All parents are familiar with the nightly battle to get the kids to eat their vegies, but did you know primary-school aged children get over one third of their energy intake from the food they consume during school hours?
Many kids may be schooling from home now, but it’s important that children are still eating a healthy diet throughout the day.
“A healthy lunchbox is important because it provides the fuel for your child to get through their day of learning and play,” says The Kids Dietitian Sarah Whalan.
“Unfortunately, research shows that the contents of an average lunchbox of an Australian student does not meet dietary guidelines.”
Sarah says the school lunchbox often contains greater than three serves of discretionary foods such as biscuits, snack bars and juice or cordial drinks.
“This can impact on a child’s learning and behaviour and prevent them from achieving their full potential,” Sarah says.
“Instead the perfect school lunchbox should contain each of the five main food groups and ideally parents should include more fruit in their children’s lunchboxes in place of the number of discretionary foods.”
Sarah says the five main food groups to be included in a healthy lunchbox are:
- Vegetables
- Fruit
- Breads and cereals
- Dairy
- Proteins
Here’s her suggestion of what a healthy lunch box might look like:
- wholemeal chicken wrap
- an apple
- carrot and cucumber sticks
- a small tub of low-fat yoghurt
- water bottle
*A frozen water bottle or ice bricks can be used to help keep food cool
Sarah suggests these simple swaps can also ensure a healthier lunch box for your child:
- Swap fruit boxes for plain water
- Swap muesli bars for a piece of fruit
- Swap sweetened, flavoured yoghurt for plain yoghurt with fresh fruit
- Swap white bread and wraps for wholemeal alternatives
- Swap processed meats such as ham for chicken, tuna or tofu
For more advice and information on children's nutrition, visit our nutrition topic page.