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Lunchbox Makeovers: Ten Tips for Packing a Healthy School Lunch
by Center for Science in the Public Interest


Many lunchboxes are overloaded with fat, sugar and salt and are missing fruit, vegetables, and whole grains. However, since a handful of foods do most of the damage to children’s diets and health, a handful of changes can go a long way to improving them.

Here are ten easy tips to give your child’s lunchbox a nutrition makeover:

1. Encourage your child to choose 1% or fatfree milk. Milk is by far the largest source of saturated fat in children’s diets. Choose 1% or fat-free milk instead of whole or 2% milk to keep children’s hearts healthy and arteries clear.

2. Leave the cheese off sandwiches, unless it’s low-fat or fat-free cheese. Though cheese provides calcium, it is the second leading source
of artery-clogging saturated fat in kids’ diets. Healthier sources of calcium include lower-fat cheese, fat-free and 1% milk, low-fat yogurt, and
calcium-fortified orange juice.

3. Switch from fatty luncheon meats to lowfat alternatives. Supermarkets sell many good tasting, low-fat or fat-free brands of turkey breast, chicken breast, ham, bologna, and roast beef.

4. Include at least one serving of fruit in every lunch. Try buying a new type of fruit each week to let your child discover new favorites. Try pears, sliced melon, cups of applesauce, grapes, or pineapple (fresh or canned in its own juice). Try serving fruit in cut into slices, cubed,
or with a yogurt sauce.

5. Sneak vegetables – like lettuce or slices of cucumber, tomato, green pepper, roasted peppers, or zucchini – onto sandwiches. Eating fruits and vegetables reduces your child’s chances of heart disease, cancer, blindness, and stroke later in life.

click here to continue reading...



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