When parents are rushing to figure out what’s for dinner, nutritional content can fall by the wayside. With meal planning, families can take a step back and consider an important question: What’s missing?
Nutrition is important at every stage of life, but it’s especially important for kids, whose bodies are still growing. According to the Centers for Disease Control, healthy eating is important for proper growth and development and the prevention of various health conditions.
Parents should consider if their children are getting enough fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fat-free and low-fat dairy products, protein and oils. You should also consider whether your children are taking in too much sugar or sodium—as both can lead to long-term health problems in excess.
One way to check your family’s nutrition is by using the consumer version of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans for 2020-2025, which is available online as a free PDF.
The consumer-friendly brochure is available in both English and Spanish. This consumer guide was developed by the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture to inform American households on the latest expert nutritional guidelines to support healthy growth and development.
School-Provided Lunches
Worrying and parenting often go hand in hand, but do you need to worry about what’s provided for your child’s school lunch? Maybe not.
“School lunch guidelines actually require that [lunches] have certain amounts of each food group,” says Amy Reed, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics who has more than 20 years of experience as a pediatric dietician.
According to Reed, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s school lunch program makes sure nutrient needs and food group requirements are being met when a child is getting their lunch from school.
But some states are going above and beyond these requirements.
A recently released report by ProCare Therapy, a staffing agency for school-based therapists, analyzed the quality and nutritional content of school lunches across all 50 states. The report ranked states by their adherence to federal nutrition guidelines, rate of Farm to School program participation, efforts to reduce added sugars and commitment to providing well-balanced, nutritious meals for their students.
Maryland ranked 12th, and its most popular school lunch item, according to Google search data cited in the report, was the chicken sandwich.
Farm to School is a program through which schools buy and feature locally produced foods, including dairy, fruits and vegetables, eggs, honey, meat and beans on their menus.
However, the presence of a nutritious option doesn’t necessarily mean your child will take advantage of it. As the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. The same principle applies to getting children to choose nutritious options.
If you’re a parent concerned that your child isn’t getting the right nutrients, you can try packing a lunch to give your child more agency in making good, nutritious choices.
“Rather than say, ‘Would you like a fruit?’ you could say, ‘Would you like an apple or would you like grapes?’ So, you would give them a choice between two things where you’re OK with both choices,” Reed says.
Another thing parents need to understand about school lunch is that the main goal is for the meal to give kids the energy to learn and focus for the rest of the
school day.
According to Reed, lunch can be an overwhelming time for some children because it’s loud, it’s crowded and there might not be a lot of time to eat. Let school lunch be something safe and easy for them to eat, and save the experimental or more challenging foods for mealtimes at home.
To make sure your child is getting their energy needs met, Reed says, parents should make sure they’re packing the lunch in such a way that a child can access the food easily. For young children, this means avoiding hard-to-open containers or messy foods.
Parents should also make sure they pack at least one or two foods that are “safe foods”—foods you know your child is going to eat.
“When my kids were little, I would actually pack them a milk carton because I knew they would drink it, and I knew they would get some protein and some energy to get through the rest of their day,” Reed says.
Other high-energy options include PB&J sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, yogurt and other foods with fats to give kids an efficient energy source that will last.
