Make a healthier lunch for school children
Commercial fast food is rearing its unhealthy head in lunchrooms across America, and excess fat, calories and cholesterol are a serious concern. According to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, close to 5 million children, aged 6 to 17, are seriously overweight, a number that has more than doubled in the past 30 years. Increasing numbers of children, often as young as 10, are being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. This form of diabetes is most often referred to as “adult-onset diabetes” and frequently found in obese people.
It’s important to encourage good eating habits as early as possible because this will have a positive impact on future health, weight and medical expense. As we send our children back to school, health-conscious parents are looking for healthy options that their children will want to eat.
Preparing a wholesome lunch for the family each day doesn’t require a great deal of time. With a little planning, you can have a tasty lunch that is nutritious and economical. Children like to “fit in,” and it is so easy these days to make a lunch that doesn’t scream “sprouts and granola.”
There are healthful sandwich-stuffers that mimic the taste, texture and appearance of traditional deli meats. Look for plant-based alternatives such as Lightlife’s Roast Turkey, Country Ham, Foney Baloney and Three Peppercorn Pastrami; and Tofurky Slices in Hickory Smoked and Original. There’s Yves Veggie Canadian Bacon, Salami, and Pepperoni, too.
A healthy lunch can come together as quickly as its unhealthy counterpart, and it’s a real time-saver to make sandwiches the previous evening. Spread frozen slices of multi-grain bread lightly with eggless mayonnaise, or Dijon mustard, and add slices of Hickory or Savory Baked Tofu, and lettuce and tomato. Include a piece of fruit, wholesome cookies and soymilk. Wrap and set aside in the refrigerator overnight.
Many parents are buying prepackaged boxed lunches that typically contain deli slices, processed cheese and a candy bar for their kids despite concerns about their nutritional value. The popularity of these prepackaged lunches among school children has parents heading to stores, feeding a $600 million-a-year industry in America.
Such prepackaged lunches have come under fire from the American College of Cardiologists because of the high salt content. Typically, these lunches include meat, cheese, crackers and a dessert and can contain nearly three-fourths of the recommended daily salt allowance.
The lunch offered here is made with healthful alternatives that are widely available in supermarkets and health food stores. And those prepackaged lunch boxes? You will find a wholesome alternative you can feel good about and that your children will enjoy.
Yves Veggie Cuisine has introduced two styles of their “Good Lunch.” You can offer a wholesome box lunch that looks and tastes like its traditional counterpart but contains less than 300 calories and only 7 grams of fat! Widely available and priced competitively, healthy school-lunch options have arrived and they are as close as your supermarket or local health food store.
A Healthier Lunch
Servings: 1
2 slices multi-grain bread
1 tablespoon eggless mayonnaise
1 1/2 ounces Baked Tofu, sliced on an angle
3 slices fresh tomato
1 leaf Romaine lettuce
1 medium orange
2 Health Valley cookies
6 ounces enriched soymilk.
Nutrition analysis per serving
Protein 17g, carbohydrates 63g, fiber 9g, fat 6g, sat. fat 0g, cholesterol 0mg, calcium 235 mg, sodium 484mg.
Calories 369
Calories from protein, 18 percent; calories from carbohydrates, 68 percent; calories from fat, 14 percent
Notes on ingredients
Enriched soymilk: 1 percent fat. Aseptically packaged, enriched soymilk is fortified with vitamins and minerals, such as calcium. Widely available in supermarkets and health food stores.
Eggless mayonnaise: There are several alternatives available to replace traditional mayonnaise, which is very high in fat, calories and cholesterol. Vegenaise by Follow Your Heart and Nasoya are both far lower in fat and calories and are delicious. Available at health food stores.
Baked Tofu: Delicious precooked and ready-to-eat tofu can be sliced and added to salads and sandwiches, right from the package. Available from The Soy Deli and Tree Of Life; available at health food stores and many supermarkets.
(Marie Oser is a best-selling author and on-camera chef at www.VegTv.com Her latest book is “More Soy Cooking,” John Wiley & Sons, Inc. She can be reached at www.veggiechef.com)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.shns.com)