Malleable Reality

Unfortunately, last Friday I was extremely busy and was unable to post a Back to Basics post — so I will pick up on that now.

With this school year now in full swing, I think now would be a good time to dedicate a post to healthy school lunches.  As I said in a few posts a couple of months ago, school lunches are not necessarily the most healthy foods.  Oftentimes, school meals are prepackaged & highly processed foods that lack nutrients.  In Philadelphia alone, 26 full-service school kitchens were closed and replaced with food that arrives in pouches to be microwaved for children to eat.  Jamie Oliver (I posted about his views and his Food Revolution here, and a moving video of him speaking here) is attempting to revolutionize the way we eat, and more specifically, the way children are eating at their schools.

Since school lunches are often sugar-filled and lack the nutrients children need, it’s better to pack a healthy & nutritious lunch for children that is filled with lots of fresh foods, including fruits, vegetables, and protein — (at least until schools come around to serving healthier foods).  Stay away from packing prepackaged & processed foods such as Lunchables and others like it, as that would defeat the purpose of packing a lunch in order to serve your child more healthy foods.

Here is a link by Jamie’s Food Revolution team that showcases some healthy packed lunches (these lunches were part of a “cook-off” to showcase healthy alternatives to school-bought lunches). These are great alternatives to the mystery food served at schools. Packing a lunch allows you to know exactly what your child will be eating that day, and you will know for a fact it’s a healthy meal.