I’ll start off by saying that we don’t eat out much. We’re kind of picky about where we go, and we really look forward to those outings. That said, the last time we went out, we had a big surprise. Now, we’re fully aware that (most) restaurant food isn’t the best for you. We don’t partake very often, but when we do, we enjoy it with the full knowledge that it is an indulgence. But now, with a new law on the books, must I get this special indulgence with a side order of caloric guilt? C’mon …
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Archive for the ‘Dietary Guidelines’ Category
Lunch, Interrupted.
Thursday, July 29th, 2010Doing the Math on School Lunch Guidelines
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010When we got the Easy Lunchbox System, we started thinking more about how our kid’s lunches were presented, and how many nutrients and calories were part of their lunch. For some reason, when we were using a host of different containers, we were fully aware of how many things were in the lunch, but didn’t often spend too much time thinking about the lunch as a collective whole. Now that we’re working on a new site feature for showcasing lunches using the Easy Lunchbox system, we’re also thinking more about the daily requirements, and how what we pack for lunch works within those recommendations. (more…)
The Great Milk Debate (gulp!)
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009
We recently read a series of articles prompted by the National Dairy Council’s new ad campaign titled “Raise your hand for chocolate milk“. The premise of the campaign is that removing low fat chocolate milk from school cafeterias “could do more nutritional harm than good.”
If not low fat chocolate milk, then what? Soda? Fruit juice? White milk? Water? The merits of flavored milks must be measured against the alternative. Chocolate milk has more calories than white milk with similar fat content, so if that’s the comparison being made, white milk wins out. The extra calories can add up to something substantial: over the school year, who needs an additional 40-60 calories (in the form of milk flavorings) per day, if they’d be willing to drink white milk? (more…)
Fruit Snacks
Saturday, November 14th, 2009
For better or worse, fruit snacks have become part of the lunchtime landscape. The name encourages consumers to consider them a healthy choice for the lunch box. Those of us who grew up when anything fat-free was automatically considered good for you are easily swayed by the fat-free label. The good news is that, as a dessert, these little pouches are lower in sugar and fat than a cookie. The bad news: they are filled with artificial ingredients including corn syrup and artificial colors.
We recently tried Annie’s Organic Bunny Fruit Snacks and found them to be delicious and filled with none of the usual suspects. Ingredients include all natural things that you can pronounce, and the coloring is from carrot juice! They were chewy (without being too hard to bite into) and didn’t have the aftertaste of the other brands. In a blind taste test, our kids chose Annie’s over the other brands. Our kids thought it was cool to do this kind of research!
That said, even with the healthier fruit snacks, these treats should be just that: occasional treats in a lunchbox. Expense aside, their only real claim to fame is that they (a) don’t contain bad things and (b) won’t melt in a lunch container. They can’t claim that they are filled with fiber, count as a serving of fruit or that they will fill you up. (more…)
Help me understand the new Food Pyramid
Monday, October 5th, 2009
USDA MyPyramid (2005)
The USDA food pyramid was originally published in 1992 to help guide people in selecting a variety of food in their diets. Updated approximately every 5 years, the current MyPyramid guideline was published 2005. It’s still a pyramid, but has some new features worth explaining. In short, here are the main daily components of the pyramid, pictured at right. (more…)
Packing an earth-friendly lunch and reducing waste
Friday, May 1st, 2009What a waste
The numbers don’t lie: children’s lunches create a lot of garbage every day. Googling for some statistics, we pulled together some interesting tidbits:
- The typical child generates 67 pounds of lunchtime trash per year
- 38 billion plastic water bottles end up in landfills each year and take 700 years before they start to decompose
- Trash is often mistaken for food and eaten by ocean life
- 1.5 million barrels of oil are used in making plastic baggies and plastic bottles each year
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