A few favourites (of many!) I saved over the years

So I may sound a little hypocritical here when I applaud California’s Santa Clara County for banning Happy Meal toys from their McDonald’s restaurants (see article here). Reasoning behind this decision was cited to include making McDonald’s unable to use children’s “love of toys” to sell unhealthy food and breaking the link between unhealthy food and prizes.

While I don’t think that the issue is so simple – that children simply develop some kind of deep-set subconscious association between unhealthy fast food and prizes and this is what is helping to fuel the childhood obesity epidemic – I do think that removing toys will give kids less of a reason to nag their parents to take them out for lunch. Had McDonald’s never featured Barbie in their Happy Meals 15 years ago, I know at least three kids who would have eaten there much less frequently, and I’m sure the situation is similar today. Toys are just one of the factors driving people, especially children and their families, to eat at fast-food restaurants and their removal is one good step – albeit, maybe just a small one – toward a healthier population.

On the same note, TIME reported just last week that the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is threatening to sue McDonald’s if it doesn’t stop using these toys to market Happy Meals to children, saying that it is deceptive given the cognitive development stages of young children and that it violates consumer protection laws in certain states. McDonald’s, however, doesn’t use the toys or the most unhealthy meal components, namely the soft drink and fries, in any marketing – if you’ve noticed, even here in Canada, there are no more commercials on television informing kids what this month’s Happy Meal toy is. And in the restaurants, the Happy Meal displays only advertise the white-meat chicken nuggets, the apple slices, and the milk as meal options. I’m really interested in finding out how this potential lawsuit develops, since McDonald’s really seems to have covered their bases and has a fair argument regarding just what it is (and isn’t) marketing. Technically, they’re not really doing anything wrong in that sense. They are selling meals for children that (without the relatively unpopular healthy options) are excessively high in fat, sugar, and salt – and while that may be wrong from a health or ethical perspective, as of now, it’s fine from a legal perspective.

I would love to hear your perspective on this if you’re reading!

- shirl

- SW

David Rocco: not a chef, just Italian. And his ribollita looks like it could rival even my aunt’s.

Last fall, he started working with Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty to create healthy menus for school cafeterias. He wants to teach high school students to cook and to introduce them to new and delicious ways of eating – he wants to empower them to make healthy choices.

The ‘Eating Well Looks Good on You’ pilot project, designed to bring healthier food to school cafeterias in Ontario, provides healthy recipes to schools using fresh, locally grown food. It was developed by the Ontario Ministry of Education in collaboration with a catering company called Real Food for Real Kids, Foodland Ontario, and, of course, my friend David.

He argues that kids just aren’t aware of how quick and easy it can be to put together a healthy and delicious meal. By discovering simple recipes and techniques, and by seeing that cooking doesn’t need to be a formal endeavour, they’ll develop the confidence to keep on cooking and bring those skills home to their families. He pushes to make culinary skills part of the school curriculum since it is an important life skill, right up there with maths and sciences. I could not agree more.

If this wasn’t enough, one of the pilot schools was College Heights, right here in Guelph. Here’s a nice little video of David in action in their cafeteria. It’s a little dry, I’ll be honest with you. This video is way more fun. It has it all… cous cous, a farm, a nice game of football with the Premier…

The latest news I have on this program is an update from last November, courtesy of a transcript of an online question-and-answer session held by the Globe and Mail:

“The initiatives started off as a pilot program in September to schools that offered a “Special Skills Major” (i.e. culinary arts courses, etc.).

“It is still in the early stages of development. We have designed 16 healthy menus that are available right now to schools to use in their cafeterias. The idea is not to change the current menus altogether, but rather offer a wider variety of choices and alternatives. Being exposed to these options will hopefully empower kids to make healthier choices.

“We also hope that the program will build momentum and enthusiasm to encourage more schools to climb on board and make this part of their curriculum, too, even in schools that don’t offer the special skills courses.

“I’ll be meeting the Premier (Dalton McGuinty) in January to discuss how to move forward on a larger scale to eventually make it a program implemented throughout the entire province and one day maybe even the entire country.”

I am sad to report that despite my best attempts at research and at contacting David, I have not been able to find any updates on this program. I certainly hope it’s still out there somewhere, though. If this collaboration can get through to the high school kids, not only will they be able to head off to university knowing how to cook more than just Kraft Dinner, but they’ll set the best example for the elementary set. After all, teenagers are just about the coolest thing possible when you’re seven. And the more kids we get interested in food, the better our chances are for the future.

- SW

Sources:

Ontario Ministry of Education. Healthy Schools: Eating Well Looks Good on You.

Verner A. David Rocco on giving school meals a makeover. The Globe and Mail. Tuesday November 18, 2008. Retrieved from here.

Verner A. David Rocco: School-lunch savior. The Globe and Mail. Saturday November 15, 2008. Retrieved from here.

Anyway, what I’m getting at with this, is that Jamie Oliver is more than just a pretty man with an adorable accent who can cook. Oh yes. He is also devoted to improving the health of his nation’s people through food, unable to bear the idea of feeding junk to such beautiful children. Sounds like a man after my own heart.

