Farmer's Markets | Healthy Lunch Ideas

Today I celebrated GO Outdoors Day at the Boulder (CO) Farmer's Market.

Beautiful sunny weather, beautiful fresh produce, it was a perfect day to be outside.

And, now we have some delicious asparagus to enjoy for dinner tonight.

If you're in Boulder on a Wednesday or Friday, check it out for produce and for an outdoor meal. We had a global breakfast of veggie pot stickers plus a cheese and green chili pupusa. Perfect way to fuel an outdoor adventure.

via eatwellatschool.blogspot.com

Great post about visiting a farmer's market in Boulder. Farmer's markets are becoming more readily available and visiting them is not only a great way to buy fresh produce but also educate your children and get them to engage with where their food comes from. For more info visit healthy lunch ideas

Twitter Tips For Healthy Lunch Ideas

We enjoyed the Twitter chat with Fruits and Veggies More Matters this week! Today we want to share from favorite tweets from the chat and also popular links and tweets to information about My Plate.

Ready to get started with My Plate?  Here we go!

Click on the @links to go to Twitter profiles and you’ll see their latest tweets or click on hyperlinks to go right to the articles and resources.

via nourishinteractive.com

Tips and suggestions from twitter all aimed at getting your kids to eat healthy meals. Some pretty good links in here for healthy eating as part of the choose my plate campaign, worth clicking on a few of them. For more resources visit healthy lunch ideas

Meal Planner Tips | Healthy Lunch Ideas

Healthy Meal Ideas

Best Way To Use The MONDAY MEAL PLANNER and PRINTABLE GROCERY LIST:

I have found a few really useful meal planning/grocery list websites that I encourge you to use as well! The great part is you can choose recipes you love and you even can print a grocery list.

Remember these few rules when planning meals:

1. Choose lean meat such as poultry, fish or lean red meats

2. Serve plenty of fruits and vegetables!

3. Avoid high sodium, high fat, or processed foods such as pre-packaged meals, chips, candy, soda or frozen pizza.

4. Plan every meal including snacks to avoid trips to fast food restaurants or eating from the vending machine.

5. Whenever possible, purchase organically! (See

ORGANIC COUPONING 101)

5. Match your weekly sales with the recipes on these sites to create healthy dinners that are affordable!

Be sure to check out the organic deals on FAMILY HEALTH AND NUTRITION each week to see what is on sale and stock-up on items used regularly or that can be frozen for later: WEEKLY COUPON MATCH-UPS

WANT A PRE-MADE MONTHLY MEAL PLAN? SIGN-UP FOR THE FAMILY HEALTH AND NUTRITION MONTHLY NEWSLETTER!

Newsletter includes:

1. Monthly meal planner (healthy meal ideas for the entire month!)

2. Ways to have a healthier and more environmentally-friendly home.

3. Organic coupons and other ideas on saving money AND living healthier!!

4. Ideas for helping your children make healthier choices too!!

via family-health-and-nutrition.com

This post gives some goodmeal planner ideas and some background things to thing off before you start planning. It's a pretty useful resource as sometimes its overwhelming getting into a healthy eating shopping routine. For more resources go to healthy lunch ideas

Healthy Lunch Ideas for Vegetarian Kids

In recent times many children have taken after their parents and chosen to become vegetarians. A slight problem that vegetarian parents do face is finding healthy lunch ideas for vegetarian kids at school. With nut products banned from elementary schools due to allergies, parents find it difficult to pack a wholesome meal for their kids. Since nuts are a brilliant source of proteins in vegetarian diets parents have to look for alternative protein enriched sources for their kids.

Concerns of parents over the quality and variety of nutritious school lunches have led many schools to publish their lunch menus in advance. This way parents can overview the different lunch menus and educate their child about choosing the proper selection of vegetarian foods. If a school falls short of a vegetarian diet plan, parents can either pack kids lunches at home or persuade the parents’ forum to ask for change. 

Major supermarkets carry vegetarian diets which are ready to eat. Most meals are made from soy protein, providing kids with all essential nutrients they need. Cheese is also a great source of protein and can be taken in sandwiches, tortilla wraps or crackers. Children enjoy different kinds of cheese top choices include mozzarella, cheddar and havarti. Then there are other protein sources like hummus (made from chick peas), egg salad and egg sandwiches. 

