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Fun, Filling, But Not Fattening
The Skinny on Making Your Kids a Great School Lunch
2. Teach your child that his bagged lunch needs to include foods from five food groups:
- Protein – Try meats lower in fat and cholesterol, such as chicken, turkey, tuna or lower-fat luncheon meats. For young children, you may want to cut lunchmeat sandwiches into different shapes using a cookie cutter. Lower-fat peanut butter can also be used on sandwiches.
- Grains – Try rolls, pita bread, lahvash for wraps, breadsticks, rice cakes, crackers or tortillas. Whenever possible, select the whole-wheat version. If your child will eat cold pasta salad, add low-fat meat or veggies with light salad dressing.
- Vegetables – Try adding tomato and lettuce to your child's sandwich, or for appeal, add colorful cut-up veggies in baggies such as cherry tomatoes, red, yellow and green peppers or baby carrots.
- Fruits – It's best to give your child fresh fruit that she likes first. The second choice would be to use canned fruit in its own juice or actual juice, such as that in juice packs. "Fruit has fiber and fills kids up, so that they want to eat less during the day," Levine says. "Juice, however, has the same calories as soda, so it should be served less often."
