It's Great Grub For The Lunch Bunch

Variety Is The Key To Rounding Up Healthful School Meals And Sending Your Gang Along A Wholesome Trail.

August 26, 1999|By Jan Norris, Palm Beach Post

Agonizing over which lunch box will thrill your child? Will it be Rugrats, Star Wars, a high-tech Arctic Zone or maybe Blue's Clues?

Here's news: It won't matter, as long as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is inside.

According to Mitch Head, spokesman for the Peanut Advisory Board that tracks all things peanut-related, a PB&J is the No. 1 sandwich requested by schoolkids who take their lunch.

Some kids would eat it every day, much to their parents' dismay. But it really is OK, says Cindy Kepler, a Royal Palm Beach dietitian who works with children.

``If that's what they want, then let them have it and you can work in the variety of foods for breakfast and dinner,'' she said.

Variety is the key - as with all diets, she said. She had a laundry list of advice about packing children's lunches; she's done it for more than 12 years as a mother of three.

``As long as children are given choices, they will self-regulate their caloric needs. They are learning an important thing, and it's where we are with teaching nutrition: Letting our bodies be the judge of what and how much to eat.''

Some lighter eaters may not need a whole sandwich, for instance, but may be satisfied with half a sandwich, fewer carrot sticks or one cookie. Others may need two sandwiches and two juices.

``Ask the child when she comes home from school. Don't depend on the lunch box, because older kids may throw away food rather than bring it home. Ask them if they got enough to eat and if they felt hungry afterward. They'll tell you.''

Or you can visit your child at lunchtime. Most public and private schools allow parents in the lunchroom.

``That was a good experience for me, to sit down with my daughter and see what she chose to eat,'' Kepler said.

It also provided a look at the lunchtime experience.

``Sometimes, they don't have as much time as you think they do, and if you give them a lot of foods, they may not have time to get to some of them.''

She encourages combining several courses, such as the banana-tortilla-peanut butter roll-up that Marci Green makes her son, Grant.

``That's clever, and it covers several food groups,'' she said.

Kepler likes small snacks such as yogurt or pudding, especially for kids who don't like milk. ``That's a way to get in the calcium they need.''

But she warned of hard-to-open packaging. ``You need to give these packages to the child at home, to make sure they can open them - some of them are very difficult to open, and the child may not have a teacher or adult to open them for them at school.''

Snack foods such as nuts or cereals and even chips are fine, as long as they are balanced with other foods in the lunch.

Overall, the lunch box is a great way to teach good food habits that will last a lifetime, Kepler said.

``Occasionally your child will say, `So-and-so gets cookies every day in his lunch,''' Kepler said. ``You can turn that into a learning tool. Instead of saying cookies are bad for you - we never want to say that any food is bad, just that there are healthier choices - you can ask the child what healthier choice they might make.''

That can open a door to talking about nutrition and making healthful choices when the child buys lunch at school.

Stickers, tattoos or special pencils are ideal treats, she said. Using food, especially sugary candy or fatty chips, as a reward sets up bad habits later in life. Better to use objects, so children aren't taught to look to food as comfort or reward later in life when weight might become a problem.

``The best role model is still what the parent is doing,'' said Kepler.

Children will ``put you in check real fast. The more they practice variety at an early age, it'll stay with them the rest of their lives,'' she said.

Here are Kepler's comments on some school lunch choices:

Deli meats: Choose low-fat and low-salt varieties, and wrap them around cheese rather than putting them on a sandwich with high-fat spreads.

Vegetable sticks with dip: Choose lower-fat dips, or use plain yogurt spiced with herbs and seasonings as a dressing.

Fruit: Fresh fruits are great in any form, but if kids don't like them, serve them fruit juice. Cut fruit in small pieces for younger children to prevent choking.

Pizza: A good choice if it includes cheese and tomato sauce; it covers three food groups (starch is in crust).

Chips, pretzels, cookies and crackers: These foods should be served sparingly, with choices from more nutrient-dense foods such as fresh fruits. But don't use them as treats or withhold them as ``punishment.'' Food as a reward leads to bad dining habits later in life.

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