by Jonni Sharland

Created on: September 19, 2007

The quality of meal children eat in the middle part of the day can have a marked effect on their learning, and unfortunately many are not getting the proper nourishment for the task. This is largely thanks to hidden sugars and an increasing array of additives in the kinds of 'quick to toss in the box' snack foods that find their way into young ones' lunches on frantic mornings.

Teachers will tell you how their pupils' behavior markedly deteriorates after lunch time, and how both the elevated state of the children themselves, and the general disruption this causes, interfere with learning. We all know how kids play up after eating too many treats at birthday parties, but sadly many folk don't realize that some of the things going regularly to school for lunch will do the same thing, including many bars that are marketed to make us think we are giving the kids something healthy.

As a Mum of three my idea of what a healthy lunch is has changed and evolved over the years, as I educate myself about eating to maintain better health, and about some of the horrors to be found in many store bought foods. I'm aghast at what I ate with impunity in my youth and have determined to do better for my own children.
Avoid at all costs, the cheese flavored corn snacks and other heavily flavored crisps. Start reading the labels on all those snack bars and often you'll find sugar near the top of the list of ingredients, and quite a few additives and colors to boot. Anything with sugar as its main ingredient, or containing colors in fact needs to be avoided if at all possible. This includes most fizzy drinks, sports drinks, cordials, packet drinks, jelly (a homemade version can be made with real fruit), biscuits and chocolate bars. Go easy on fatty and pastry items too, as these will set up kids for a lifetime of bad eating habits that can lead in the long term to major health problems. Water and milk are the best drinks for young teeth as even natural juice has a high sugar concentration

Finding a balance is the key when it comes to getting children to accept healthier lunches without feeling like they are missing out on all of life's little treats. It can be hard for them to watch other kids with chocolate biscuits, roll-ups and the like if they don't have a sense of there being something special in their own selection. I do allow one sweet thing besides the fresh fruit. This might be a pot of fruit yogurt (these have a lot of sugar which is why they are only given as a treat item)

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>