Time for School = Time for Smart Nutrition
If you’re like most parents or grandparents of school age kids, you have butterflies in your stomach right about now. Fortunately, butterflies go away after the first week of school, but other challenges take their place. Nutritious foods and beverages are a great solution to quiet kids’ growling stomachs and to set them up for a fun and successful year of learning. Back-to-school or not, kids’ bodies are very special machines – so feed them well.
Breakfast is a must for fueling kids’ high-energy, productive day. For time’s sake, keep the emphasis on quick and nutritious. Tasty choices include a hardboiled egg, natural cheese toast, yogurt & fruit, pancake & turkey sausage or a bowl of high fiber cereal. Focus on kid-sized breakfast portions and serve cold milk for powerful nutrition.
Lunch should reinforce healthy habits, too. A lunch box of mini-snacks is appealing to little eyes so try a rotating variety like this: ham/cheese roll-ups, pretzel sticks, whole grain crackers, nuts (for non-allergic kids), small banana, mini box of raisins, flour tortilla wrapped around string cheese, homemade trail mix, cup of hummus with carrot sticks to dip, and low fat yogurt. An Earth-friendly lunch bag delights kids and tossing in ice packs keeps everything cool and safe. For simplicity, stock similar kinds of snacks as above for hungry kids after school.
Beverages should boost your kid’s nutrition and keep them well-hydrated all day long. Choose 1% or nonfat regular or flavored milk , with an impressive list of 9 nutrients kids need every day. Or, stock the fridge with other nutritious favorites such as 100 percent fruit juice and water. Use caution with sports drinks and energy drinks which can cause harm to kids.
Finally, choose to be a healthy role model’ for your kids and you’ll never look back. Good nutrition is always worth the effort!
Thank you to DairyDelivers.com for inviting me as a guest blogger last week. Here’s to a healthy school year!