School-Bought Lunches

School-Bought Lunches

Are school-bought lunches good sources of nutrition?

School bought lunches actually do provide a certain amount of energy and protein and carbohydrates and vitamins and minerals over the course of the entire week. Now, it's the food above and beyond that actual school bought lunch that will contribute to unhealthy eating. For example, a lot of schools, in addition to their school lunch, will sell sodas, snack foods and chips. Maybe fast food restaurants will come in and sell food at your child's school. Or they'll make foods that they know kids are going to buy instead of the school lunch.

How can I encourage my child to eat healthier at school?

You can encourage your child to eat healthier at school by starting it at home. Healthier eating involves teaching your child that certain foods are healthy, the reasons why we want to eat these foods, that these food help us to feel good. And we want to avoid the unhealthy foods, or if we do have an unhealthy food, have something healthy with it, or only limit it to once a day.