Back to Basics: Healthy (and Easy!) School Lunch Alternatives

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.

Smoothies are delicious and nutritious!  They are the perfect all natural snack to replace ice cream or any other unhealthy sweet snack since smoothies are naturally sweet from the fruit used to make the smoothie. Aside from that, it is a great way to get your fruit and/or vegetable serving for the day (which ever you choose to put in your smoothie). I just made a delicious smoothie tonight (pictured above) and here’s how: 5-6 organic strawberries 2 handfuls of organic blueberries 2 organic bananas 2 tbs of organic vanilla yogurt -blend until smooth- a cup of ice (add more to the blender last if needed) -blend again- add 2 tbs of organic flax seed and approx 1/4 - 1/2 cup of organic grass-fed milk (as much as you prefer) -blend again until flax seeds are crushed and mixed well- This made me 32oz of smoothie or approx 4 cups. So go back to basics, skip the unhealthy, processed junk, and satisfy your sweet-tooth with something healthy and delicious!

Smoothies are delicious and nutritious!  They are the perfect all natural snack to replace ice cream or any other unhealthy sweet snack since smoothies are naturally sweet from the fruit used to make the smoothie. Aside from that, it is a great way to get your fruit and/or vegetable serving for the day (which ever you choose to put in your smoothie).

I just made a delicious smoothie tonight (pictured above) and here’s how:

5-6 organic strawberries

2 handfuls of organic blueberries

2 organic bananas

2 tbs of organic vanilla yogurt

-blend until smooth-

a cup of ice (add more to the blender last if needed)

-blend again-

add 2 tbs of organic flax seed and

approx 1/4 - 1/2 cup of organic grass-fed milk (as much as you prefer)

-blend again until flax seeds are crushed and mixed well-

This made me 32oz of smoothie or approx 4 cups.

So go back to basics, skip the unhealthy, processed junk, and satisfy your sweet-tooth with something healthy and delicious!

Find out which fruits & vegetables are most contaminated with pesticides - click here

USA TODAY tells what kind of produce we should definitely buy organic, and which ones are safe enough to purchase conventionally.