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Health & Fitness

Healthy School Lunches

What's for lunch, mom? How to take healthy proactive steps to give your kids the nourishment they need throughout the day.

Parents are in a constant battle to raise their kids in a healthy manner, particularly when it comes to school lunches. Helping parents out with new ideas and giving them the confidence to change this meal can help reinforce your support of their family and their health.

Not much has changed over the past few years with school lunches, even though some programs are addressing nutrition more than others. Children usually gravitate towards the fatty, greasy foods and pass on the healthier choices of fruit and vegetables. Typical lunches include pizza, sloppy joes and hot dogs, foods that area high in sodium, nitrates and preservatives. Great sources of protein that can be put in a small lunch container include cubes of baked chicken or turkey.

Encourage parents to get away from processed meats and instead plan ahead for leftovers from dinner that can be cut into bite-sized pieces and eaten as finger foods. Also remember that a hard-boiled egg can be a great source of protein. The wide-mouthed thermos can bring great variety to an average lunch. Chili beans (another great source of protein) with organic tortilla chips for dipping can break up a boring lunch routine. If families prepare homemade soups and stew on weekends, this can easily steer them away from the unnecessary chemicals and high salt content present in many store-bought brands.

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No one knows better than a child what they're going to want for lunch, so it's important to let them actively participate in the menu and preparation of their lunches. By including children in the menu process, they are more likely to finish what they started.

Where do parents begin? By committing to only healthy lunch choices. This might begin by selecting a cooking/menu book for children or finding Web sites that focus on whole/natural menus for kids.

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Parents should then develop a planning board so that children can mix and match their lunch menu for the week. Parents can buy a white board, poster board or something similar, and then draw out five columns and label them for each day of the week.

Using color-coded Post-It notes, index cards or colored paper, they can then create a square for each lunch option. For example, protein options would be blue, vegetable options would be green, fruits would be yellow and snacks would be pink. During the weekend, children should select from each of the food cards and build a five-day lunch menu. While this is being done, the entire family can begin prepackaging their lunch options that can be frozen or stored for a few days. It's important that both parents and their children address the lunch issue. If we let this meal "go to the waste side," we are not only losing another opportunity for children to grow up healthy with the necessary building blocks, but also missing the opportunity to teach them that each meal counts and can have great taste appeal.

Change the way you live, and you can alter the life path you currently travel, We preach to our patients that chiropractic care is part of a maintenance program that includes proper diet, exercise and a healthy mental outlook. There is a reason that clichés become clichés. Treat your body like a temple, and that temple will stand for a long time.

For more information on how chiropractic care can benefit your child, or for a complimentary exam and consultation with no obligation, call our office at 952-405-6263.

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