Tips for a
Healthy Lunch 4
Fuel your kids for a day of learning by packing
a healthy lunch that they’ll love to eat.
By Mary Ann O’Dell, MS, RDN, Chamberlin’s Natural Foods
When school is in session,
it’s more important than
ever to prep those lunchboxes
with healthy food. Need some
ideas? Here are some tips for packing
a healthy lunch.
1. Focus on “healthy” but keep it
familiar. Be sure to include a mix
of protein and complex carbohydrates
for lunch to help fuel the
rest of their day. Protein foods include
nut butter (or alternative),
nuts and seeds, beans, meats and
meat alternatives, dairy and hard
boiled eggs. Complex carbohydrates
include fresh fruits and
veggies, whole or sprouted grain
crackers, bread, grains and pasta.
Consider combos such as bell peppers,
cucumber, baked pita chips
and hummus; carrot sticks and
cheese sticks; apple slices and nut/
seed butter; rice balls with edamame;
fresh veggies and yogurt-based
ranch dip. Pay attention to the
foods your child likes to eat and
include them in the lunch, limiting
sugary foods and sweets.
18 Central Florida Lifestyle | August 2019
2. Try adding one new food a week
into the mix. If your child has never
had kiwifruit, slice it and include
with strawberries and/or green
grapes. Include a different type of
cheese on half of a sandwich. Try
cauliflower pretzels instead of regular
pretzels. This may not always
work, but it’s a fun way to introduce
some new foods. It also allows
for conversation later in the day
when you ask what they thought of
their lunch.
3. Make it fun. Cut sandwiches,
cheeses and meats into fun shapes
using cookie cutters. Serve pinwheels
instead of sandwiches, putting
sandwich toppings on a tortilla,
rolling it up and slicing it into
pinwheels. Include some fun stickers
or a note in their lunchbox.
4. Keep it clean. Cut out the plastic
bags so commonly used by utilizing
biodegradable sandwich bags. Find
a bento box or utilize smaller, reusable
containers inside the lunchbox
to give a bento box feel.
+ IN THE Kitchen
Turkey Cheddar
Apple Pinwheels
Courtesy of Two Peas and
Their Pod Blog
Ditch the same old sandwich
and make lunchtime fun with this
pinwheel recipe. It includes protein,
whole grains, leafy greens and fruit,
covering all of the main elements of
a well-balanced lunch, and it tastes
good, too.
Ingredients:
• 1 10-inch whole wheat tortilla
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard or
mustard of your choice
• 4 deli slices turkey
• 4 slices cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup spinach leaves
• 1/2 large apple cut into 2-inch
matchstick pieces
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Slice the loaf of bread and then cut
each slice in half. Place the bread
in the oven for about five minutes,
which is just long enough to lightly
toast them. Fry the bacon on the
stove and then cut it into about four
pieces per strip. Tear the lettuce
leaves into smaller pieces, about
the same size as your bread pieces,
if needed. Spread mayonnaise on
each piece of bread. Stack your BLT
in this order: bread, bacon, lettuce
and tomato. Put a toothpick through
the stack, and either place in cooler
or on ice immediately.
Source: www.TwoPeasAndTheirPod.com
/www.TwoPeasAndTheirPod.com