What's for Lunch?

Well those days are gone!

With today's emphasis on the risks of childhood obesity, parents must rise to the challenge of providing nutritionally balanced meals and snacks. It's difficult enough when the kids are at home, but with the beginning of the school year, school lunches can throw a monkey wrench into the best of intentions.

So how does a concerned parent "kick it up a notch" and create a healthy school lunch that the kids will actually eat?

Healthy Lunchbox Main Courses

Leftovers are great the next day, especially if your child has access to a microwave at lunch. Package leftovers in ½ to 1 cup size Glad Ware containers, depending on your child's age and appetite.

Have you ordered pizza this week? Order low-fat toppings and pop the leftover pieces into Ziploc bags and the kids will love it, hot or cold.

A burrito is another great lunchbox option. Lowfat bean and chicken burritos pack easily and offer a great alternative to the traditional sandwich fare.

If a sandwich is the order of the day, be sure to use whole grain bread. Check the ingredient list to avoid bread with high fructose corn syrup or other sugars in the first five ingredients. As an option, build the sandwich on a high-fiber wrap, flatbread, or whole grain bagel.

Opt for roast chicken or turkey, tuna salad, or chicken salad sandwiches. Pick up a rotisserie chicken at Costco or your neighborhood grocery store and cut it up specifically for lunchbox use.

Avoid highly processed lunchmeats. Stick with products such as Kirkland Oven Roasted Turkey Breast, which boasts only 0.5 g. of fat per serving.

Adding cheese to the sandwich? Be sure to purchase "real" cheese such rather than something labeled "pasteurized processed cheese food." Cheese adds fat to the overall nutritional balance of the meal, but will not negatively impact most children's diets if used once or twice a week.

Create your own "Lunchable" at home. Cut low fat lunchmeat and cheese into bite-size pieces. Add a few whole grain crackers and package in a reusable container.

Healthy Lunchbox Sides

Add a piece of fresh fruit. Be sure to wash the fruit thoroughly with Fit Fruit and Vegetable Spray to remove waxy coatings and pesticides from the fruit. Feeling ambitious? Mix up a bit of fruit salad and prepackage to cover a few days' lunches, and add variety.

Depending on the age of your child, you may add some additional side items. Certainly the middle- or high-school student who stays after school for athletics needs a larger lunch and probably an added snack.

Try a cheese stick or two, a bag of roasted nuts (unless the school has a firm "nut free" policy), or some hummus with veggies. Popcorn with a little salt offers a great alterntive to chips.

Low fat yogurt adds protein and calcium to the mix.

The classic mini carrots and celery sticks provide a crunchy and healthy side that adds no fat and few calories.

Mix up your own trail mix with dried fruit, Cheerios, edamame, and a few chocolate chips. Vary the selection with a little coconut, nuts (again, if permitted at school), and various high fiber cereal options.

For teenagers, an energy bar may be a great addition. But...be wary of so-called "nutrition" bars that pack in hundreds of extra calories and lots of sugar. Read the label!

Healthy Lunchbox Desserts

Everyone likes a treat to end their lunchtime meal. Bear in mind that children have a very limited time to eat, so an "eat and run" dessert will help them move out of the cafeteria quickly.

Try a mini Fruit Rollup, with only 5 grams of sugar.

Jello pudding are available in fat free and no sugar added options.

If you have time to bake, try a favorite cookie recipe made with whole wheat flour. Replace the butter or oil in the recipe with natural applesauce to take the fat content down.

And if you are packing lunches on the run - and who isn't? - toss in a granola bar. Like the energy bars mentioned above though, choose a bar that contains a relatively low amount of sugar.

Healthy Lunchbox Beverages

Your child may purchase low fat milk at school, or you may pack a beverage. Juice boxes are available with 100% juice. Although the sugar content of juice is high, the source of that sugar is the natural sucrose found in fruit.

And of course, you may want to send along a bottle of water.

Put it all together for a healthy, nutritious lunchbox lunch!