There are a few things in my daily routine that I dread: unloading the dishwasher, folding and putting away clean clothes and making my daughter’s school lunch. It doesn’t matter if I do it the night before (a rarity) or the morning of (frantically) – either way, I curse under my breath. My kid would be happy with a Snickers bar and a high five, or one of those pre-made boxed suckers from the grocery store (rhymes with Funch-ables), but I’m trying to keep her healthy.
I watch the news and read the blogs, and I know that we, as a nation, are wrecking our kids with sugar, sodium and high-processed foods. Still, many days, I plop a sugary-sweet pretty pink Go-Gurt in her bag, thinking, “At least yogurt is calcium.” Not so. See, I’ve been researching what we’re feeding our kids when the lunch bells rings. I’m here to confess that when it comes to making my kid’s lunch, I get an “F.” I now know that I am officially a bad mom and am poisoning my child. There, I said it.
We spoke with Keeley Drotz, a McKinney dietitian and author of The Poisoning of Our Children: Fighting the Obesity Epidemic in America, who gives us the dish on what makes a healthy school lunch. It’s a challenge to make a meal that’s healthy, tastes great hours after it’s packed and appeals to your mini-gourmand. But, trust us, it can be done. We admit it, we aren’t seeking perfection here. Never have we dreamed of being Gwyneth Paltrow and her yoga-filled, vegan ways. Our goal? To do better than we’ve been doing, and to allow sound eating habits to gradually infiltrate our lives and our kids’ lives.
Check out our three real lunches – supplied by our readers – that, with expert advice from Drotz, we’ve taken up several notches from awful to good. We also chatted with Dallas certified health coach Clayton Wright Robinson, who gave us some grocery store shopping tips and explained the nutritional no-no words to steer clear of. Sharpen your No. 2 pencil, moms and dads, it’s time to take notes on what’s good, what’s bad and what’s really, really bad when it comes to your child’s school lunch.
. . . . .
The Terrible Lunch: PB&J on Wheat Bimbo Bread; Nabisco Angry Bird Graham Crackers; fruit roll-up; Scooby-Doo fruit snack; fresh strawberries; lemonade Capri Sun
The Problem: The biggest offender is sugar. Sugar is found in the fruit roll-up, the fruit snacks, the graham crackers and the Capri Sun. There is a real fruit, which is good, but all that sugar makes for little nutritional value.
The Makeover: Use a natural peanut butter that contains no added sugar and is low in salt (50 mg. or less per serving). Even the “natural” varieties of peanut butter are often high in sugar and salt, so exercise caution on the peanut spreads. For the jelly, use organic spreadable fruit. When it comes to bread, it’s important that you choose 100 percent whole wheat. Says Drotz: “Just because the label says ‘wheat’ doesn’t mean it is whole grain, and this is an important distinction. The label must specify 100 percent whole wheat.” In place of the graham crackers, which contain little nutritional value, substitute black bean crackers. Now we get into the sugar, which is all the fruit roll-up and fruit snacks are (corn syrup and sugar are among the first four ingredients in both). Nix those altogether and instead include a fresh vegetable or fruit, such as snap peas or cucumber. If that’s too bland for your kid, include a low-fat ranch dip to liven them up. Another thing to toss? The Capri Sun. It’s basically sugar water, Drotz says. Plain water is always the best drink option.
. . . . .
The Bad lunch: Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup; Cheetos; fruit roll-up; carrots; Capri Sun
The Problem: The biggest issue with this lunch isn’t sugar, it’s the high sodium. The best component of this lunch is the fresh vegetable (carrots). Still, it’s missing a fresh fruit, and the Capri Sun and fruit roll-up makes the lunch sugar-filled.
The Makeover: Start with switching out the high-sodium Campbell’s soup for a reduced-sodium version. Ideally, homemade soup is the best option, Drotz says, though that isn’t always possible; we went with freshly prepared soup from Whole Foods. Toss the Cheetos, which are high in sodium and fat and low in nutritional value, and choose nut crackers – in this case, almond. In lieu of the fruit roll-up, choose fresh fruit, which contains fiber and a host of other nutrients, including disease-fighting antioxidants. Once again, lose the Capri Sun in favor of plain water.
. . . . .
The Decent Lunch: Ham and cheese on a flour tortilla; Baked! Cheetos; banana; Go-Gurt yogurt
The Problem: This lunch doesn’t seem too bad, but it’s missing a fresh vegetable and contains a lot of highly processed foods (Baked! Cheetos, flour tortilla, Go-Gurt).
The Makeover: Start by exchanging the flour tortilla for one that’s made of whole wheat, which provides fiber and nutrients and isn’t overly processed. When it comes to luncheon meats, here’s the rule, Drotz says: use lean, lower-sodium fresh and natural deli meat. While she suggests you avoid processed meats altogether, if you do buy them, she advises that you select brands that contain no more than 20 percent of the Daily Value for sodium (less than 48 milligrams) and are “natural,” with minimal processing and preservatives. Another thing to avoid? Processed cheese, such as American cheese slices or The Laughing Cow. Add vegetables or fruit, such as tomato slices or baby spinach, to the wrap. As an added tip, package them separately so they don’t get soggy. Because of the whole-wheat tortilla, this lunch is already high in grains, so skip the Baked! Cheetos and instead include more vegetables, such as celery, and hummus for a dip. Another item to jettison is the Go-Gurt yogurt, which is high in sugar (you’re getting calcium in the cheese on the wrap.) Keep the banana.
