Healthy lunches made simple
Are you looking for new and creative packed lunch ideas for your kids? Do you want to ensure that you are giving them healthy food options?
We can all be guilty of packing our kids’ lunch with a ham sandwich, packet of crisps, chocolate bar and a fruit juice, because it’s what we grew up on, so it can’t be that bad right? Wrong! All of these options can be extremely unhealthy for your children and potentially lead to type 2 diabetes in later life!
To make life easier for you, and to help control your child’s blood sugar, we’ve stepped in with some alternative balanced lunch ideas.
Make light work of lunchtimes
Take time to prepare snacks and lunches before you leave the house in the morning – the likelihood that you reach for unhealthy snacks will be minimised.
Here are 3 things to remember when packing that lunch:
Limit the amount of carbs: The main benefit of cutting carbs is reducing the amount of sugar in their diet which will result in them feeling fuller for longer which will stop them from snacking between meals too.
Avoid fruit juices: Kids love the taste of fruit juice because it’s so sweet. But it’s no secret that sweet means more sugar, even if it’s natural sugar.
Think about whole fruits that taste sweeter – they have more natural sugars to make them taste sweet. The same goes for those 100% fruit juices, which claim not to have any added sugars. While it may be true that sugar hasn’t been added, the reason is that it was already there! Beware: Fruit juices often have added flavours, food colouring or other additives.
Eat the rainbow: It’s a cliché, but getting as much veg into a packed lunch ensures your children are getting all the vitamins and nutrients, they need to have a healthy gut.
Our top 6 tricks to remember when packing your kids lunch box:
Eat a wide range of fruit (but be careful to choose those lowest in sugar) and above-ground veg. A healthy gut has a diverse community of microbes, each of which prefers different foods.
- Eat more fibre. Most people eat way less than they should. Fruit, vegetables, pulses, nuts and wholegrains feed healthy bacteria.
- Avoid highly processed foods. They contain ingredients that either ‘kill’ good bacteria or increase ‘bad’ bacteria in your gut.
- Probiotic foods, such as live yoghurt, kefir, kimchee sauerkraut etc encourage a healthier and more diverse colony of microbes to grow.
- Choose extra-virgin olive oil when appropriate. It contains the highest number of microbe-friendly polyphenols.
- Drink plenty of water to continuously maintain hydration
For more advice on packed lunches for children, get into contact with our team via our website (https://www.prolongevity.co.uk/contactus) email us (graham.phillips@manorpharmacygroup.co.uk) or call a member of the ProLongevity team on 01727 834 365, visit
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