Like billions of Moms everywhere, every morning (or the night before for the more organized ones) I have to come up with what to put in my daughter’s lunchbox. Quite a challenge as each day must have 3 important factors:
1. Yum factor (she’ll eat it)
2. Health factor (to diminish any guilt on my part that I’m feeding my kid right)
3. Variety factor (kids thrive on this in waves, after one particular fave is no longer a fave you’ll have to experiment to find a new one so variety does matter)
And now that my child has both snacktime and lunch at school, I have to be extra creative.
It is extra difficult to succumb to temptation at the supermarket in the name of convenience, where there are miles of aisles devoted to pre-packaged biscuits and crisps, all brightly coloured with kid-ogle-worthy characters but unhappily laden with all the scary mono-poly-whatever fats, salts, refined sugar, msg and other frightening dyes.
I’m no granola Mom (and occasionally buy oreos and take them to yikes- Mac Donalds) but I do like to think that I’m not filling my kids with scary things that will pop out and haunt them later on. And that the rosy glow of health is also a look I like to see on them.
According to a nutritionist a healthy lunchbox should have the capability of improving your child’s attention, behaviour and learning throughout the day and into the afternoon, providing 1/3 of your child’s daily requirements of nutrients.
So to simplify:
1. Protein: to keep them alert
2. Complex Carbs: for slow-release energy
3. Calcium: for growth, healthy bones and teeth
4. Fruit and veg: for vitamins and minerals
More on my next post on ideas for this. Stay tuned Moms.
Originally posted on September 9, 2006 @ 12:50 pm