Essential Food Groups 

A well balanced vegetarian lunch should include assortments from the four basic food groups. The first is protein. Protein is essential for kids between ages 4 and 10 and dried beans, peanut butter, eggs and cheese are recommended items. Grain products are second on the list; preferably the choice should be whole grain such as bread and crackers, alternatively bread sticks and unsweetened cereals can be used. 

Fruits and vegetables are the main course of the vegetarian diet, at least one of each should be added to the lunch, a can of tomato juice, mix vegetable juice and unsweetened juice can be included to mix things up every now and then. At least one item from the dairy product category should be in your child’s vegetarian lunch, examples are milk, cheese or yogurt.

Getting kids involved in lunch preparation is a good way to teach them about essential nutrients and to learn what they like and dislike. Parents can take time at grocery shopping and choose a good variety for a perfect vegetarian meal and plan meals with children over the weekend. Children over 12 can obviously prepare their own lunch and if not can help their parents prepare lunch. Healthy vegetarian lunches can take a little more preparation, but they are a lot of fun for kids to eat, especially when they have taken part in lunch selection and preparation.  

 Check out my other articles for more healthy lunch ideas!

More Than Peanut Butter | Healthy Lunch Ideas

Nuts for Nut Butters!

I might have been the only child on the face of the planet who despised Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches, and it wasn’t until I was an adult that I started eating nut butter. I didn’t know what I was missing! My tipping point occured when I started packing my own lunches for work, and realized all the possibilities for these creamy spreads!

No longer is the pb+j the standard! Looking for a way to liven your lunchbox? A healthy spread for your child’s sandwiches? Something new to dip vegetables in? Consider trying a new nut butter! Nuts are high in protein, fiber and good fats, and even a small amount can add a boost of flavor to your meals.

Most supermarkets carry specialty nut butters these days, but if you can’t find them, your local health food store is a great resource. And for the most economical way to enjoy nut butters, make your own at home!

1. Almond Butter

The almond is a sweet nut, that lends itself well to sweet flavors. A good alternative flavor-wise to peanut butters, goes well in sandwiches, spread on fruit, or stirred into oatmeal. For homemade, process for up to 15 minutes in the food processor (until it forms a smooth, spreadable paste).

Try one of these combos: [Almond Butter + Figs] or [Almond Butter + Apricots] or [Almond Butter + Orange Zest] or [Almond Butter + Honey] or [Almond Butter+ Chocolate Chips + sprinkle of Coconut] or [Almond Butter + Sliced Cherries]

2. Cashew Butter

Cashew butter is incredibly creamy with great mouth feel and a more subtle nut flavor. It lends itself well to Indian flavors and spices. Cashews also go well with other tropical fruits, such as mango and pineapple. For store bought, try For homemade, process for 2 to 5 minutes in the food processor.

Try one of these combos: [Cashew Butter + Curried Chicken Salad] or  [Cashew Butter+ Mango] or [ Cashew Butter + Pineapple] or [Cashew Butter+ Sliced Banana].

3. Hazelnut Butter

Most people equate hazelnut butter with outrageously sweet chocolate and hazelnut spreads, but savory hazelnut butter made out of plain ‘ole hazelnuts is a wonderful addition to sandwiches and can lend itself to a wide variety of flavors. For homemade, process hazelnuts in the food processer for 5 to 10 minutes.

via healthylunchidea.com

This article looks at the variations on every kid's favorite sandwich filling - peanut butter. The different options like hazlenut butter offer a greater nutritional variety and often are actually healthier than standard peanuts. For more nutritional info visit healthy lunch ideas

Healthy Lunch Ideas - Quick Snack Recipe

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Quick and easy breakfast recipe for kids and teens

http://www.howdini.com/howdini-video-6704831.html

Quick and easy breakfast recipe for kids and teens

Who better to teach kids how to cook than a kid? 18-year-old Justin Miller published his first cookbook several years ago and is already a professionally trained chef. This is a recipe for a quick egg breakfast kids will love to help make.

