Healthy Lunch Ideas for Kids
This is a question I get from patients all the time so I thought I'd create a post on this topic.
When I was looking into lunch box ideas for my daughter, I really liked the bento style lunch boxes. They allow you to send different varieties of food without all the extra containers. I ended up getting her a PlanetBox lunch box set because it has a bunch of compartments and is made of 100% stainless steel, which was a must-have on my list. It's always best to avoid plastic, and possibly even silicone (except for lids), as much as possible.
FEEDING DEVELOPING BRAINS
The brain is part of the nervous system and won't be fully developed until your child is in their mid-20's. That gives you a lot of time to make sure you're providing nourishing foods that will support optimal brain and nervous system development. So what does a child's brain need for optimal development, function and health?
Healthy Fats: this can include avocado slices (delicious plain, or with a squeeze of lime and a pinch of Celtic sea salt or Herbamare); coconut slices, cheese, olives, salmon, full-fat plain yogurt (the ones with fruit usually contain huge amounts of sugar), pumpkin seeds. All of these things can be packed for lunch.
**Nuts are also an excellent source of healthy fat, particularly walnuts, but most schools have nut restrictions in place due to allergies.
2. Protein: Protein is important for a number of reasons. It promotes satiety for longer periods of time, so it's less likely that your child will feel hungry between opportunities through the day when they can eat. One of the reasons I always advise parents to send kids off with a high protein breakfast is for this reason. If a child is hungry, they may have a more difficult time concentrating or learning. Protein also keeps blood sugar balanced, which leads to fewer behavioural issues in general.
Some examples of good, lunch-ready protein includes: cheese slices, lean ground turkey slices, chicken slices, summer sausage, tofu, hard boiled eggs, Greek yogurt, hummus.
3. Fibre: The digestive system and it's optimal function is essential to everything from a child's immune system and mental health, to their body's ability to detoxify and assimilate nutrients. Making sure that your child is having at least one bowel movement every day is very important. Good sources of fibre include fresh vegetables like carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, green beans, radishes, peas, celery, and fresh fruits like strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, apples, orange slices, banana, pineapple, mango, and avocado.
HEALTHY SNACKS
I'm not a huge fan of snacks because they tend to be loaded with sugar, and the child should be focused on eating the lunch that is packed for them, giving them the nutrition they require. However, I understand that kids will ask for it, and let's be real, everyone else in class usually has them. I also find that the more you restrict, the more they tend to want it. What I've found works best is having a few healthy snack options that I can rotate through each week. At my house these include:
Home-made options like:
a home-made cookie
home-made muffins
elderberry gummies made with beef gelatin
toasted coconut slices with a little bit of maple syrup and cinnamon or pumpkin spice mix
toasted apple slices with cinnamon (Martin's makes these but they do have added sugar so just be aware of that)
apple sauce (if you mix in a little camu camu powder, this snack just became a nutrient dense power-house with added naturally-occurring vitamin C).
Pre-made options that are decent in terms of nutrition and lower in terms of sugar:
Made Good and Prana granola bars (both companies bars contain <8g of sugar/bar)
That's It fruit bars. They literally contain fruit, that's it (hence the company name!)
Bob The Snail fruit snacks. Again, the only ingredient is fruit
Unreal Dark Chocolate Coconut bars
DON'T FORGET TO HYDRATE!
Water is a big topic and the short version is that a child ideally should not be drinking tap water. Reverse osmosis, The Berkey, and various whole home filtration systems are available and are all good options. I'm not a fan of Britta for a variety of reasons. I wrote a separate blog post on water here if you want to dive deeper into this topic. It's good to send an extra bottle of water if possible, so that your child doesn't have to fill up at the school tap. I was surprised to see that at least one tap at my daughter's public school actually has filtered water, so walk through your child's school and take a look to see what options your kids have for water while at school. An easy way to sneak in a few extra minerals is through trace mineral drops, I use the ones from Concentrace. It does have a distinct taste, so just a heads up to get your child used to it very slowly and gradually (ie. 1-2 drops in a smaller sized water bottle to start).
WHAT IF THEY BRING HOME A FULL LUNCH BOX?
It can be disappointing when you put effort into making sure you're sending a nutritious lunch and it comes home basically untouched! This happens from time to time and I encourage asking your child why they didn't eat their lunch. Did they not like what was packed? Did they not have time? Were they just not hungry? Kids go through times when they're just not as hungry. As long as this isn't happening all the time, it's fine. The rule I have at home is that if my daughter is hungry after school, the first thing is to finish what's in her lunch box. After that if she's still hungry she can have something else, but lunch comes first. This way I know that she's getting solid nutrition and snacks don't take the place of proper diet.
I hope this helps!
Dr. Renáta
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