Tuesday, August 26, 2008

It is time to Bento again!

School has started. The MDO/Preschool has the meet and greet next week.

I am trying to get stuff together for my little packet of lunch information. I don't expect the mom's to make wonderful little bento for their 3 yr olds, although I did have two such creative mothers last year, but I would like to see more nutrition and less sugar. Have you ever looked at how much sugar is in a juice box? Also, some parents pack HUGE amounts of food for a 3 yr old.
I advocate small amounts of several good foods. Chances are their kids will eat more of the smaller portions of food.



I took a really good Brain Development class at the beginning of the Summer and the information blew me away. The biggie was that High Fructose Corn Syrup is in EVERYTHING and it is NOT good for Anyone's brain. If it says High Fructose it is bad for you. If it says hydrogenate, or partially hydrogenated on a package don't eat it. These trans fatty acids affect brain function, the nerves inthe brain don't function as they were designed to do.



I have a list of brain builders and brain drainers to give the parents. I also have an article from the local paper from last year and a list of interesting web sites. Like this one: http://www.foodfun4kids.com/

Where you can buy a deck of cards that the 4 suits are: FRUITS, VEGETABLES, GRAINS and PROTEINS. Each nutrition card is unique and has nutrition facts listed for fresh fruits, vegetables and other healthy foods that don’t have food labels.



The WholeFoods web site has a good kids section with ideas for snacks and lunches.

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/kids/. Just keep clicking on the links.



LapTop lunchbox has a good site about kids lunches too. http://www.laptoplunches.com/ideas.html#nutrition



Lap Top Lunch is an American Bento box. I don't have one, but I've been tempted.
Another cool American Bento type set up is http://www.lunchsense.com/home/lun/smartlist_7/buylunchboxes.html


I do have some Lock Lock boxes, some inexpensive 2 tier Hello Kitty bento boxes from the Dollar Tree and a Sigg bottle to carry my water. I put it all in a regular zippered insulated lunchbox. Usually the children can't wait to see what I have in my lunch, the Sigg bottle has odd creatures on it and everyone wants to look at it. I carry water to drink and pack healthy food for my lunch. The rule at school is growing food before treats. I love the mothers who don't pack sweet treats at all.

If you would like to see what some mom's send to school with their kids, yes people actually take pictures and post them on the internet, google bento. Or go to this site http://www.flickr.com/groups/kideats/
Not everyone packs healthy though.

Have fun looking!

Viki

4 comments:

Anita in SE IN said...

So are you going to report me for packing a bite of fudge in my bento box?

Viki said...

I wont report you for a bite!
But you know as well as I what a lot of sugar will do to a kid!

Viki

Quilting Memories said...

I was looking at those pics of kids lunches and it just blew me away that parents will actually pack some of that stuff for their kids!? Thanks for sharing all that helpful/healthful information!

Unknown said...

(love)

One of the things that I miss about not working 9-5 is packing my lunch. So far for class days I've packed something that survives being outside refrigeration for a few hours and snack up before the evening classes. Days I'm home I have whatever I'd normally have for lunch.

But I did pack up a picnic spread to share with a classmate one day. That was fun! I put together a three tier bento in a cooler pack, it was simple stuff - hummus, vegetable cream cheese, roasted red peppers. Mini bagels and toasted bread slices. Two kinds of tomatoes (that was two tiers actually, one for marinated one for plain). He contributed popcorn and drinks. All told it was a splendid lunch.

I like the "growing things before treat things" idea!