Healthy Lunchbox Makeover: Tips for Kicking
off a Wholesome School Year
by ARA
ARA – As the sunny days of summer melt into the crisp, cool
days of fall, parents and children shift focus from swimsuits
and summer camps to the more serious business of entering a new
school year -- and this means school supplies, bus schedules,
and school lunches become top of mind.
Though rushing to meet the hectic pace of
another school year is inevitable, it’s important for parents
and caregivers to make sure their kids are getting the
nutrition they need to make it through the activity-packed
school day.
“Today, parents are looking for healthy choices for their
children’s lunches,” says Doug Degn, executive vice president
for food and consumables for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. “The
addition of products like fruit cups or baby carrots to the
lunchbox are simple ways to make lunchtime healthier.”
Degn and Wal-Mart Stores, offer the following tips for kicking
off a wholesome new school year:
Start with the Basics
Peanut butter and jelly, turkey, ham, chicken salad, and tuna
salad are healthful sandwich fillings loaded with protein --
but sandwich bread is equally important. Some wholesome
varieties include:
* IronKids Wheat Bread is soft bread sweetened with honey for
taste. One slice has three grams of protein and all the fiber
of whole wheat; two slices have the same amount of calcium as a
single glass of milk.
* Hero Kids’ Recipe Bread from Mrs. Baird’s is the ideal bread
for kids who prefer not to eat wheat because Hero Kids’ Recipe
Bread provides more calcium and other nutrients than regular
white bread.
* Nature’s Own Honey Wheat Bread is another alternative that is
made with natural ingredients and doesn’t contain
preservatives.
Add a Side
Selections for wholesome side dishes are growing by the day in
our increasingly health-conscious society, making it easier to
include healthy lunch box selections. For example:
* Baby peeled carrots can often be purchased in snack pack
sizes, some as small as three ounces.
* Fruit is another convenient and healthy option like apples,
bananas, and grapes. Raisins or Craisins, a cranberry-raisin
combination, are tasty dried fruit alternatives that are easy
to purchase in bulk and remain fresh for days.
* If raw fruit and veggies don’t do the trick, fruit cups like
Mott’s Applesauce, Del Monte fruit cups, or Dole FruitBowls add
a little bit of zing to a school lunch and are also easy to
pack. Since these can be purchased in single servings, it's
easy to add in something healthy to a school lunch.
* Yogurt cups such as DANNON Danimals Yogurt, with vitamin D
and calcium, are another healthful option.
That Little Something Extra
Filling up a growing boy or girl can be difficult, but instead
of reaching for sugar or fat-laden foods that can weigh kids
down at lunchtime, there are several alternatives that can be
added to a school lunch or make great after-school snacks,
including:
* Frigo string cheese is a fun way for kids to get calcium in
their diets.
* Nature Valley Granola Bars or Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Bars can
be eaten as “dessert” or make a healthy breakfast for families
on-the-go.
Washing it Down
No matter how badly they want it, it’s always a good idea to
avoid packing sugar-packed sodas in a growing child’s lunch.
There are many alternatives to soda on the market, many of
which will, believe it or not, appeal to kids. And you can
place frozen fruit drinks packaged in foil or cartons in the
lunch box to keep foods cool until lunchtime.
* V8 Splash has more of the antioxidant vitamins A, C, and E
than orange juice and is now available in single-servings and
has a light, fresh taste.
* Tropicana Pure Premium Healthy Kids Orange Juice is also
available in a package of six, and Kool-Aid Jammers, available
in ready-to-go pouches, are convenient alternatives to
soda.
* Drinking water is a very good habit to learn at an early age,
and many water bottle companies make kid-sized bottled water
that are ideal for children’s lunches.
Many discount retailers, like Wal-Mart, sell a variety of foods
and snacks to make convenient, inexpensive, and wholesome
school lunches.
Courtesy of ARA Content
About the author:
Courtesy of ARA Content
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