Back To School or Work

What’s in your Lunch Box?

Whether you are a kid or an adult its important your lunch box is enticing. There’s nothing worse when you’re 13 than being teased because “Mum makes me bring weird food”. The trick is to make it look beautiful so curiosity takes over. That’s easy to do by using colourful foods. This is attractive to the brain and also means your lunch is full of different nutrients, especially anti-oxidants.

Avoid too much:

Sugar – Too much sugar, especially early in the day will upset blood sugar balance and consequently mood, concentration and energy.

Carbohydrate – A lot of carbs (pasta, bread, potato, biscuits) at lunch makes us sleepy. An experiment on TV recently showed twins – one who was fed a carb based lunch and the other a protein based lunch. The concentration of the later was unaffected where as the former was greatly reduced.

Chemical additives – These affect the body in lots of different ways including hyperactivity, stomach ache & fatigue. They come in all different guises on the ingredients list – top of the list to avoid, artificial sweeteners, colours and preservatives. Better that you’re kids have a natural juice sweetened with sugar, than a sugar free one sweetened with aspartame which is highly toxic!

Healthy Stealthy

Sandwiches (if they don’t make you sleepy!) made with wholemeal bread or rolls. Spread with butter or humous. Get some protein in there – cheese, meat, avocado and balance that with plenty of salad. Google healthy lunchbox ideas for masses of ideas.

Middle Eastern style pitta bread with falafel, humous and salad filling. Or falafels, on a bed of salad with a humous dip.

Gluten Free

Cook a grain such as millet, quinoa (good together) rice or buckwheat. Then add chopped up left over roast, cheese, avocado, cashew nuts, etc then add cherry tomatoes, diced carrot, cucumber, celery, etc and dress with vinegar dressing or just olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Season with mixed fresh or dried herbs. Delicious!

Salads are another great gluten and carb free option. Make a beautiful colourful mixed salad and add chunks of meat, tuna, feta cheese, avocado etc.

Snacks

Snacks are great to keep us going and can be eaten at anytime.

Healthy Bars

There is such a huge choice of snack bars available these days. Go for ones with lots of nuts and seeds and dried fruit rather than sugar. These will keep you going longer because of the nuts and seeds contain protein.

Seasonal fruit  is one of the best snacks. Eating seasonally gets us nutrients we need for the time of year. Dark berries like blackberries that are in season now are packed with high levels of antioxidants. A little pot of fruits is an essential part of a great looking lunch.

Trail mix, a mix of dried fruit and nuts is a great for energy and is filling!

Chocolate – the real stuff is high in anti-oxidants. Buy natural dark chocolate with a high cocoa content, its a strong favour but then you don’t need much!

Drinks

Water is essential. Send your kids to school with water as their main drink, with a small natural juice for lunch.

Back to School Essentials

Its the end of the summer holidays and the start of a new school year. How can we help our children navigate the transitions smoothly?

Feed their Brains

Children grow very fast and when we consider that 60% of the brain is made of fats, they’re gonna need plenty in their diet, especially omegas 3 and 6. Do your kids eat oily fish? Mmmm, bet there’s a few people saying no. Don’t stress. There are some great omega 3 supplements available for kids. Chewy ones that don’t even taste fishy! Omega 6 is found in nuts and seeds, so some trail mix in the lunch box will provide this. Otherwise there are combination supplements – ask in store!

ADHD & ADD

ADHD and ADD can be greatly helped with dietary changes alone. Omegas 3 and 6 that we have just mentioned are essential in the diet. Plus make sure that your child is eating whole foods, plenty of fruit and veg. If they don’t like them then you’re going to have to get inventive about introducing them into the diet. Get a blender and make delicious smoothies with seasonal fruit.

Avoid preservatives and colourings in foods at all cost! Do some research on the internet and get savvy with E numbers – so you know what to avoid.

Anxiety

Kids can be put under undue pressure to achieve. This can be difficult for some children, just as it is for adults. Feeding the body well with healthy food will help support your child’s body and brain. Make sure they are drinking plenty of water through the day, the body needs much more fluid when under stress.

Look at giving your child a nutritional supplement for stress that contains B vitamins to help support the body. Try Rescue remedy for exam stress. Try l-theanine to mitigate stress naturally.

Fatigue

Children who get tired easily may be lacking B vitamins. An egg for breakfast is a good start. If they are really tired give them a course of B vitamins once a day for 10 days. Repeat when necessary.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D deficiency is becoming an increasing concern with the return of Rickets – a disease of Victorian times. This is due to diets of refined, processed food and too much time spent indoors. It is recommended to supplement with Vitamin D in the winter. Ask in store.

Digestive Issues

If your child has been on a course of anti-biotics then its a good idea (as it is with adults) for them to take a course of pro-biotics to put back the good bugs!

If your child suffers with constipation it could be that they are gluten intolerant (try cutting gluten out of the diet for a couple of weeks), or, they are not drinking enough water or not eating enough fibre. If you really can’t get them eating fruit and veg, try dried fruit like figs and apricots to get things moving!

Head Lice

Head lice: are insects that only live on the human head; are from the size of a pin head to 3mm long; cannot fly or jump; only transfer between people by direct head to head contact; are not fussy if your hair is clean or dirty; can’t live on dogs, towel etc; they live for 1 month, in which time a female can lay 160 eggs.

The best approach to treating head lice naturally is to use a lice comb and a herbal treatment or shampoo.

Nitty Gritty make an excellent comb that removes lice and eggs. They also make a safe repellent spray and head lice solution. Riddance is a herbal lice shampoo made by A Vogel. The active ingredient is Neem – natural and totally safe.

Georgie Wingfield-Hayes