Keywords:
easy breakfast recipes
quick breakfast recipes

simple breakfast ideas

Duration : 0:2:51

via healthykidssnacks.net

Quick and easy snack recipe with video and text that is perfect for kids. Easy enough that kids, with or without supervision (age dependent!) can help making it. Designed for breakfast but could be made as a mid morning or afternoon snack. For more easy and simple recipes visit healthy lunch ideas

Nutrition Education | Healthy Lunch Ideas

Our brand of nutrition education is unique because it doesn’t always begin in the classroom. Of course it can if you use the new Balance My Day nutrition education curriculum, but what I’m talking about takes that concept and spreads it everywhere kids live, learn and play.

Schools, businesses, communities, healthcare organizations, families, and kids can all support a culture of health. Nutrition education is just one of the ways each of us can help in the fight against childhood obesity. It’s becoming easier now than ever before with the national Let’s Move campaign. There’s something everyone can do.

See below for some of the highlights of what we’re doing with our unique twist on nutrition education beyond classroom curriculum…from win-win partnerships to toolkits, from student chefs to a national recipe contest.

via healthykidschallenge.wordpress.com

Engaging, nutritional education with a difference. Article about how engaging with children when it comes to their healthy diet can make all the difference in the world and help form life long healthy eating habits. For more info visit healthy lunch ideas

Kid's Questions | Healthy Lunch Ideas

Here is an interesting question that I was recently sent by a class of grade 1 and 2 primary school students, who are currently learning more about food, fitness and health.

“We are learning about food and fitness and we want to know why are some
foods healthy and some foods not healthy? Do you have an answer to our
question? We also want to know what makes a healthy food turn into junk
food?”

What makes a food good for us?

A ‘healthy’ food is any food that provides a range of nutrients that helps our bodies to grow and develop normally. Nutrients can include substances such as vitamins and minerals, proteins and healthy fats, wholegrains, fibre and antioxidants that keep our bodies working normally, that fuel our daily activity, provide the building blocks needed to help us grow and that feed our brains and our bellies. A healthy food, as well as providing essential nutrients, is also one that does not make us sick or harm our bodies.

What makes a food unhealthy?

Foods that do not provide our body with many of the nutrients needed to help our bodies function everyday – things like excess sugar, salt and bad fats – are considered unhealthy. Unhealthy foods can also harm our bodies and do not make us feel well and full of energy. Sometimes foods contain other nasties, things like artificial colours and flavours, additives, artifical sweetners and chemical fillers, that also are not good for our bodies.

via foodfunhealth.com

This article answers the questions of some grade 1 and 2 primary school kids who asked about what makes food healthy and what can turn healthy food into junk food. Interesting focus for the article and some great tips in here. Nice to see an article from a child's perspective. For more healthy food resources go to healthy lunch ideas

School Dinner Story | Healthy Lunch Ideas

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Look at how one school in the United Kingdom turned round its poor healthy eating policy and became a source of nutrition for the children attending its classes. Interesting story. For more resources visit healthy lunch ideas

Healthy Lunch Ideas And School Activities

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One of the best ways to get kids involved in eating healthy is through fun educational activities. This video looks at having a "watermelon day" at your child's school and has some great engagment ideas. More info on engaging your kids with healthy eating at healthy lunch ideas

Healthy Lunch Ideas - Kids Eating Campaign

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A little bit product focused but an informative video about the nationwide produce for kids campaign. Some good information in the video so worth watching for that alone. For more info about healthy eating visit healthy lunch ideas

Allergy Friendly Recipes| Healthy Lunch Ideas

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Cooking healthy food for your family is not always easy and its made even more difficult if one of your children has allergies. This delicious and easy recipe is allergy free, the presenter also gives tips on how your children can help make the dessert. For more recipes go to healthy lunch ideas

Healthy Lunch Ideas - Easy Cook Chilli

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Great easy to make chilli recipe, perfect for the kids. Great thing is this is the kind of recipe that can be frozen and re-heated which makes cooking healthy for you family a whole lot easier. For more easy to cook recipes visit healthy lunch ideas

