Involve your kids and plan ahead to make sure they will actually eat what you give them. Let the five food groups - milk, protein, fruits and vegetables, fats, and grains - provide the framework. As a rule of thumb, include at least three of the five groups. And for safety's sake, remember to wash your child's lunchbox every night with soap and water to keep bacteria from growing in the seams and corners. It is wise to also wash it weekly with baking soda and water to prevent lingering odors.
Nutrition is Vital for Learning
Recent studies have shown that balanced and nutritional breakfast and lunch meals are vital for your child's sustained academic performance. Cognitive, behavioral, and emotional balance is sustained, promoting better concentration, mental processes, a feeling of well-being, and mood modulation when a child's nutritional and hunger needs are satisfied. A solid, balanced meal before and during school keeps your child's blood sugar sustained at the optimal level without drastic peaks and plunges, which can seriously affect your child's ability to focus, and behave acceptably in the classroom setting.
Research shows that eating breakfast is associated with improved strength and endurance (physical and mental) in the late morning. In addition, eating breakfast leads to a better attitude toward school or work. Breakfast helps to replenish blood glucose levels, which is important since the brain itself has no reserves of glucose, its main energy source, and must be constantly replenished.
Lunch is very important for everyone, including children to sustain energy and mental ability for the remainder of the day. Everyone needs energy during the day to cope with the demands of our hectic lifestyles, for growth, for learning, and to fuel an exercise program.
Nutritional Guidelines
Your child's breakfast and lunch should provide about 30 per cent of their daily nutritional needs with each meal. It is important to make sure they are balanced, with adequate provision of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients such as carbohydrates and proteins.
The best way to get your kids to actually eat their lunch, and not leave it somewhere to decompose, is to enlist them in the lunch supply shopping safari. In other words, take them to the market with you, teach them how to read food labels and pick fresh foods, then allow them to choose, within your budget boundaries. This not only encourages commitment to eat the food, but is educational for the kids for both nutrition needs and how to budget yet eat well. At the beginning of the school year, let your child pick out his or her lunch kit. It may seem trite, but it matters to many kids what kind of image stares them in the face, day in and day out. If you are able, let them pick the one they like the best.
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