Forget quinoa and kale, these basic foods for your kids’ lunch box will give them the nutrition they need

With the start of another school year upon us, parents are preparing themselves for the constant task of making lunch boxes.

Many parents feel pressure to include superfoods in the lunch box, which can be costly and impractical, especially if their child doesn’t like them! Yet while superfoods are hyped everywhere as being essential items, nutritionally they are not that different to other fruit and vegetables.

For many families, just getting something into a lunch box is super enough.

Australian children are going hungry more frequently than you or I would like to believe. In 2013, 15% of Australian children went to school without breakfast. And almost one in 10 children will not eat for an entire day on a regular basis.

Hunger in children has numerous psychological and behavioural consequences, and can have a lifelong impact on learning. Children who skip meals are more likely to be overweight, have a lower intake of fruit and vegetables, and can be more inactive.

There is also a lot of social stigma attached to what does (or doesn’t) go in the lunch box.

Children can be embarrassed as they are seen as different; parents too are embarrassed when schools do not understand their situation, leading to children staying home from school.

Teachers must often negotiate the minefield of school lunches; it’s a tricky task when what is in the lunchbox may be the culmination of complex factors including food insecurity, socioeconomic and cultural factors and family dynamics.

Teachers are called on to inspire health in their students and implement policies that do not consider all of these complexities.

Super school lunches can be achieved not by the addition of a quinoa salad with blueberries and kale, but with simple core foods such as bread, fruit, vegetables, dairy and meat, fish or egg.

Lunch boxes don’t have to be fancy to be healthy.

A lunch box consisting of a Vegemite sandwich on brown bread, a banana, biscuits and cheese, and a carrot (in the context of some meat or fish at dinner), while not as glamorous or apparently super, can fulfil a child’s nutritional needs at school and keep them energetic and alert.

What super lunches do need is both preparation and planning.

The myriad of snack foods in supermarkets are confusing as many are labelled as healthy choices but in fact contain large amount of sugar, salt or fat and have minimal fibre.

Supposedly healthy choices can also result in inadvertent but significant boosts to daily calorie intake. For example, a large smoothie (while a better choice) can contain as many calories as a Big Mac.

Other considerations when packing a lunch box are ease and speed of eating. Young kids in particular are keen to get out to the playground and won’t appreciate the time it takes to eat large salads or chia seed puddings.

It’s worth planning ahead when making lunches.

Food safety

Food safety is also important as hot Australian summers will turn your beautiful chicken or green smoothie into something very unpalatable (and potentially dangerous) by lunchtime. An ice brick in the lunch box will help, but some foods just aren’t good to send in the lunch box over summer.

If you are struggling for ideas, lots of websites offer suggestions, including KidSpot, Better Health Channel and the Raising Children Network.

If you are able to provide a nutritious breakfast each morning, send a lunch box with mostly non-processed fresh foods to school. Provide a snack and an evening meal along similar lines, and you are doing a super job.

The Conversation

Evelyn Volders, Adv APD, Senior Lecturer/Course Convenor in Nutrition and Dietetics, Monash University and Zoe Davidson, Lecturer / Research Dietitian, Monash University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Evelyn Volders

Evelyn worked for many years as a clinical specialist paediatric dietitian at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne. She has a particular interest in breastfeeding and has qualified as a lactation consultant. Other areas of interest include optimal nutrition for infants and children and nutrition management of cystic fibrosis. She co ordinated a specialist course for dietitians wishing to develop expertise in paediatrics and has had extensive experience as a clinical teacher through her previous role as an adjunct lecturer from 2001. She has presented widely at many meetings on paediatric nutrition topics. She is currently a senior lecturer at Monash University and convenes the Bachelor of Nutrition & Dietetics.

One thought on “Forget quinoa and kale, these basic foods for your kids’ lunch box will give them the nutrition they need”

    Diana says:

    You are so right about lunch boxes not needing to be filled with fancy foods to be healthy. When it comes to kids, simple is always better. And anyway, both my kids love so much their bento boxes from Penny Scallan that many times, they don’t even care what food I pack for them 🙂

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