Kid's Recipes | Healthy Lunch Ideas

via youtube.com

Many parents are considering gluten free options when looking into healthy meal ideas and this recipe for museli looks tasty and is very healthy. Only negative comment I would make is it might be something to work up to with your kids as it has seeds and other ingredients they may not be familar with. For more recipes visit healthy lunch ideas

Low Fat Recipes | Healthy Lunch Ideas

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Great video from a food network run specifically for kids. This low fat quesadilla recipe looks absolutely amazing and is simple enough for your child to make with you, or for older children, without supervision. For more recipes visit healthy lunch ideas

Healthy Lunch Ideas And Nutrition Tips

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Although it is a little "product" focused this video gives some really good nutrition and cooking tips for kids. With a vegetarian focus, the owner of "Peas of Mind" really knows her stuff and gives some great advice. Fore more tips and advice visit healthy lunch ideas

Healthy Lunch Ideas - From Farm To School

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Getting your kids involved and passionate about healthy eating and nutritional food is the only way to start a life long love affair with a balanced diet. This informative and entertaining video for kids in a step in the right direction. For more information go to healthy lunch ideas

Healthy Food Game | Healthy Lunch Ideas

via youtube.com

Great game for your kids to play educating them on food nutrition and where their food comes from. Manages to be educational and still fun. Getting your kids involved is the biggest key to healthy eating, so this game is worth checking out. More info on games and resources at healthy lunch ideas

Total Health For Kids | Healthy Lunch Ideas

Did you know that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends getting at least 60 minutes of moderate to physical activity for kids and close to that for adults? And do not forget that strength and bone- building exercise should be incorporated in your exercise routine along with aerobic activity. And if this task seems insurmountable, with numerous tips and exciting activities offered by SuperKids Nutrition, it is as easy as 1-2-3.

Everyday

• Get outdoors: take early morning or evening family walks
• Walk or bike to school and work
• Walk the dog
• Walk to the store
• Park the car further away
• Make a commitment starting today to make it a habit to take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator
• Have fun creating and maintaining a garden. Weeding? It can count as squats-make it a work out!

*Remember 60 minutes a day, can add up quickly, 15+15 +30!

On the Weekend

• Hire a babysitter to spend time with your younger child while you exercise with the older child.
• Take a family trip to the beach or park and spend the day actively playing.
• Schedule a family outing that includes swimming, biking, walking, rollerblading, or hiking.
• Go on a fitness date: instead of the movies or dinner, hire a sitter to take a long walk with your spouse. Focus on fun conversation –you’ll be saving money too!
• Poor weather conditions?
  • Workout on an exercise bike while watching your favorite show. Learn more by investing in a bike trainer.
  • Try exergaming
  • Invest in a favorite workout DVD -what’s your favorite?

via superkidsnutrition.com

This article looks at something which is often forgotten when we think about keeping our kids as healthy as possible and that is exercise! Yes, we need to give great fuel to our kids but we also need to give them activities to burn that energy off! For more info visit healthy lunch ideas

Summer Simplicity | Healthy Lunch Ideas

The new USDA healthy eating graphic, ChooseMyPlate.gov, is a simple guide to smart meals anywhere. You can use MyPlate to quickly and easily plan healthful meals at home and on the go. MyPlate is perfect for summer picnics, since many picnic plates are already divided into sections!

PLAN

The KISS Principle (Keep It Super Simple) is a delicious way to make picnics popular with people of all ages. Choose a limited number of foods (no more than 4 to 5 items) that can all be served at the same time. Make the meal fun with a simple theme - like red, white, and blue foods for the 4th of July or an all-kebob meal on small skewers.

• Plan picnics for the yard, park, or lake: A picnic can make any meal special. Use beach towels for lunch in the backyard or pack a weeknight dinner to the park.
• Plan to keep picnic food safe: Always keep cold foods cold and hot foods hot. Frozen water bottles and juice boxes can do double duty as drinks and as chill packs.
• Plan active fun with your picnic: Plan to play before and/or after you eat. Bring along a Frisbee® or two. Pack some balls (or water balloons when it is really hot).
  

