It is back-to-school time for many families which is a terrific time to get healthier eating habits back on track after a fun and most likely yummy summer of sweet treats. Preparing and planning your kid’s lunches offers an opportunity to ensure that they remain well-fueled during the school day.
Lunch Box Options Abound
Let’s begin with what you pack their midday meal in. Ideally, you need a container and ice packs that are made from non-toxic materials. Natural Baby Mama offers an extensive list in this article. Mama Naturals offer healthy alternatives for lunch boxes, water bottles, and snack bags.
You want to avoid products produced with BPA, formaldehyde, lead, PVC, and phthalates, and opt for healthier materials like stainless steel lunch boxes or silicone snack bags.
You Are What You Eat
- High carbohydrate meals don’t provide long-lasting fuel. Aim for veggies and fruits to make up half of the meal. For the rest, use whole grains and proteins that are easily packable, diced or sliced chicken, hard-boiled eggs, nuts, seeds, beans, or tofu. Be mindful of peanut or nut allergy guidance from your child’s school.
- Tweak and swap. Instead of using white bread, try whole wheat or whole-grain bread, English muffins, tortillas or pitas as the base for a sandwich. Get creative with the fillings, too. Swap out jelly in a PB&J sandwich and replace it with apple slices, banana or avocado slices or raisins.
- Think small. Cheese, grilled chicken, olives, fruits and veggies are easier to eat if you cut them into slices, cubes or small chunks.
- Try tasty dips. Spice up a lunch with salsa, low sugar yogurts, cottage cheese or hummus. They go well with raw veggies like edamame, apple slices, whole-grain crackers, or cubed foods that kid’s enjoy dipping with.
- Dish up mini-salads. You can get creative with all types of salad mixings. Use spinach or another healthy green with some fruit, cheese, cucumbers, sliced carrots and or apples with a light vinaigrette.
Snacks Can Be Good For You
Whether your child has a break for a snack during their school day or if you are looking for “good-for-you” snacks for after school, try some on this list provided by Gimme the Good Stuff for healthier store bought or packaged options. Here is a list of some other ideas for snack time:
- Homemade or organic popcorn
- No Bake Energy Bars
- Pinwheel rollups
- Kid Friendly Smoothie
- Easy-To-Make Granola Bars
Staying Hydrated Is Everything
Good old H2O is the best for staying hydrated. You can add healthy flavoring with lemons or mint. Or add a dash of Emerson Ecologics Berry Greens mix. Try to avoid sugary drinks and juices as the sugar rush and crash just isn’t good for a developing brain and body. There are several healthier alternatives to Gatorade and other commercialized sports drinks.
Foods and Spinal Misalignments, Say What?
Did you know that the foods we eat can actually be a cause of misalignments (subluxations) in the body? There are three main causes of subluxations in the body:
- Physical (trauma)
- Emotional (negative thoughts, stress)
- Chemical (toxins)
Most of us understand the physical causes of misalignments like sleeping in an incorrect position, falling and landing hard, slouching in a chair or a repetitive strain from sitting at a desk. Many also comprehend the mental/emotional cause of misalignments when they feel their shoulders creeping up due to stress or anxiety.
The third main cause of misalignments is due to chemicals which can come from the foods we eat, the liquids we ingest and the air we breathe. These can disrupt the natural homeostasis in our body causing muscle fibers to contract and shorten pulling vertebrae out of place which often results in pain, discomfort or a lack of function in our body.
At Vaida Wellness we recommend some of these ways to reduce toxic load:
- Eat organic, local and foods in their most natural state whenever possible. If that is too overwhelming try to start with getting organic for the dirty dozen foods: https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/dirty-dozen.php This will reduce the toxic load on the body as many of these rely heavily on pesticides during the growing process.
- Drink clean filtered water from a stainless steel or glass water bottle.
- Package kids lunches in reusable silicone bags like Stasher Bags and a stainless steel lunch box (or see the ideas mentioned above).
- Get adjusted at a minimum once a month which can help keep your body in alignment and return the body to homeostasis which is so important as we encounter a variety of toxins on a daily basis.
- Remember that kids don’t always feel pain like an adult might so make sure to get their spine checked monthly as well. 🙂
- Check out our Vaida Wellness blog from earlier this year on swapping household products for healthier alternatives.
Call us today and get your chiropractic adjustment(s) scheduled today with Dr. Lydia or Dr. Emily or book online.