Healthy Lunchbox Tips

As parents we sometimes feel pressurised into filling our children’s lunchboxes with the latest gimmicky foods. Make no mistake, parents are targeted in a big way by the food industry.

Pre-packaged lunchbox “foods”, high in salt, fat, sugar and additives, are pushed by slick advertising campaigns. Cheap to produce and profitable, these unhealthy products use every trick in the book to get into your child’s lunchbox. Adverts often don’t tell the whole story, and ad-campaigns are designed to get kids nagging their parents. We think that it is about time
that parents took the power back!

To keep your child healthy – to prevent obesity and the future risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer – it’s important to provide wholesome grub for your child’s lunch. Good lunchtime food will also help your children to perform well at school.

• Include a piece of fresh fruit in every lunch if you can - as an alternative, you could include a portion of dried fruit (raisins, sultanas or apricots, wrapped in greaseproof paper)

• Try to include at least one vegetable - many children enjoy scrubbed carrots at lunch

• For added fibre, choose whole-grain bread for sandwiches – if your children don’t like brown bread, choose a white bread that has some seeds in it

• If you can, include some salad or fruit in the sandwich - for example peanut butter and banana, ham and tomato, or chicken and lettuce

• Don’t include fizzy drinks, fruit drinks or sports drinks with lunches - choose water, milk or 100% fruit juice as healthier alternatives

• Avoid salted, oily foods like crisps (even the “healthy” versions)

• Steer away from cakes, chocolate and sweets

According to the World Health Organisation, low intake of fruit and vegetables causes about 19% of gastrointestinal cancer, 31% of ischaemic heart disease and 11% of stroke. Help your child to be healthy, and include fruit when you can! If you don’t have fresh fruit to hand, include some dried fruit like raisins, sultanas, dates or apricots.

Lunchbox Tips

• Buy a set of small plastic food boxes for individual portions of chopped vegetables, salad and fruit. Prepare the contents the night before and store in the fridge ready for the morning.

• Add cherry tomatoes, raw vegetables sticks/shapes, half a red pepper, a piece of fruit, fruit salad or a small pack of dried fruit.

• Ask your child to design a healthy lunchbox menu using these tips - a great way to interest them in healthy food.

• Add variety by using different bread - wholemeal, pitta, granary, tortilla wraps, bagels, walnut or soft grain bread.

• Try rice, noodle or pasta-based salads or a colourful mixed salad roll.

Sweet foods like chocolate and sweets should be occasional treats rather than everyday items.

• Children these days eat far more sweets that previous generations...and this will cause serious health problems in the future.

• Good sandwich fillings include sliced meat, cheese, tuna, egg and peanut butter.

• Water and milk are the best lunchbox drinks. Avoid fizzy drinks, colas and
flavoured “fruit drinks” which contain very little fruit.

Making a Difference...
Sometimes we all need that extra bit of encouragement to try new things. It can help to involve your children in lunch box planning and/or shopping.

If that still doesn't tempt them, then try a sticker reward system. Each time your child tries a new, healthier lunch box food or drink, give them a star or sticker (on a wall chart or special notebook). Once they collect five stars, give them a small reward, like a comic, family walk or outing. It’s best to make it a non-food reward and agree what it will be at the beginning.

Linking a new food to a positive experience can help to establish new tastes and habits.

Keep things positive and don’t force your child to eat anything...this is probably the worst thing you could do.

Make sure your school has a healthy eating policy. RedBranch provide many free resources for schools, and we can help schools with policy development and health education.

Copyright © RedBranch 2009

RedBranch: Keeping Kids Healthy!

RedBranch is an Irish charity that empowers parents, children and young people to make healthy lifestyle choices. Healthy lifestyle is a major issue for Irish children. Childhood obesity levels are at an all-time high - more than 25% of children are overweight. Most Irish children have poor eating habits and are not physically active, and this has a major impact on life-long health. Cardiovascular disease, the most common cause of death, is directly related to lifestyle and begins in childhood. Eighty-six percent of all deaths in Ireland result from lifestyle-related chronic illnesses.

RedBranch was founded to address this lifestyle crisis in Irish children. We have two main areas of work:
1. We change attitudes towards lifestyle choices – we educate and inspire people to make healthier choices.
2. We change the environment so that healthier choices are easier to access, especially in the school setting.

We provide a range of practical and innovative solutions for schools, parents, young people and communities. This includes:
• Facilitating the supply of healthy school food
• Running an informational website that achieves 130,000 hits per month
• Creating student-lead initiatives that promote healthy eating and physical activity – for example our secondary school fruit micro-business helps students to market fruit to their peers, with profits re-invested in alternative physical activities such as hip-hop dancing

• Helping schools to carry out surveys of student lifestyle habits
• Improving awareness of the importance of good diet and regular physical activity amongst children, parents, teachers and school management
• Working to promote active playground initiatives at Primary level

More than 30,000 children and their parents have benefited from our work, in more than 30 schools. You can see more information on RedBranch here: www.redbranch.ie.

Our work has helped to increase levels of fruit & vegetable consumption, reduced junk food intake, and increased participation rates in physical activity. Approximately twothirds of schools in Co. Clare have stopped selling
carbonated drinks to students as a direct result of our work.

RedBranch are supported by Ashoka, the global association of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs. For more on Ashoka see:  http://www.ashoka.ie/

National School Children taking part in a RedBranch school fruit break.
According to the World Health Organisation, low intake of fruit and veg is
among the top 10 risk factors for disease. Eating fruits and vegetables every
day helps prevent:
• Heart Disease
• Stroke
• Certain Cancers
• Type II Diabetes
• Obesity

David Egan is the founder and CEO of RedBranch. He became aware of the issues facing Irish children in 2004 whilst giving a talk at his childrens’ school. David is an Exercise Physiologist, formerly of the NCTC at the University of Limerick. Prior to founding RedBranch, David worked with top athletes in Ireland and the UK, including many Irish Olympic and Paralympic athletes prior to the 2004 and 2000 Games. David is an Ashoka Fellow (2009), and a Social Entrepreneurs Ireland Level 2 Awardee (2007).

RedBranch, Sixmilebridge, Co. Clare, Ireland. www.redbranch.ie info@redbranch.ie
Tel: +353 (0)61 713 750
RedBranch is a registered charity: CHY 17694