Healthy Lunch Ideas To End Childhood Obesity

The percentage of overweight kids has grown from a problem to an epidemic today. The America Academy of Pediatrics has given various reasons for this increase in the number of overweight children. One issue is the fact that parents have less time than previously and find it easier to provide kids with convenience and fast foods.

Kids encouraged to eat junk food would rather have potato chips, French fries or deep fried meat than a healthy alternative. This is often not helped by the poor state of school lunches. They contain processed and convenience foods with chemicals and additives, similar to fast food restaurants.

A worse scenario is major soft drink companies promoting their unhealthy beverages all over America. Schools readily allow them access to children because they provide funding for their athletic and recreational programs. Today more franchise fast food and zero nutrition soft drinks are available to kids in school than ever before. This is 100% damaging the health of our children.

The ADA has acknowledged the fact that kids are not consuming enough of the vegetables and fruits that prevent heart diseases and help kids have a healthy weight. Parents should be concerned about what their kids are consuming at school and should encourage them to make their own healthy lunches and snacks.

The number one thing parents should do is contact school boards and inform them of this issue. Children who don’t participate in sports usually consume more and eating from the unhealthy school cafeteria menus is seriously injurious to their growth. School lunch menus should carry fresh produce and baked meat and potatoes rather fried.

Second, Parents should educate children about the benefits of vegetables, fruits, dairy products and whole wheat foods. You should try to push these nutrients in small proportions since children will avoid large servings at first. The more parents get involved the better the situation gets for the children.

Involving children in choosing, preparing and packing their lunch is essential to developing good healthy eating habits. Let the kids choose their favorite vegetables, dairy products and fruits and learn what they like most and what they don’t.

Usually, overweight children enjoy lots of sweets and fattening fast foods. The difficult task is to eliminate this eating pattern and stop them eating unhealthy food permanently. Prepare healthy snacks for them to consume all day, keep them easily accessible and make sure sweets are consumed as a treat not a meal. Snacks with fruits, cream cheese, vegetables with hummus dip, whole wheat cereals and bread are excellent choices for children who are plagued with obesity.

Unhealthy eating patterns continue from generation to generation, so by developing healthy lunch ideas you are actually helping the health of your grand-children and great grand-children!

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via healthyfoodbest.com

We all know the statistics and the reasons why our kid's nutrition is so important, but sometimes that knowledge can be overwhelming. The great news is just by using a few healthy lunch ideas during the week you can start the path to a better life for your child.

Healthy Lunch Ideas To Cook With Kids

There are so many benefits to involving your children in cooking family meals from the earliest of ages. They eat a wider variety of foods when they help prepare them; it's a fun bonding activity; and the older they get, they actually help with the process. Of course, getting to that point isn't always without spills or a few disasters, but that's part of the fun.

Cooking Light has developed a new cookbook, The Ultimate Kid-Approved Cookbook -- its first for kids -- that helps you navigate the process. In it are more than 100 recipes, from snacks to meals and desserts, that you and your children can prepare together. It also provides plenty of pictures and suggestions as to what tasks your children can perform.

I caught up with the book’s author, mom, and registered dietitian Carolyn Land Williams, M.Ed, RD., and she shared her top 10 guidelines for turning today’s children into tomorrow’s budding chefs: 

1. Be a Teacher. Everyday tasks that may seem routine to parents can be great learning opportunities for kids. Encourage healthy lifestyle habits by using the grocery store as a classroom to count foods, identify colors, and practice reading skills. Take a field trip to the local farmers’ market or dairy farm so kids can learn where foods come from.

2. Focus on the Three B's. Involving your kids in the cooking process lets you Bond with your child(ren), Build their self-confidence, and Broaden their food base. You get to work together as a team, help them develop their fine motor skills, and teach them about the importance of nutrition.

3. Cleanliness First. Always wash your hands before starting to cook and after touching raw meat, poultry, or seafood. It’s important to teach children not to mix raw and cooked foods. In fact, one easy way to do this is to have different colored cutting boards for various foods -- such as red for meats and green for fruits and vegetables.

4. Kids Need Space Too. Creating a small, safe workplace in the kitchen for your child gives them a sense of ownership while cooking. Make sure to set kitchen rules, and communicate those clearly, so kids are aware of their boundaries. Read each recipe together before beginning, and chop or measure your ingredients as needed before starting.

5. Never Assume. Kids don’t necessarily know that an object or utensil may be hot or sharp, so make sure to tell them and to set rules about how to use (or not use) each object. Explain as you go, demonstrate, and then let them try.

6. Prevent Mishaps. While it can be very tempting, don’t sample food until it’s done. It can be unsafe for little ones to taste-test certain raw foods. Also, clean up spills as they happen (and they will!), and keep sharp or dangerous items out of reach, such as knives, scissors, and food processors. 

7. Be the "Lifeguard" of the Kitchen. Always supervise children in the kitchen. It’s never a good idea to leave younger kids alone. For older children, identify what is and isn’t OK to do when you’re not in the kitchen.

8. Follow the Leader. The best way to teach children healthy eating and safe cooking habits is to practice what you preach. Even though you may not think your kids are paying attention, they watch everything you do and will eventually adopt the behaviors they see. By eating healthy and being active, you’re sending a powerful message to your children.

9. Explore New Foods. The more foods you introduce to children, the greater the variety of foods they’re likely to eat as adults. Preparing ethnic dishes offers a great opportunity to try new foods, flavors, and spices, as well as to learn about a new culture. Consider having a theme night, complete with music from that culture. Older kids can research that part of the world and share fun facts at dinner.  

10. Break Out of the (Lunch) Box. With school right around the corner, it can be tough to think of fresh new meal ideas outside of the classic PB&J. Involve your kids in the meal planning and preparation, which will increase the likelihood that they’ll eat the healthier lunch that’s been prepared and actually enjoy it. 

The cookbook launched last week, but they sent me an early copy, and my children and I have had lots of fun making some of the recipes this summer. I highly recommend the Ooey-Gooey Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownies.

Do you cook with your children? Any tips to add to the list?

Image via Julie Ryan Evans

via thestir.cafemom.com

Cooking with kids is actually more fun that you think! Yes it is messy but it is also a great bonding experience and the ideal way to get your kids making healthy eating choices for the rest of their lives. Try finding healthy lunch ideas that make your kids part of the process

Packable Healthy Lunch Ideas

via eatingwell.com

Packable snacks and lunches to keep you healthy, wealthy and thin.

These grab-and-go lunches and snacks make it easy to resist a stop at the corner deli for an overstuffed sandwich or the vending machine for a bag of chips. Plus they deliver fruit, vegetables, whole grains, beans and lean protein, such as chicken and turkey, in sensible portions. Wrap them up or pack them in reusable containers and carry them with you. Even after just a week of bringing your lunch from home, you may find your pockets a bit heavier with cash and your waistline a tad trimmer.

Begin »

via eatingwell.com

Just click on the link to find some great healthy lunch ideas. Often healthy lunch ideas sound great but are not practical for children of school going age. This collection of healthy meals are different in the fact they are all easily fitted into a lunch box!

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!