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Archive for the ‘Nutrition’ Category

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Weekly Lunches (19 September 2011)
Friday, September 23rd, 2011

We’re in week 3 of school, and we’re all still getting used to the routine! Fortunately, lunches have become easier over the years and we are able to focus instead on piano practice, dance lessons and getting reading and homework done. Our biggest challenge these days is making sure that our little darlings get enough sleep: something that is getting harder and harder for some reason!

I have spent enough time volunteering in the kids’ lunchroom to know this: a lot of food gets tossed, or put on the “give away” table, not ending up in our children’s stomachs. A strategy we’ve used to combat that is talking with the kids each day about how lunch went. Questions like “Who did you sit with?” and “What did [insert friend name here] bring to eat?” help jumpstart the conversation, culminating with “So, did you like your lunch?” (more…)

Tags: weekly
Posted in Ideas, Lunches, Nutrition | No Comments »

Weekly Lunches (12 September 2011)
Friday, September 16th, 2011

We started Lunchtaker to solve a problem: our daughter was starting Kindergarten and would need to bring lunch 5 days a week! We quickly agreed that she could buy lunch one day per week (and thus give us a day off from packing lunch), and we began to think of things that were fun, nutritious and not too difficult to pack.

For many, this would not have been a hard task, but Scott works from home and I’m a stay-at-home Mom with a cake business that provides a great creative outlet for me. Because of our home-based schedules, we have enjoyed years of eating lunches together at home, where we have a refrigerator, stove and all of the allure of a well-stocked pantry. So, we had to think about how to make lunches portable and palatable for our kids. (more…)

Tags: weekly
Posted in Ideas, Lunches, Nutrition | 5 Comments »

Preparing a Rainbow
Tuesday, February 15th, 2011

Erica McClanahanWe are pleased to bring you another post from Erica McClanahan. Erica is a Bay Area California native who attended the University of California, Berkeley. Her major in American Studies with an emphasis in race, ethnicity, and health in America has led her down the path of becoming a teen health educator. She is currently a HealthCorps Coordinator at a New York City school.

Every week during my after gardening/cooking club my students have been preparing healthy, delicious, and fresh recipes. My goal during this time is to have my students prepare something that is easy and colorful so that they understand the value of eating fruits and vegetables from all the colors of the rainbow. Also, while we are preparing the different recipes, it’s a perfect time for me to explain concepts such as nutrients, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. (more…)

Posted in Education, Healthcorps, Nutrition, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Getting Calcium from Non-Dairy Sources
Tuesday, January 18th, 2011

If you’ve read some of our recent posts, you know that our family’s eating habits have changed since we read The China Study. One such change is an almost complete elimination of dairy foods. Our son is ecstatic about this change: he isn’t a fan of cheese, is okay with skim milk, and doesn’t care for yogurt or string cheese. He’s thrilled!  We have adjusted well too, but admit to being a bit worried about our calcium intake. We’re all drinking calcium-fortified orange juice in the morning, and my husband and I take a calcium supplement. Several of our friends also read the book and have changed their dietary habits. As you might imagine, one of our conversations has been about making sure we’re getting calcium in our daily meals. (more…)

Tags: calcium
Posted in Nutrition | No Comments »

Delicious Vegan Carrot Muffins
Monday, January 10th, 2011

Recently, our family read The China Study and Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. The result: some changes to our diet. More vegan foods, with less meat, dairy and eggs. Experimenting with baked goods is now one of our new passions! After trying standard egg replacer and finding that the muffins didn’t rise as nicely as we’d like, we started to experiment with ground flax meal. We’ve heard that flax seeds could be an egg replacer in some things, and thought “why not try!”

We had one round of less-than-stellar results, made a few adjustments, and our second batch of muffins was fantastic! The flaxseeds add a nice hearty taste and added fiber.

To make these delicious vegan carrot muffins, the only special equipment you’ll need is a food processor (or a grater, but then you’ll also need some patience for grating the carrots!) They are a perfect lunch box treat or portable breakfast.

Tags: flax, muffin
Posted in How-To, Nutrition, Techniques | 1 Comment »

To Dye or Not to Dye …
Monday, November 1st, 2010

Consumption of food dyes has increased five-fold since 1955, thanks in part to the proliferation of brightly colored breakfast cereals, fruit drinks, and candies pitched to children. Use of artificial food dyes was phased out in Britain as of December 2009, and in the European Union, all companies are required to put a label on any food item containing artificial dye. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) predicts that the label requirement (the food label states: “may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children”), will be the death knell for all food dyes in Europe.1 (more…)

Tags: cspi, dye, food
Posted in Nutrition | 1 Comment »

November Lunches on $1.77 a Day
Monday, October 25th, 2010

One of the things we try to do with each lunch we make is to be aware of what’s in our pantry, and how what we’ve bought can be incorporated into multiple lunches. As an experiment, we got a bit more formal this month, in terms of organization and finances. We asked ourselves, “How does sending lunch from home compare with the cost of school lunch?” and “When we plan out lunches by the week or month, what economies of scale do we see?”

So … we’re pleased to share our November menu: 19 lunch combinations, with little leftover at the end of the month. Check out the menu below, and then scroll down to read about what we found out! (more…)

Tags: groceries, menu, month
Posted in How-To, Nutrition | No Comments »

Recipes for Healthy Kids
Monday, October 18th, 2010

Let’s Move!, in association with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), is hosting a contest that could land your recipe on the plates of students participating in the National School Lunch Program!

If your recipe is good enough, you’ll get to go to a national cook-off to determine the grand-prize winner. The public will also vote online to determine a Popular Choice Winner. And winning teams will be invited to make their recipes alongside White House chefs. Want to learn more? Read on… (more…)

Tags: contest
Posted in Education, Nutrition | No Comments »

Lunch, Interrupted.
Thursday, July 29th, 2010

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 …
(more…)

Tags: calories, restaurants
Posted in Dietary Guidelines, Nutrition | 1 Comment »

Doing the Math on School Lunch Guidelines
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

When 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…)

Tags: calories, guidelines, iom
Posted in Dietary Guidelines, Education, Nutrition | 2 Comments »

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