nutrition

Thinking Outside the Lunch Box
by Kelly Spewock
The Art Institute of Pittsburgh

Let’s be honest.  Your child is going to eat what he wants for lunch.  Regardless of how much time or money you spend on low-carb, organic, or ‘healthy’ food, once he leaves the house, that lunch is out of your control.   

So how do you keep your child from replacing his lunch with vending snacks?  How do you get your child make wise choices in the cafeteria? 

Good questions.  Complicated answer.  But one thing is for certain, education about food choices is a good place to begin.  Children who understand the impact that food has on the body will make better decisions for themselves. No nagging involved.

Eating right affects physical and mental health.  It affects friendships, academics, athletics and personal happiness.  Here are some basics to share with students of any age:

A is for apple.  Apples grow on trees; potato chips don’t.  Make sure your child knows the difference between whole foods and processed foods.  The further a food gets from the way nature handed it to them, the less of it your child should eat.  Processing food robs the food of its vital nutrients and can often create items that are difficult for the body to digest. 

B is for brain   It takes 20 minutes for the brain to realize that the stomach is full.  By that time, most people have eaten far beyond what the body would require to pull the ‘shut off’ valve.  Encourage your children to eat slowly or even pause their eating periodically during lunch break.  If your child gets too full at lunch, he may have difficulty concentrating on his school work.

C is for control.  Do your child a favor and help her avoid the diet mentality.  Moderation is the key to enjoying all foods and in avoiding excess in any area of her life.  Proper portion sizes are proven to help people maintain their ideal body weight which makes for a more alert, happy student.  This is one area of her life where she need not be encouraged to be a ‘finisher’. 

D is for Digestion.  Teach your children that the stomach is like a camp fire.  Putting large pieces of wood on top of a few sparks will suffocate the fire.  Like a fire, the stomach’s digestive power needs to be kindled too.  If you smother the fire by eating a large amount of food too quickly, the stomach has more difficulty ‘burning it up’.  And if you throw too much liquid on a fire, the result is equally negative.  So consuming beverages during a meal should be minimized.  It’s also helpful to remind children that digestion begins in the mouth through the use of saliva - so there is some truth to good chewing practices.

Have a great school year!