There's a lot of misinformation out there, but dietitian Julie Upton, MS, RD, of Appetite For Health, is here to shed light on nutritional tips to help every parents' healthy eating efforts for their school-bound kids.
Will your child's lunchbox make the (nutrition) grade? As much as you may pooh-pooh school lunches, a study published in JAMA Pediatrics reported that lunches packed at home were less nutritious than school lunches.
In fact, home-prepared lunches were higher in sodium and had less produce, dairy, and whole-grain servings, the researchers found. What's more, some 90 percent of the lunches parents packed had a sweetened beverage, snack chips, and dessert — items not even allowed in the National School Lunch Program.
To be a lunch box hero, focus on what to put in the lunch instead of what to keep out. A balanced lunch should contain a serving of:
Research shows that snacks provide, on average, 27 percent — more than 500 calories! — from primarily nutrient-poor choices including juice, candy, cookies, soda, and chips. Here are five smarter snacks: