energy.
• One or preferably two portions of fresh fruit or dried fruit.
• One dairy food or calcium rich food such as cheese, yogurt, milk.
• One portion of salad or vegetables such as carrot sticks, celery, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, or a good amount of salad in a sandwich.
• 200-300ml of water or unsweetened fruit juice.

Here are some more specific examples of what you can include.

Choose one from this list:

• Wholemeal pittas with grated cheese and tomato or soft cheese and cucumber.
• Wholemeal sandwiches with tuna, mayo and cucumber.
• Wholemeal or white pasta twirls with tomato and vegetable sauce.
• Brown/white rice salad with tinned salmon, tomatoes, cucumber & spring onion.
• Homemadesoup in flask and wholemeal or granary roll.
• Small pot of houmous with wholemeal/white pitta, oatcakes or breadsticks and chopped cucumber, peppers, carrots, celery, cherry tomatoes.
• Tinned tuna/salmon or chicken or egg salad with lots of crunchy vegetables.
• Tortilla wraps with avocado and chicken salad or any of the above fillings.
• Chicken drumstick with crunchy salad (peppers, carrots, lettuce, cherry tomatoes).

Choose two from this list (preferably one or two fruit and one vegetable):

• Fresh fruit salad (minimum 3 different pieces)
• Two pieces of whole fruit – try smaller sized
• One portion of dried fruit and one fresh fruit
• Cherry tomatoes
• Raw carrot sticks
• Cucumber sticks
• Celery sticks

Calcium rich foods:

• Cheese cubes
• Natural yoghurt with fresh fruit to add in
• Fruit yoghurt
• Small carton of milk

Healthier Extras/Snacks:

• Flapjack with seeds and dried fruit
• Small pack of dried fruit
• Plain popcorn
• Rice cakes (plain or flavoured)
• Blueberry or fruit muffin
• Mini oatcakes with houmous
• Boiled egg (children like to shell them themselves)
• Seed mix – pumpkin, sunflower and sesame seeds with raisins

Drinks:

• Include a bottle of still water in your child’s packed lunch or unsweetened fruit juice as a drink. Soft/fizzy drinks are not a good idea as they are packed  with sugar and often colourings, additives, preservatives and aspartame (a sugar substitute), which can become addictive and affect moods.

Unhealthy Lunchbox

Avoid processed foods in your child’s lunch box as they are high in sugar, saturated fats, salt and often have chemical additives, preservatives, colourings and sugar substitutes that can change children’s behaviour and can prevent them from concentrating.

Things to avoid are:

• Crisps – high in fat, salt and often contains monosodium glutamate MSG
• Sweets – high in sugar and colourings
• Soft/fizzy Drinks – high in sugar, colourings and or aspartame (a sugar substitute)
• Chocolate – high in fat and sugar

Substitute:

• Oat cakes, Rice cakes – instead of – Sweets (mints, chewing gum, fruit pastels, liquorice, toffees, marsh mallows)
• Dried Fruits, raisins, mangos, apricots, etc – instead of Crisps or Chocolate
• Unsweetened  fruit juice – instead of Fizzy/Soft Drinks
• Cereal bars without any Hydrogenated Fats. Oat bars are best. Other alternative are fruit muffins, carrot cakes, flapjacks that don’t contain Colourings, Hydrogenated Fats, Monosodium Glutamate MSG, Aspartame

IMPORTANT: It is best not to send any nuts or peanut butter in to schools as some children are highly allergic to them.

Victoria runs a Womens’ Health Clinic and a ‘Nutrition and Cookery School’ for 5-11 year old children in Beaconsfield, Bucks. For more information, you can contact her at victoria.greaves01@btinternet.com

Posted in Family Recipes, School 1 Comment