Tips for Healthy Kid Friendly Lunches that Your Kids Will Love
Pin Share Flip Save Remember awhile ago when I shared with you that the girls…
Remember awhile ago when I shared with you that the girls and I had attended an IOGO Yogurt blogger event to promote their Go Bubble Crazy contest? The one where their artist taught us how to draw comic strips? Well it was super fun and the girls and I learned all kinds of great stuff, IOGO Yogurt really knows how to connect with influencers which was so refreshing! I was seriously blown away, not just by how well we were treated, but also by their product itself.
Let’s talk a moment about yogurt…
As I learned at the IOGO Yogurt event, not all yogurt is created equally and that it really pays to READ the labels on your yogurt, specifically the ingredient list, not just the quick Nutrition Facts. There are some yogurt that have some not-so-nice things in them, such as: Carmine (a dye extracted from cochineal insects to give fruit-flavored yogurt several varieties of their pink color), artificial sweeteners (while these reduce the number of calories in products, these are essentially a chemical sh-t-storm), high-fructose corn syrup (need I say more?), and gelatin (flavorless solid substance, derived from collagen obtained from various animal by-products). Ummmm can I say gross???
IOGO Yogurt doesn’t contain any of that stuff.
I honestly had never really paid attention to the ingredient list on our yogurt – it’s yogurt! Why would I need to? So I was really happy to hear that my kids’ favourite yogurt is not full of crap, yay!
IOGO Zip Yogurt ingredients
This brings me to the main topic of this post:
Tips for Healthy Kid Friendly Lunches
When making a balanced lunch for kids to help keep them creative and inspired, IOGO yogurt Dietitian, Jonathan Fontaine offers the following top ten tips:
- Select and include foods from all four food groups of the Canadian Food Guide: 1) Vegetables and fruit, 2) Grain products, 3) Milk and milk-derived products, 4) Meat and alternatives.
- Don’t shy away from proteins as it promotes healthy growth in kids.
- Kids need carbs because they are the foundation of the energy they need to get through the day. In fact, it’s the preferred energy source for the brain.
- You know your kids, make sure what you pack meets their appetite.
- Look for appealing foods or preparations that your kids will want to eat.
- Do most of your preparation the night before, and don’t hesitate to get your kids involved involve in the process. When you prepare dinner, why not make them lunch?
- Speaking of dinner, when possible, cook few more portions of meats, vegetables and grains in preparation to tomorrow’s lunch.
- Draw inspiration from the foods your kids love to eat to meet their dietary needs.
- Finally, be creative. Inject some fun in the preparation and coloring of your presentations & creativity inspires creativity.
- Kids may be tempted by all kinds of not-so-healthy treats. Ensure they have access to plenty of nutrient-packed, such as dairy as well as fruits and vegetables, which can decrease the allure of sugary or fatty food items.
The best tip that came from my day with IOGO Yogurt is this:
[Tweet “Tip: Freeze yogurt tubes and use it to keep you child’s lunches nice and cool.”]
Brilliant!! I’ve been doing this every day since the event, and the kids have loved that their drinks, fruit and veggies are all staying the perfect temperature! Instead of floppy sugar snap peas coming home as left overs, the girls have eaten their entire lunch!!
What healthy food do you pack in your child’s lunches?
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