Build a Healthy Lunchbox

It’s every parents' struggle: how do you pack a lunch box with foods that are healthy yet still appealing to your kids? With a few simple tips, you can win the lunch struggle and make school lunch a happy and healthy part of your child’s day.

• Include your child in preparing their lunch. Give them the opportunity to choose which healthy options they would prefer. They will be more likely to eat all of their lunch instead of throwing it away if they have a choice in their meal selections.
• Add a fun treat to their lunch. Healthy options include fruit cut into fun shapes or a homemade trail mix.
• Add color and variety to their lunch. No one wants to eat the same foods every day. Add small portions of colorful fruits and veggies and make sure to mix it up and choose a different fruit and/or veggie each day.
• Don’t overwhelm your child. A typical school lunch only lasts 20 minutes. Pack them enough food so they can realistically eat during the time period and do not throw their lunch away. Focus on filling their lunch box with foods that are quick and easy to eat.

Bottom Line: A nutritious lunch is important to help your child focus and get through their school day. Finding a happy balance between a lunch that is nutritious and delicious is a win/win for both you and your child! Looking for some lunch box inspiration? Check out these recipes. 

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School Salad Bars: Placement Matters

Do you have picky eaters at home? Fruit and vegetable consumption is low among children and tends to decrease by one serving by the time kids reach their teen years. Thankfully, the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) has been focused on encouraging young students to buy and eat more produce. Since 2010, the Let's Move Salad Bars to Schools campaign has raised over ten million dollars to assist school cafeterias in obtaining salad bar equipment. One recent study examined whether the location of the salad bar in the school cafeteria impacted fruit and vegetable consumption.

During the study, which involved 533 middle school students from six schools in Arizona, salad bars were either placed as part of the cafeteria serving line or outside of the line. Researchers then compared the amount of fresh fruits and vegetables that were served, consumed and wasted.

In the cafeterias featuring a salad bar as part of the lunch line, 98.6 percent of students served themselves fruits and/or vegetables from the salad bar and 90.6 percent of those students actually consumed the fruits and vegetables. On the other hand, at the schools with salad bars outside of the lunch line, only 22.6 percent of students served themselves fruits and/or vegetables and only 20.7 percent of those students actually consumed the fruits and vegetables.

Bottom Line: In this study, there was about a fivefold difference in the amount of salad bar items sold and consumed depending on the placement of the salad bar. The results suggest that allowing students to serve themselves prior to paying for their meal requires less effort, thus increasing the chance they will choose fruits and vegetables. Salad bars should be encouraged in school cafeterias and placed in a convenient location. If you are trying to get your child to eat more fruits and vegetables at home, try allowing your child to serve his/her own fruits and vegetables along with the rest of their meal and always have fruits and vegetables easily accessible as snacks. 

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Longer Lunch Periods May Lead to Healthier Kids

Should kids in school be given more time to eat lunch? When given a few extra minutes, they might make healthier choices. A recent study published by the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics showed that food selection and the amount of food consumed are related to the amount of time students are given to eat.

The study measured the food selections and plate waste of 1,001 students in grades three through eight. The students were spread across six elementary schools located in an urban, low-income school district in Massachusetts.

The six participating schools had set lunch periods of 20, 25 and 30 minutes. Students were able to pick three out of five offered food groups: fruits, vegetables, grains, milk and protein. When researchers looked at the selection of foods, 57 percent of students chose a fruit when given at least 25 minutes to eat, while only 44 percent of students with less than 20 minutes to eat chose a fruit (timing started when students left the lunch line and stopped at the end of the lunch period).

Although there was no significant relationship between the amount of time and the selection of the entree, vegetable and milk components, results showed that more of these options were consumed when children were given more time to eat. Using plate-waste methodology researchers found that when students had less than 20 minutes for lunch (meaning they were at the end of the lunch line or arrived late for other reasons) they consumed, on average, 13 percent less of their entrees, 12 percent less of their vegetable and 10 percent less of their milk compared with students who had at least 25 minutes to eat.

Bottom Line: The quality of school lunches has been a recent topic for policy makers, but there are currently no national standards for the length of school lunch periods. These findings show that when students aren’t given enough time to eat, their choices and intake are affected. If schools provide at least 30 minutes for a lunch period, students will have the time they need to travel to the cafeteria, wait in line, and eat their lunch, leading to less plate waste and improved dietary intake. 

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A Healthy Heart Begins in Childhood

High levels of blood pressure early in life track into adulthood and are associated with chronic disease. Diet behaviors are established during childhood, and more than 90 percent of children ages 4 to 18, already exceed recommended sodium intake limits. We know that sodium reduction can help keep blood pressure in check, but do we need to worry about sodium consumption even in children?

Elevated blood pressure rarely results in adverse clinical events in children. Despite this, increased blood pressure during childhood has been linked with the beginnings of subclinical cardiovascular disease (CVD), obesity, diabetes, atherosclerotic heart disease and stroke. Increased childhood blood pressure levels tend to trend toward even higher blood pressure in adulthood, raising the risk of blood pressure related CVD as these children become adults. 

A meta-analysis of thirteen studies showed that lower sodium consumption in children was associated with lower blood pressure. Since the early effects of increased blood pressure begin in childhood and taste preferences develop early, it is important to get children on the right track by keeping sodium levels down. It may be easier than it sounds, too. In one study, after just three weeks of eating lower sodium foods, children’s taste preferences changed enough so that they no longer preferred the higher sodium option. 

The Bottom Line: Reducing processed foods, supporting mandates for school lunch improvements, and encouraging fruit and vegetable consumption are all ways to help put children on the path to a healthier heart in the future. While ditching the salt shaker at the table is a great start, think beyond the salt shaker and take a look in your pantry for high-sodium culprits. Packaged food products are often filled with sodium to extend shelf life; encourage a diet rich in whole foods for a healthier heart. 

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