Healthy Choices at School | Motherhood Unplugged

Yesterday, I wrote about some of the activities you can do with your family this month, one being more involved with your child's success at school. Making healthy choices ties directly into your child's success at school. Personally, I know that if my son doesn't eat his entire breakfast before getting off to school the likelihood of him not being able to focus in class is much higher. I try to encourage my kids to eat veggies everyday and being a vegan myself somewhat helps by leading through example however; they are kids with multiple influences from my husbands lack of daily veggie intake to what the others at school are eating to the fast food restaurants and commercial advertisements they see on TV. With all of these influences to fight against the battle is a daily one in our household.

Recently, I spoke with another mom whose children are enrolled in the same school, regarding the school's lunch menu. I pack a lunch for Phoenix everyday so I had not noticed what the school was offering the other children. In fact, I almost expected it to be less than stellar hence the reason why I chose to pack him a lunch from home. I recall the initiative that Mrs. Obama rolled out, the Healthy Lunch Program and assumed that the lunch might be somewhat better than what was offered when I was in school however; the other mom told me that marinara sauce counted as a vegetable. I couldn't help but laugh out loud! That's clearly a condiment not a vegetable folks. Then it dawned on me that things might have changed since the Obamas left office and lo and behold they had done just that. Trump's administration took aim at Michelle Obama's healthy lunch program and announced that schools would no longer have to meet some of the requirements laid out in this program.

The program's guidelines stated that the caloric intake of fats, sodium and cholesterol had to be lowered coupled with an increase of healthy grains, fruits and vegetables. Schools can now request to be exempt from the healthy foods program requirements and delay the sodium mandate under Trumps administration. Why on Earth would any school want to serve the children less than quality, healthy meals? This is directly related to costs and nothing else. The children's lives and health are going to suffer greatly if they have to eat 2 subpar meals per school day for the duration of their matriculation through elementary, middle and high school. This move by the Trump administration is certainly short sighted.

When it comes to packing Phoenix's lunch I use a BPA free lunch box + BPA free water bottle. I also picked up some cute food picks recently from Target to make his lunch more fun. This week we had baby carrots, red + orange sweet tomatoes, Sunbutter + Jelly sandwiches, sliced strawberries, grapes, wheat crackers, almonds, protein bar, mandarin oranges, and any left overs that would fair well in his backpack til lunch time. His class eats pretty late in the day but they are required to bring a snack to eat in class during the mornings to keep the hunger at bay. I find that his snack is more like his lunch and when it comes to lunch time he's just snacking so I switched up my packing. He still comes home starving around 3PM like he hasn't eaten anything all day but I guess that's to be expected when you're young and burning calories all day playing.

As far as eating healthy on the road is concerned, things can get a bit tricky if you don't know what to look for when buying food abroad. Road trips are especially my pet peeve when it comes to eating healthy because the US highways are notorious for only having fast food restaurants and gas station food off the exit ramps. Going through the airports opens you up to a bit more options. We usually fly early in the morning so I often pick up the breakfast in the airport. I like to buy fruits like bananas that can be stored easily if you don't want it right away. I also like getting the kids yogurt parfaits and or a breakfast sandwich with protein and healthy grains. Protein bars are a great way to snack on the go as well. I'm a big fan of the KIND brand as well as Cliff bars and now they even make the children's Cliff Z bars too!

Have you checked out the menu at your child's school this year? Do you choose to pack lunch as well? Share some tips on healthy choices you help your child make when it comes to eating.

Happy Travels,

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