My thoughts on a Healthy Lunchbox Ive just managed to catch up and watch the Campbell Live Lunchbox Controversy that featured recently. It asked six mums to make up a lunchbox and present them to NZ Dietician Dr Caryn Zinn, to find out which lunch she thought was the most healthy. Caryns message was to cut back on the carbs - take out the white bread, the processed foods and the sugar. I completely agree with Caryns message. When our family started to eat real food back in May this year, we started to feel so much better. We found we felt fuller for longer once we started eating higher fat foods rather than low fat, additive-heavy, foods. We snacked less often and the children didnt (still dont) need large lunchboxes, meal servings and lots of snacks. Eating only real food naturally cuts out all refined carbohydrates, sugar and processed foods. We saw Maxs hyperactivity completely stop (he had hyperactivity issues that we feel were directly related to the consumption of added sugar, chemicals and preservatives found in processed foods, bread, low fat dairy and sugary treats). Our real food diet works and I think Caryns message received a bad rap through the show. The story portrayed Caryn as being unreasonable with some of her bread-alternative suggestions. They laughed at her suggesting meat wrapped in lettuce instead of bread, (We eat meat wrapped in lettuce and its yummy!) but my point is, she was trying to get us to think outside of the humble sandwich and think of alternative, healthy,real food options. Caryns criticism of the lunchboxes wasnt, in anyway, trying to make any of the parents feel bad at all. If I was in the shoes of the parents making the lunches this time last year I would have put the same items in myself. A brown bread, ham sandwich, some fruit, a tub of low fat fruit yoghurt (bought) and then maybe something sweet for a treat. But now I have been living the real food life and seeing results with an improvement to our familys wellbeing, and Im a bit more informed on the nutritional side of things (through a consultation with Dr Mikki Williden, reading books and internet pages detailing a real food diet) my healthy lunchbox opinion has changed dramatically. I feel we all need to know a little bit more about what we are actually eating in modern-day convenience foods and what effects, and nutritional value (if any) they actually have within the human body, so we can make our own decision on what we feed our families, not what the advertisers and supermarkets throw at us. We send Max and Chloe off to kindy and school with lunchboxes that are free of processed foods and sugar every single day, without fail and its easy! Weve had to ween them off the refined-carbohydrates, processed foods and sugar gradually. One step at a time and were finally getting there now. Weve also had to be considerate of nut-free zones (because we do have a lot of nuts and nut-based products in our diet). Chloes kindy is a nut-free zone so we send her off with a lunch that is not too dis-similar to the one in the photos above. Veges and cheese with homemade tzatziki dip (cucumber, additive-free creme fraiche and lemon), smoked salmon and some fruit. I have shown how portable a lunch like this is to either have it at home or put into a lunchbox. Max can have nuts at his school because the pupils are not allowed to share lunches and so he can take a nut-flour based sandwich made from bread containing natural, unprocessed ingredients like nuts and eggs (generally branded as Paleo bread). However, being a busy mum, I cant go making individual lunches that differ in ingredients for each child, so when Max has a nut-based bread sandwich for part of his school lunchbox, I use a nut-free rice flour bread sandwich as part of Chloes kindy lunchbox. I buy the rice flour loaf fresh from our local bakery and even though rice flour is a processed grain, that we dont normally advocate eating, the ingredients are minimal and dont contain added sugar or preservatives (because I checked with the bakery). Once Chloe goes to school, shell have the same bread as Max does from time-to-time. The other lunch option we send the kids off with is sushi. Yes, it has rice in it, which, as Ive mentioned, is a grain but were ok with that because we know the rest of their diet is rich in real food. We normally choose the salmon and avocado fillings so there is some healthy protein and fat in this too. We also buy our sushi from our local fish and chip shop where it is freshly made to order and contains minimal additives, if any. If you dont have a real food option for their lunch, go for the cleanest processed option you can with minimal ingredients (like sushi, or a preservative-free rice flour loaf). Our meal plan cant be 100% perfect all the time because were not and thats absolutely fine, but were trying. I watched the Campbell Live episodes via the 3Now app: The Lunchbox Debate Part 1: Campbell Live - Fri 10th October 14 The Lunchbox Debate Part 2: Campbell Live - Mon 13th October 14 The ideas and suggestions written by Nicki Gibson as part of Real Food Generation, on this page are provided as general educational information only and should not be construed as medical advice or care. Information herein is meant to complement, not replace, any advice or information from your personal health professional. All matters regarding your health require supervision by a personal physician or other appropriate health professional familiar with your current health status. Always consult your personal physician before making any dietary or exercise changes.
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 08:43:27 +0000