EAT

• Go fresh with fruits and veggies: Summertime is a very tasty time to follow the MyPlate tip to fill half your plate with fruits and vegetables. Farmer’s markets and supermarkets have local produce at great prices. It’s easy to prepare simple tossed or fruit salads at home. Or take a bag of baby carrots and slice a melon once you arrive.
• Go hearty with whole grains: Sandwiches, wraps, and pita pockets are perfect for picnics. MyPlate says to make half your grains whole, like whole wheat bread for sandwiches. Whole grains (cracked wheat, barley, brown rice, and the exotic quinoa) also make delicious cold salads, with chopped veggies and light dressings.
• Go smart with protein and dairy: MyPlate suggests protein and dairy foods at every meal. Protein can be tuna in a sandwich or a cold salad with black beans or chickpeas. Serve well-chilled plain or flavored milk (fat-free or 1%) or refreshing drinkable yogurts. String cheese is always popular with kids and easy to carry along.

ENJOY

Treat your family to regular picnic times this summer. Everyone can enjoy time to eat in a relaxed and casual setting. Just remember to keep fun on the menu!!

via eatwellatschool.blogspot.com

Quick look at how to create super, simple healthy summer food for your kids. Good resource, with the focus in on summer picnics and other summer meals manages to give a decent amount of info in a shortish post. For more info visit healthy lunch ideas

Outdoor Food Tips | Healthy Lunch Ideas

Healthy  Foods for Summer Outings, Picnics and Camping Trips

Enjoying time as a family in the outdoors is a great way to have fun with your children this summer- a family picnic or bbq at a local park, a mini hiking trip, cooking out at local lake, or a camping trip to a state park is an affordable way to spend a fun family weekend.

The great outdoors offers so many wonderful benefits of family time, special bonding moments, appreciation for wildlife and our earth, time away from the TV, and fun active outdoor activities. But too often, we bring prepackaged foods, hot dogs and chips to fill our kids’ tummies. Here are some easy healthy outdoor eating tips to ensure a great family time with fun and healthy food.

via nourishinteractive.com

There are very few things enjoy more than camping trips and other outdoor activities, but often these trips and excursions can lead some seriously unhealthy eating! This article gives some great trips on how to cut out the junk food from your outdoor adventures. For more info go to healthy lunch ideas

5 Easy Fruit And Veg Healthy Lunch Ideas

5 Ways to Add Easy Vegetable and Fruit to Your Daily Routine

Need easy vegetable and fruit ideas for you or your kids? Here are 5 simple ways to add more produce to your diet everyday to help reach your goal of seven to ten servings PER DAY!

Why do we need so many fruits and vegetables anyway?

Fruits and vegetables are full of important nutrients that can help prevent chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

DID YOU KNOW:

1. According to the American Heart Association, more than 80 million Americans have some form of heart disease?

2. According to the National Cancer Institute, 1 in 3 women and 1 in 2 men will have cancer in his or her lifetime.

3. Over 20 million children and adults have diabetes according to the American Diabetes Association.

These are staggering facts!

Be sure you and your family are on the right track to better health with these 5 ways to adding easy vegetable and fruits to your diet:

5 Easy Vegetable and Fruit Ideas

via family-health-and-nutrition.com

5 great ways to add fruit and veg into your children's diet quick and easy. This article really focuses on getting a good routine going and finding the easiest ways for your kids to eat more fuit and veg. Go to healthy lunch ideas for more tips and advice about healthy eating for kids.

Healthy Lunch Ideas - Gluten Free?

I have had several moms ask if I am suggesting that "grains are not necessary" (blog posting March 2011), do I then believe that gluten-free diets are healthier than typical US diets.

Like so many nutrition questions there is no black and white answer.

