Healthy Children
Welcome! This page on the MDA website spotlights childhood health and nutrition. We will be offering tips for both parents and health professionals. In the future we'll be expanding our list of references and resources. Thanks for visiting, and for helping MDA give ALL children a healthier future!
BACK TO SCHOOL BROWN BAG LUNCHES
Tips for Parents
Experts say that children as well as adults need a wide variety of foods to achieve balanced nutrition and maximum health protection. Tasty and nutritious school lunches can be one of parents’ biggest challenges. One of the surest ways to please kids and meet the basic dietary guidelines, is to make them part of the planning and shopping. Within reason, try to accommodate their lunch requests, keeping nutrition guidelines in mind.
  • A nutritious lunch doesn’t have to revolve around a traditional sandwich, consider:

    • Different pita breads or tortilla wrappings filled with a favorite sandwich meat or salad
    • Meat and cheese kabobs, or a macaroni salad.
    • Salsa or bean dip and chips, assorted pickles, veggie sticks or fruit pieces with dip make a lunch box bonus sure to please most kids, and contain more vitamins and fiber.
    • Fun foods like ants on a log and jiggly gelatin desserts are good choices for the younger kids.
    • Trail mix with raisins or other dried fruit combined with whole-grain cereal or air-popped popcorn, unsalted nuts, pretzels, and baked crackers.
    • Low fat yogurt used as a dip for fresh fruit.


  • Instead of making sandwiches, consider packing individual sandwich ingredients:

    • Let your child make their own sandwich
    • Let your child eat the ingredients separately.
    • Many children don’t like to eat more than one food at a time, since their sense of taste is very intense.


  • Think about different types of bread for sandwiches. Try crackers, mini waffles, rice cakes, mini croissants, pita bread, mini muffins, small bagels, tortillas, focaccia, raisin or cinnamon bread.


  • Some kids will try different foods if they are presented in an appealing way:

    • Cut up a sandwich into triangles and trim off the crust.
    • Cut sandwiches into fun shapes with cutters.


  • Push the envelope a bit more and suggest they jazz up their sandwiches with sliced bananas, or with slivers of cucumber or celery to add a little crunch.


  • Actual time for eating lunch at most schools only lasts 15-20 minutes and is filled with distractions. Make sure the lunch foods you pack are:

    • Easy to eat
    • Packed in easily opened packages
    • Don't require peeling or special tools.


  • Small children may not eat very much at one sitting. Think about packing appetizers instead of large sandwich and whole banana. Fill a mini muffin tin with small amounts of foods, wrap with foil, and pack into the lunch box. (You can include more choices if the quantity of each is smaller.)


  • Small foods are not only easier for children to handle, but they are more fun to eat:

    • Cut sandwiches into smaller pieces
    • Use tiny tortillas for wraps
    • Use small sandwich buns
    • Swerve baby carrots
    • Peel and cut fruit into smaller pieces to interest your child in the foods you pack.


  • If your child wants the same thing day after day, go ahead and pack it:

    • Make sure the overall meal is nutritious and you are sure you child eats it.
    • Kids don’t like a lot of change in what they eat.
    • It takes 10 to 12 introductions to a new food before a child is usually willing to even taste it.


  • Take some time to look at the prepackaged lunches in your grocer’s refrigerated section. These appeal to kids, but aren’t very nutritious. You can pack the same types of meals, but use healthier choices for more kid appeal.


  • Make sure you think about food safety:

    • Freeze juice boxes or small gel packs and place in the bag.
    • The juice will keep other foods cool and will thaw to just the right temperature and consistency by lunchtime.
    • Use an insulated thermos for hot foods like soups and stews, and cold salads, too.


  • Make sure to include something fun with their lunch, such as stickers, or cookies wrapped in plastic wrap and tied with a ribbon.
Tips for Health Professionals
Ditto!
References/Links
Obesity Evaluation and Treatment:  Expert Committee Recommendations- an article from PEDIATRICS Vol. 102 No. 3 September 1998.
Michigan Department of Community Health
National Institute on Child Health and Human Development
US Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control
United Dairy Industry of Michigan. UDIM is the umbrella organization for the American Dairy Association and Dairy Council of Michigan.
National Dairy Council. Visit the Health Professionals link for the 3-A-Day campaign, Nutrition Library, Newer Knowledge of Dairy Foods, Statements, and Consumer Education materials.
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