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Pack Health into Your Child's Tiffin Box

Apr 17 , 2017 | 2 min read

“A lunchbox you pack is as important as what you serve your kid for breakfast and dinner”.

Parents should know that whatever children eat from their lunchbox contributes to more than 25% of their daily requirements. Preparing healthy tiffin is an important aspect that must not be taken lightly because a good nutrition is important for the growth and development of your child.

Dr Divya Chaudhary shares tips on how can you prepare for healthy, nutritious and tasty tiffin foods for your child?

It is always considered better if your child has a say in what they eat. Encourage your child to eat a variety of foods like salads, vegetable sticks such as carrots, celery, cucumber, or tomato. Try giving your child fruits and vegetables as snacks between meals or part of main meals.

Students’ choices for lunch include raw vegetables, lean meat, whole grains, or other protein sources. Parents should ensure that kids do not consume empty calories found in junk food and snacks as well as refrain from consuming fat and sodium laden fast foods.

Involving children in planning and preparing their own lunchboxes gives them the opportunity to learn about healthy eating, Write a shopping list together. Take your children shopping with you and let them choose foods and drinks from the shopping list.

Encourage children to help choose and prepare their own lunch. They might like to make a list of the foods they enjoy. Praise your child when they choose healthy foods for their lunch box.

Foods should be simple and easy to prepare, ready to eat and appetising after several hours of storage in the lunch box. Follow hygienic food preparation methods. This is especially important when food will be stored in the lunch box for many hours before eating.

Make sure the foods are manageable and easy to eat. Some children are put off by fiddly packaging or don’t like getting sticky hands. Fruit can be made easier to eat. For example, remove orange peel or cut a kiwifruit in half and include a spoon in the lunch box.

To understand what to pack in your child’s lunch box it is important to understand what foods your child should be eating every day. Food from the different food groups will help to make the lunch box healthier. Eating foods from these food groups ensures that we get the correct balance of all nutrients for good health.

Benefits of giving a good lunch!

Gives the students' energy to remain active and alert during class time
Maintains peak academic performance
Provides immediate relief to growling stomach as it is a solid foundation of good nutrition
Provides enough calories to keep the kid going throughout the day no matter what is her activity level

Parental Influence can drastically affect your kids’ state of mind and help them to make healthy choices about the food they eat. Stress the importance of a healthy overall diet, deciding on the school packed tiffin menu for the week and identifying which selections would be healthiest. Parents who pack or supervise the packing of their child’s lunch should have a greater control on what their child is eating.