Packing Healthy Lunches

Whether it is for you or for your children, lunches from home are usually healthier than buying lunch.  School lunchrooms are making more of a concerted effort to offer healthy alternatives for children.  However, many still have unhealthy options available.  Given the opportunity, many kids will choose chips over carrot sticks!  As for the adults, vending machines or local eateries may have healthy options, but it is much harder to make healthy choices when they are put side by side with less healthy but yummy options.

Brown Bag It

For both you and the kids, bringing lunch from home is a better alternative to buying lunch.  Make sure it is well-rounded. If possible, include protein, healthy carbs, and healthy fats, fruits and/or veggies.  This may seem like a lot of work, but it isn’t as hard as you may think.  In general, pre-packaged foods have more preservatives and less healthy ingredients than foods prepared at home.  That doesn’t mean that ALL pre-packaged foods are bad.  You just have to be willing to read labels prior to purchasing.

Healthy Choices

If making sandwiches, whole wheat bread is a healthy choice.  Choose lunch meats that are natural, not containing preservatives or additives.  Choose real cheese slices, not processed cheese slices like the old standby Kraft Singles. Make sure you include fruit in the lunch.  Carrot or celery sticks with Ranch is a crunchy, healthy addition to lunch.  If you want some crackers, choose crackers with as few ingredients as possible.  Triscuits are a good example.

As for the lunchtime drink, water is always a healthy choice, the healthiest, in fact.  For kids, milk is a great choice as they are still growing.  The calcium and Vitamin D in milk really is good for their growing bones and developing bodies.  While it might be easy to throw a juice box in your child’s lunch, choose wisely.  You can find water-based drink boxes that are not loaded with sugar.

Keep it Cool

Having a lunch bag that is insulated in which you can include a freezer pack is a great idea.  You are able to bring items that you otherwise could not bring in a paper lunch sack.  You could prepare a little salad in a container, or Greek yogurt (check the sugar content) or cottage cheese.  Kids love dipping things.  Try apple slices with peanut butter for dipping.  Use natural peanut butter with as little sugar as possible.  Peanut butter is a good source of protein.

We hope you found these tips helpful.  One healthy choice at a time leads to healthy habits and a healthy lifestyle.  If you find yourself struggling with your weight, you may want to seek the professional advice of a weight loss specialist like Dr. Diego Velarde of Advanced Surgical and Weight Loss Institute.  Dr. Velarde specializes in minimally invasive surgeries using the daVinci robotic surgery system.  If you are in the Melbourne or Merritt Island areas and are interested in the gastric balloon, gastric bypass, lap band, or other rapid weight loss surgery in Melbourne, FL then please give us a call today.  The healthier version of yourself is just around the corner!