Originally published July 27 2005
Dietician moms weigh in on packing healthy school lunches
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Dieticians with children offer tips for packing school lunches kids will actually eat; for example, Philadelphia dietician Althea Zanecosky employs an 80-20 rule, in which 80 percent of the child's lunch is healthy and 20 percent is a fun treat like cookies or a candy.
Sherry Lassa-Claxton is a registered dietitian whose twin 7-year-olds are the yin and yang of children's eating.
"He'd eat chips all day long if I let him," said Lassa-Claxton, who struggles like any parent to pack good lunches for her school-age children.
As professionals attuned to the dangers of childhood obesity and unhealthy eating, all insisted on healthy choices: cut fruits and vegetables, lean meat or peanut butter on whole-grain bread, low-fat or nonfat dairy products.
All three said that once a child turns 5, skim or 1 percent milk is the rule.
But unless you want that healthy lunch to end up in the trash, it's important to offer children variety, they agreed.
"I always say when my kids are older, they'll join a support group for children of dietitians," said Zanecosky, who grew up on bologna sandwiches packed in a smelly metal lunchbox.
She loves healthy dinner leftovers such as spring rolls and sushi or tortilla wraps with shredded veggies and cheese.
Zanecosky mixes up Rebecca's peanut butter sandwich routine with a sprinkling of raisins, shredded carrots, sliced bananas and coconut, even a few chocolate chips.
Rebecca also carries grapes or a banana every day.
She does insist on milk for healthy bones, even though Rebecca complains she's the only one at her lunch table drinking it.
Children's food has to be user-friendly, said Zanecosky, who peels and segments oranges before packing them.
A typical lunch for Moloo's children might include a lean lunchmeat, peanut butter or tuna sandwich on whole-grain bread topped with tomato or romaine lettuce.
After school, her children grab prepared snacks from the refrigerator: peanut butter on apple slices, light cream cheese on fruit, light ranch dressing on cut vegetables, sliced red pepper dipped in humus.
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