Lunch by Judy Lyden

So what does a child really need for lunch?

The United States Department of Agriculture Child and Adult Food Program says that for lunch a 3-5 year old child needs 1.5 ounces of protein, 4 ounces of fruit and or vegetable, 1 ounce of enriched or whole grain bread, and a cup of milk.

The optimist looks at that and says: baked chicken, corn on the cob, fresh apples, a whole grain fun muffin and a cup of milk.

The pessimist looks at that and says: frozen pizza, French fries, applesauce.

So who cares? Few parents and providers really do care, and that's what is causing a nation of obese and unhealthy kids. False ideas that salty snacks are better than sweet snacks, that juice boxes are a good way to add a fruit to a child's diet, and that fast food is a good option to anything at home is driving high blood pressure and diabetes into many children's lives. Today's child is accumulating more calories in a day than ever before and most of it comes from snacks.

One of my favorite children once told me that his favorite lunch was grilled cheese and cheese puffs. When you consider that the sandwich was probably white bread, the cheese was "peal and eat" oil based cheese, and it was probably served with a fruit "drink" you are talking about a potential lunch menu that has fewer nutrients than cat food. The sad part is, this child could really eat.

Lunch is a very important part of a child's basic health. A child between 1-3 should eat about 1300 calories a day. A child who is 4-6 should eat about 1800 calories per day. When you consider the totals at the end of the day, you might get just the right amount of calories, but when you put junk calories into one category and nutrition calories into another category, and you total both categories, what exactly is your child eating? Is it even healthy? Is there really room for treats, or is the meal the no-nutrition treat all by itself?

Let's take a look at this little boy's grilled cheese lunch and compare it with the same lunch but with some better options. Let's first look at the bread. When you weigh bread, the more fiber the bread has the heavier it is. One ounce of white bread is twice as large as an ounce of multi-grain. Good, you say, I can eat more for less. Perhaps. But the real question is how many slices of white bread will you or your child need to feel full? Will your child eat 2 sandwiches for a total of 400 bread calorie slices. Would he have been just as full eating one slice of multi grain bread for a total of 100 calories?

Now let's consider the bread. Bread is supposed to fill you up, and it's supposed to act as a cleansing agent while it's being digested. It absorbs impurities that get into your system and then clean sweeps the colon. Eating bread is a really terrific part of your diet unless you eat white bread. White bread does not have the fiber to cleanse. It actually causes your system to back up, to clog, and in an article I read recently, white bread can actually cause cancer because it doesn't leave the system; it stays and stays.

So when making that grilled cheese sandwich for your child, consider your bread carefully. When you do, you will begin to see that most children only need one slice.

Now let's look at the cheese. When you save money on bread, it's time to spend a little more on cheese. The cheese that's wrapped in plastic individual sheets is cheese food not cheese. What's wrapped is actually not that different from the wrapper. Plastic leaches into the food. There is a high sugar and salt content to give flavor to the unreal food. Cheese food has the nutritional value of cooking oil because that's about what it is. Cheese must say "Cheese" to be a genuine food.

When using real cheese, buy the slices that are a little thicker. Most of these will measure out at 1 ounce. For lunch a child needs 1.5 or 2 slices. This allows the child to really taste the cheese. Cheese has about 88 calories per ounce. Cheese food has 141 per ounce. So with real cheese, you really are getting more for your money and spending a lot fewer calories.

Now, the go alongs. Let's see the difference between cheese puffs and say apples. Cheese puffs average about 160 calories for an ounce and an ounce fits into the palm of your hand. Cheese puffs are high in salt and have no nutritional value. They are a body clogger much like white bread. They give a child a false sense of full that leaves quickly and they send blood pressure up for uneven behavior problems.

An apple, on the other hand, probably weighs 4 ounces has 55 calories. Half an apple fits the USDA food program and has a lot of potassium, fiber and good power building carbohydrates. An apple offers a child energy without offering a momentary rush of excited behavior with a crash a few minutes later. Apples are good carbohydrates that allow a slower digestion pattern and stay with a child a longer time.

Adding the other components the USDA Child Care Food Program requires means adding another fruit or vegetable. Let's offer carrot sticks. For every baby carrot stick a child eats, it's four calories.

Now for the final crunch - milk vs. juice drink:

Milk is an essential food for bone and brain development. A cup of 2% white milk has 138 calories. A juice box contains about the same calories - 140 calories and has a lot of the wrong kind of sugar.

Let's look at the two lunches:


2 ounces of white bread at 200 calories
2 slices of cheese food at 280 calories
1 ounce of cheese puffs at 160 calories
1 juice box at 140 calories

Total calories: 780 with little food value

1 ounce of multi-grain bread at 100 calories
2 slices of cheese at 170 calories
1/2 an apple at 30 calories
10 carrot sticks at 40 calories
1 cup milk at 130 calories

Total calories : 470 with a lot of food value

Considering all this, the question still remains - what about the need for 1800 calories?

By eating nearly 500 calories three times a day, a child still has room for a sweet or two or an extra helping or even an option like a bowl of soup without the thought that the child is eating too much.

By eating 780 calories at every meal, a child is way over his count, and when he adds that sweet or extra or bowl of soup, he is putting on enough calories to send him into the danger zone.

And speaking of sweets, lots of parents are down on sweets and sugar because they are afraid their children will be fat. By looking at what you are really serving a child, the question of obesity can't be blamed on a few cookies. It can be blamed on the neglect of food components, the idea that all food is equal, and that constant stop for a fast food lunch is not a bad thing because it's convenient. That lunch of six chicken nuggets at a calorie count of 320, and 150 calories for the potatoes that usually go with, and a soda at 147 calories is about 617 calories.

The average cookie has fewer than 100 calories. So compare the average cookie to cheese puffs or other high salt crackers or snacks. Ounce for ounce cookies are a better treat and have lots less salt. Cookies packed with added fiber like oats and raisins, apples, and made with whole wheat flour are probably better for a child than a lot of neglectful meals.

When feeding children lunch the idea is to assemble real food, and keep in mind that fresh is always better than canned, real is always better than imitation, and low salt is preferable to high salt.