Tag: storing

Packing a healthy lunchbox is simple when you include each MyPlate food group, including vegetables, fruits, proteins, whole grains and dairy. This approach will offer your child plenty of healthy choices at lunchtime and one that you can be confident with as a healthy alternative to normal school-serve lunches.

Researchers, during the 2006-2007 school year, studied 4,870 eighth-graders in 40 states and found schools that did not exceed the standard nutritional standards were two times more likely to be obese compared to those in schools where a healthy alternative was served. It was concluded that stricter national standards were effective in controlling weight gain in young children.

You may have heard people comment that lettuce is just empty calories, but contrary to popular belief, this is just not true. While iceberg lettuce is not a nutritional powerhouse, other salad greens are nutritional champions.

As a general rule, the darker the lettuce leaves the more nutritious the salad. As an example, romaine and watercress have seven times as much beta-carotene, two-to-four times as much calcium and twice the amount of potassium as iceberg lettuce.