School lunches - are they healthy?

Most children love buying lunch at school -- it is a very big step towards Independence once they begin Elementary school. (That is unless you have a very picky eater and send them to school with their lunch every day - as a dietitian, I find that sometimes allowing picky eaters to buy lunch at school once a week can help them break bad habits.) A study was recently conducted that looked at the healthfulness of school lunches. When comparing the nutritional intake of those who bought school lunch to those who brought their lunch, the results were surprising. Those purchasing lunch actually had higher vit A, C, B6, folate, calcium, thiamin, iron and phosphorus intakes. They also drank more milk and ate more vegetables and had fewer sweets, sweetened beverages, and snacks. On the flip side, although the number of calories were similar the amount of fat and saturated (bad) fat as well as sodium were higher for those purchasing lunch. So, the schools still have some work to do in improving their lunches. Bottom line: It is a good idea to balance bringing lunch and buying lunch. Let your children pick two days a week to buy their lunch and prohibit a la carte items (in many schools you can put a block on this). On the other days, pack a healthy lunch and have your child buy milk at school. Here is an example of a healthy sack lunch--
- whole wheat bread with either cheese and all natural lunch meat without preservatives or all natural peanut, almond or sunflower butter with all natural jelly.
- a fruit or two
- trail mix with high fiber cereal, almonds and semisweet choco chips
- milk - buy at school

Yummy (healthy) salmon patty recipe

Here is a recipe that I adapted from the Chicken of the Sea Salmon Pouch. The kids loved it – they dipped the patties in ketchup.

Ingredients (makes about 10 patties)
2- 7 ounce Pink Salmon pouches (skinless and boneless) or you can used the canned Salmon (skinless and boneless)
¼ cup omega-3 fortified light mayo
2 eggs
1 ½ cups whole wheat bread crumbs (divided)
½ cup wheat germ (divided)
¼ tsp garlic salt
1 tbsp lemon juice
Optional - finely chopped onions 1 cup and finely chopped red bell pepper 1 cup

-- Combine Mayo, optional ingredients, lemon juice, garlic salt and stir in salmon, egg and 1/2 cup of bread crumbs and ¼ cup wheat germ – mix until well blended.
-- Form mixture into balls and roll in remaining bread crumb/wheat germ mix and flatten into cakes about ½ inch thick.
-- Add patties to skillet with 2 tbsp olive oil and cook. Or you can bake at 425, just spray baking sheet with either olive oil or canola or vegetable oil and spray the salmon cakes with the oil as well and cook about 30 minutes.

Let me know what you think.

2008 New Year Resolutions

Here is a quick list to add to your 2008 Healthier Eating New Year Resolutions.
-- Eat 1/2 cup serving of beans (eat all kinds including soy beans) and lentils every day - do not add any fat, instead add some garlic or other spices for seasoning.
-- Eat a handful, just a handful (1.5 ounces) of nuts a day. That is about 30 almonds, 21 walnuts, 42 peanuts, 67 pistachios, 27 pecans and 15 macadamias.
-- Eat at least 5 fruits and vegetables a day (or try for 10, which has been shown to decrease the risk for several cancers) -- count at the end of the day to make sure you hit your goal.
-- Drink water instead of calorie-laden drinks or drinks full of artificial sugars and colors. Or, at least swap water for another beverage twice a day.
-- Exercise, do something everyday. Even if it is just jumping in place to your favorite music. You can exercise in spurts - research shows that three 10 minute sessions of exercise a day can provide health benefits (and, not to mention, will help you maintain a healthy weight)!
Cheers to a healthy 2008!

Don't Supersize Me!

We need to change "value for money" from size and amount of food to nutrition value of food -- this needs to be our new thinking. As restaurants "super size" their food, we "super size" our bodies. Make sure you know what constitutes a serving and stick to it -- portion distortion is real and it affects all of us. Most people to do not realize that their bottle of soda contains 2.5 servings (8 oz is a serving for most beverages, but 4 oz is a serving of 100% juice). Read the nutrition label and look at the serving size, you will start to notice that packages that appear to be a single serving actually contain several servings. Repeat after me, "it is OK to leave food on my plate, in the bag, in the wrapper and not drink the full bottle or glass." Save the leftovers for tomorrow or when you are thirsty later in the day. Also, teach your kids what a serving of food really looks like. Here are some helpful hints from the book, The Portion Teller --
— 3 ounces of meat = 1 deck of cards
— 1 cup of cereal = a baseball
— 2 tablespoons salad dressing = a small shot glass
— ¼ cup nuts = a golf ball
Source: The Portion Teller Plan: The No-Diet Reality Guide to Eating, Cheating, and Losing Weight Permanently -- check out this book for more information. I saw the author speak, she is very visual with her examples and provides compelling information concerning how our food portions have changed. Also, a recent report on MSNBC reveals how many restaurants are serving crazy portions of food, one example are sandwiches from Hardee's, Wendy's and Burger King that include two days worth of meat (click here to read the MSNBC article).

Teach your kids rather than deceive them

After seeing Jessica Seinfeld's book called "Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food," we, as nutrition educators and moms, felt compelled to post on the importance of teaching your kids about nutritious food rather than just hiding it in their treats. While brownies made with pureed spinach and carrots mixed in sounds like an interesting way to work some veggies into your child's diet, teaching your children that vegetables and fruits are delicious and healthy on their own is the best way to foster a love of produce as they get older. My 4 year old talks about how he eats his vegetables so he'll grow big and strong and feel good everyday to do all the things he loves to do. And, no he doesn't always eat every bite, but I'm glad he knows the value of eating his veggies rather than just sneaking it into the dessert he may get as a treat. For my 18 month old, I put vegetables or fruit on his tray every meal and I would encourage you to do the same. Even if they aren't always eaten, fostering the idea that produce is part of every meal will stick with him as he gets older. This is a critical time for developing healthy eating habits, not only for him but the whole family.
Bottomline: If you want to use veggie or fruit purees in recipes to boost your child's intake, go ahead. Just make sure you also give him fruits and vegetables that he can see, smell, taste and appreciate for all they do to make him a strong and healthy individual.