Ever wondered how you could make your child's lunch box healthier? Personal Trainer, Lifestyle Consultant and Nutritional Advisor Simon Lovell aims to help...
Personal Trainer, Nutritional Advisor and Lifestyle Consultant Simon Lovell is keen to inform parents how to create a more healthy lunch box for their children.
With recent news in the
One of my most popular sayings is ‘we weren’t put on this earth to eat chocolate bars and crisps’ and unfortunately with all the marketing around us and especially targeted at kids, we need to re-educate from an early age and it’s your influence that may see your child go in one direction in life, or another, so beware. Taste buds are now acclimatised to certain types of bad foods and in order to get back to what we should be eating it make take a little time. But it can happen!
Of course packing a healthy lunch box isn’t the easiest of tasks especially when a youngster has developed a taste for foods high in sugar, salt and added flavourings. Instead of making drastic changes to a packed lunch box it’s probably a good idea to start implementing gradual changes which over a period of time will develop into a much healthier style of eating.
By packing a healthier lunch box for your child you will reduce the chance of them developing weight issues from a young age; provide more sustained energy for them throughout the day; offer vital nutrients; increase alertness in the classroom and much more.
Here are my top tips for a better packed lunch box. As parent, if you’re looking for a healthier lunch for you or your kids with more sustained energy and all the nutrients you need from a healthy eating plan check out my Lunch Box Diet located at http://www.lunchboxdiet.co.uk
Remember, you don’t have to implement all of these changes now for your child. You can introduce actions gradually and see how you get on.
- Use low fat spreads on sandwiches or try with no spread at all, see if they notice! I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
- Avoid white bread if you can. Try using granary and then move onto wholemeal bread. Brown bread is just as bad as white. White bread has a high GI rating which means you’ll get a boost of energy but then you’ll dip. By implementing wholemeal bread your youngster will have more energy throughout the day.
- Adding a protein in sandwiches is essential for your child’s muscle development, in addition to some vegetables and leaves of course. Lean strips of chicken/turkey are idea as well as tuna and other fish. Try out different variations. Maybe include their favourite sandwich as well as a new one each day and see whether they liked it. This way they won’t starve if they don’t opt for the new style sandwich and you can try something else the following day.
- Always add fruit and try adding new ones aside from apples, bananas and oranges. Kids love new tastes and there are loads of fruits out there that will tangle their taste buds.
- Pick organic yogurts, there are plenty of favoured varieties available. They taste just as nice and aren’t packed with teaspoon after teaspoon of sugars that aren’t burned off with turn to fat.
- How about instead of sandwiches offer flavoured bits of chicken breasts and make up some natural dips that your child can plonk in and eat. Then make some shapes out of bits of vegetables. You can be just as imaginative as them.
- Avoid drinks high in sugar. Flavoured water is a much more sensible option and there’s plenty out there to choice from. Natural fruit smoothies are the way forward. These will keep your child alert and provide some essential nutrients. Ones with berries are great.
