Lots of kids bring a lunch from home rather than eat what the school cafeteria dishes out. But the contents of those lunch boxes and brown bags may not be as healthy as what the school cafeteria offers.
Often, kids are bringing in sugary drinks, bags of salty chips, and desserts, all of which are not allowed on school lunch menus. Schools are required to meet certain nutrition standards in their meals in order to receive federal reimbursement.
Researchers learned this by looking at what kids brought for lunch at 12 elementary and middle schools in a school district in the area of Houston, TX.
On average, bag lunches did not have enough fruit or whole grain foods and were especially lacking in vegetables and milk. School cafeterias have to serve at least three-quarters of a cup of vegetables with each lunch. Bag lunches averaged having only about one-tenth that much.
Ninety percent of the lunches the researchers looked at contained a dessert, a sugary drink, or a bag of snack chips. Even if parents packed vegetables into that brown bag, kids most often threw most of it away.
So how do you make sure your child is eating a healthy lunch? "Make kids part of the process," said Karen Cullen, a professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and an author of the study. "Ask them what kind of fruit they want. It shouldn't be a surprise when they open their lunch box."
Ideally, a lunch bag should be made up of one-quarter lean protein, one-quarter whole grain, one-quarter fruit, and a serving-of low-fat dairy. Sandwiches made with whole grain bread are good idea, but so are hard-boiled eggs or a container of yogurt.
If you don't have time to create a healthy bag lunch, the cafeteria may be a healthier option.