Gluten-free diets can be incredibly healthy even for those of us who tolerate gluten. Why? There are numerous reasons related to grains, that I discuss in my previous blog, but the primary reason is these diets eliminate the processed foods we love to eat. Most of our snack products, be it savory or sweet, contain wheat.

via healthykidshealthyfamilies.blogspot.com

This is a bit of specialized post but looks at a question that many parents are considering, if gluten free is meant to be the best diet for adults, does it translate into the same for kids? Really informative. More info at healthy lunch ideas

Teaching Kids The ABC| Healthy Lunch Ideas

Teaching Kids The ABC’s Of Essential Vitamins

 

A few charts I have found that can be helpful can be found here:

via blog.superhealthykids.com

Really interesting article based on the idea that kids are actually smart and can be taught about the benefits of nutrition. I love this idea as it really encourages engagement from kids within their healthy diet which I think is essential. More info available from healthy lunch ideas

Tips and Healthy Lunch Ideas

(Photo by Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

It’s National School Lunch Week, and many articles I’ve read in the news deserve a nod in my newly instated link-round up “Around the Lunch Table“. I’ll be posting links to stories across the web which deal with all aspects of healthy lunches – politics, how-to tips, recipes and more.

While packing a healthy lunch is an important part of keeping a balanced diet, saving money, and eating well, the national school lunch program is a vital government effort that needs an overhaul. As a nation, we are experiencing a failing education system, rising childhood obesity, and the food that our kids are being fed is pitiful, to say the least. It’s no coincidence that these are all integrally linked.

Let’s hope that making this a national issue will lead to active changes in  schools across the country.

via healthylunchidea.com

Whole lot of healthy lunch links and tips in this post, comes from prospective of school lunches which is not to everyone's taste, but, include links across the whole healthy eating spectrum. Worth a look. Go to healthy lunch ideas for more resources.

Healthy Lunch Ideas - How To Help Your Kids

via healthykidssnacks.net

Great set of videos and a blog post looking at how parents can help with their child's nutrition. Coming from a qualified nutritionist the post / videos dig a bit deeper and give some really great advice to parents. Visit healthy lunch ideas for more info

Healthy Kids Challenge | Healthy Lunch Ideas

Fruits & Veggies Every Day the Tasty Way is one of the HKC Healthy6 messages, and matches up with MyPlate key messages teaching kids to make 1/2 their plates fruits & veggies. Teach Fruits & Veggies Every Day the Tasty Way to kids using this lesson titled Fruits & Veggies, Crunch and Munch. Utilize MyPlate and colors of the fruit & veggie rainbow to help kids hear, see, and practice the lesson. 

Summary:

Choose plant foods like fruits, veggies, and whole grains for fiber. For the greatest amount of fiber, eat the skin of fruits and veggies and choose fruit instead of juice. Fiber makes us feel full, making overeating less likely. Fiber also helps lower cholesterol for a healthier heart and keeps food moving through our digestive system.

Balance My Day Nutrition Education, Grades 3-5

These are just 2 parts of Lesson 6-  the sample lesson activity and the Move and Learn activity from p. 165 in grades 3-5 Balance My Day Nutrition Education Curriculum. The worksheet, teacher resource, fruit/veggie log, student assessment, discussion points and questions, and answer key are available for your review, along with school nutrition services and Taste and Learn activities supporting this lesson. Learn more on the Balance My Day Nutrition Education Curriculum page, or contact us with questions.

via healthykidschallenge.wordpress.com

Great healthy kids tips article from the healthy kids challenge. Looking at balancing food nutritionally for grade 3-5. Worth taking a look at for little ones of that age, gives very simple, easy advice. Visit healthy lunch ideas for more tips and suggestions.

Healthy Lunch Ideas - Eating With The Family

Some of my best memories as a child are of sitting around the table together as a family, sharing meals and conversations, discussing plans and daily happenings. Indeed, some of the best memories I’ve created with my husband were made over a thoughtfully prepared meal. Once our son was 6 months old, he too joined us at the family table, providing us with the opportunity to make our own family memories together.

The power of sharing a meal together as a family cannot by underestimated.

Here are a 5 reasons why family meals really are that important.

1. Role Modelling

2. Reconnect

3. Improve Weight Control

4. An Opportunity to Teach

5. The Power of Conversation

Photo Credit: Beverly & Pack

Tagged as: Family Meals

via foodfunhealth.com

Coming up with healthy lunch ideas is not all about the food you feed your children, a lot of the time its about instilling healthy food behaviours that will last them for life. This article talks about one of those and that is eating family meals together, the author gives 5 top reasons and they are worth reading! For more articles visit healthy lunch ideas