Bayside Dietetics
Sarah Smith, APD, Bayside Dietetics
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You can get lost in the world of buying the latest supplement or superfood to boost your child’s health. Unfortunately, there won’t always be much evidence behind what you buy. But there are things that you can do that will significantly boost your child’s health, and a lot of these come from simple changes to the lunchbox.
Here are some ideas (with good evidence behind them).
From White Bread
to Wholemeal bread for a sandwich
Congratulations! You’ve just tripled the fibre content. Fibre is something your child (or you) can’t digest. This means wholemeal (or wholegrain) bread is going to stay in their gut for hours longer than white bread, giving them a sense of feeling fuller for longer. The fibre will come through in your child’s stools, so this change may also help your child be more regular.
Processed snack such as biscuits or potato sticks or pretzels
To a tub of yoghurt (Try freezing it for a bit of school fun).
Wow! That’s adding a whole lot of nutrients that will be doing secret inner bodywork to build strong bones and muscles. It’s also higher in protein that will help your child feel more satisfied with their snack.
Processed deli meat
To leftover sliced meat or chicken from last night’s dinner
That’s dropping a load of salt and putting back a better source of iron to keep your child’s brain functioning well, not to mention saving you money.
From a sandwich
To leftover cold pasta or potato
There is an incredible change that happens when you cook certain ”starchy” foods then allow them to cool. Cooking then cooling these foods makes them harder to digest and that is a good thing. They now pass all the way through the gut and do helpful things along the way. So this type of food is particularly good for your child’s gut health. Check out my latest video “Gut Health in Kids” on Kiddipedia for how that is helpful. I recommend this as a go-to lunch box option when you are out of bread, or to save you time when you have a dinner pasta or potato meal – just dish up an extra serve into your child’s lunchbox and refrigerate until the next day.
Fruit cup or pouch
To fresh fruit (especially with the skin still on)
Yay! That’s double the fibre and a whole lot more vitamins to keep your child’s gut and whole body healthy. Most of this goodness is just below the skin, so leaving skin on means you get all the available benefit.
Muesli bar
To yoghurt sprinkled with nut-free muesli in your Tupperware
Oats are a wonderful food as they are full of nutrients and are particularly good for your child’s gut. When oats are processed into oat bars or muesli bars, a lot of the goodness is lost. The oats in muesli are not processed so more of the goodness is maintained. It takes only a little effort to layer muesli, yoghurt and maybe also fruit (in this picture I’ve just used frozen raspberries I keep in the freezer so they are always available…and don’t need to be cut up). As a bonus, if the kids knock the lunchbox around it will just help to mix it all together!
If you put in the effort to change one or two of these lunchbox habits you probably won’t notice any immediate change in your child, aside from the predictable complaints of resistance to change. The health benefits are happening internally and gradually. But the benefits do add up to improve your child’s immunity, their gut health, and their overall health to protect them from disease now and in the future. And that’s a benefit that can’t be packaged.
Sarah
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