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How to Pack a Healthy Lunch for Your Kids

Healthy eating is an important part of maintaining good oral health. Your child’s lunch is a good source of vitamins and minerals that can help your child live a healthy lifestyle. Without a good source of nutrition from a healthy lunch, your child may have trouble focusing in class and absorbing information.

Now that your kids are back at school, you may be wondering what type of foods you should include in their lunch box. Packing healthy lunches for your kids is not always easy, so we at 123Dentist wanted to give you some tips to help you along the way.

  1. Canada’s Food Guide—Canada’s Food Guide is an excellent source of information regarding healthy portions and what ingredients to include in a healthy lunch.  Visit the “Recommended Number of Food Guide Servings per Day” page to see the number of recommended servings for your child’s age group.
  2. Get creative—Your child’s taste in food may change over time, so it doesn’t hurt to try introducing them to new foods and flavors regularly. Another way to keep them interested in healthy lunches is to be creative with the presentation of the food with new shapes and textures.
  • Cut the sandwiches into triangles and diamond shapes
  • Change the type of bread and cheese that you use
  • Regularly change the vegetables and fruit that you include in their lunch based on their texture, shape and colour
  • Include dips for the fruit, veggies, or snacks
  • Click here for some award winning recipes to get you started!
  1. Let your child help you prepare lunch—Let your child help you make their healthy lunch and include some of their suggestions and opinions on what to include. This way, your child will feel like the lunch is a result of their hard work as well, and will be more inclined to eat it.
  2. Include foods that promote good oral health—here are some suggestions:
  • Baked tortilla chips or low-sodium pretzels provide snacks that are low in sugar.
  • Kiwis, strawberries, and oranges are high in Vitamin C and help to kill harmful bacteria in your child’s mouth.
  • Milk, yogurt or cheese are high in calcium and can help build strong and healthy teeth.
  • Chewing on sugarless gum during the day can increase the production of saliva in the mouth, which helps to prevent tooth decay.
  • Pumpkin, sunflower and sesame seeds provide natural fats to protect your child’s teeth from bacteria.

Additional Resources:

  1. Eat Right Ontario’s Family Friendly One Week Sample Menu Plan
  2. Health Canada’s Meal Planning Checklist
  3. BC Health Families: Lunch Wraps for Kids