He advocates for “radical changes to the school meals system” through his School Dinners program. He campaigns to ban junk foods in schools and to “get kids eating fresh, tasty nutritious food instead.”

His manifesto outlines necessary steps in the realization of this goal:

• institute mandatory cooking and life skills classes, taught by skilled cookery teachers, for all children;
• empower principals to make their schools “junk food free zones”;
• educate parents regarding cooking and nutrition;
• invest in school cafeteria staff with enough skills and paid work time to cook fresh meals; and
• commit to a ten-year plan and public campaign to turn the public back on to a “proper” diet

His campaigning worked, and September 2006 saw the introduction of new interim standards for food in schools in England. These standards basically outlined the provision of a healthy, balanced meal, and you can read them here.

In addition, parents were educated on how to pack healthy lunches and many schools started breakfast programs upon discovering that many students arrived to school in the morning hungry. The government pledged over £500 million (over $884 million CAD) over six years to pay for and subsidize healthy meals, train cafeteria staff, and make these healthy changes sustainable.

But the campaign itself was not quite so successful. Government inspectors issued a report in October 2007, finding that several factors were involved in this outcome. Healthy meals made it even less “cool” to eat at school than it previously had been, and the number of students eating school meals dropped at 19 of the 27 surveyed schools. The new menus weren’t marketed well to students and parents, nor were these groups consulted on menu development, and the healthier meals were more expensive than the unhealthy ones they replaced. While the students know why healthy eating is important, they aren’t motivated to make these changes. In addition, while students from lower-income families were eligible for free meals, they didn’t take advantage of this option because of the stigma of not paying.

Numbers released by the School Food Trust show that even though there were determined efforts to improve the use of school meals by students, consumption just barely increased from the 2007-08 school year to 2008-09, to stand at 43.9% of primary students and 36% of secondary students.

There is some hope amidst the disappointment, though: the few schools that were successful in encouraging healthy eating were those that gave it priority on a daily basis, encouraged students to participate in menu planning, and involved parents and families in understanding the importance of a healthy school. There are ways around the stigmatization, too, like introducing a swipe-card for each student so that the students can’t tell who pays and who doesn’t. And there is evidence that the popularity of these meals is stabilizing in primary schools, and as these younger kids who are more used to the meals move up through to high school they will bring their healthy preferences with them.

Too much was done too fast, without enough flexibility and education of pupils and parents. It was a “massive culture change” in school food. I still have faith in Jamie, though. He’s a man on a mission. Now that these reports have illuminated problems, there is only room for solutions. Maybe we can use some of his ideas back here in Canada, too.

- SW

This is what’s happening in England. Tune in next time for a look at what’s going on in our own backyards.

Sources:

Branigan T. Schoolchildren spurn Jamie Oliver lunches. The Guardian. Tuesday 4 September 2007. Retrieved 20 November 2009, from here.

Curtis P. Children find Jamie Oliver’s school food hard to swallow, say inspectors. The Guardian. Wednesday 3 October 2007. Retrieved 20 November 2009, from here.

Shepherd J. Schoolchildren shun healthy school meals. The Guardian. Thursday 9 July 2009. Retrieved 20 November 2009, from here.

Anyway, I have a complicated relationship with those sugar-rich, nutrient-poor breakfast cereals marketed to and loved by kids. I love breakfast, don’t get me wrong: it’s absolutely my favourite meal of the day. I’m also a big fan of a bit of sweetness in the morning, and my heart can be won by anyone willing to make me some whole-wheat French toast, drizzled with maple syrup, and a bowl of fruit salad… but I digress.

New and improved? (from kelloggs.ca)

I was watching some TV recently when a commercial came on for Froot Loops that upset me greatly. Kellogg’s has somehow managed to increase the fibre content of Froot Loops to 2 grams per serving, and they are promoting it by having kids playing doctor educating each other about the benefits of fibre.

I’m all for teaching kids why fibre is wonderful, and for increasing their fibre intakes. So, these new Froot Loops sound great to me, in theory, but they make me recall an article I read a few years ago in the Toronto Star. At that time, Kellogg’s was reducing the amount of sugar in many of their cereals. As part of the Vice Squad, Suzanne Carere, a U of Guelph grad and now a nutrition professor at George Brown College, critiqued this 1/3 Less Sugar Froot Loops. She found that while it was indeed lower in sugar than the old recipe (at 8 grams versus the 12 grams in the original), it compensated by being higher in fat, sodium, and calories, and was only 1 gram lower in total carbohydrate than the original. When she spoke with Kellogg Canada’s director of nutrition, Johanne Trudeau, it was confirmed that this product was created to meet mothers’ demands for kids to eat less sugar, not as an attempt by Kellogg’s to be responsible and improve the health of children. In addition, Ms. Trudeau was aware that by replacing some of the sugar with white flour, the end product would result in the same quick blood sugar spike as the original, since white flour is quickly converted to sugar in the blood. Kellogg’s was playing on the fact that the average mother does not have enough nutrition knowledge to know this, and therefore wouldn’t recognize that this version is no healthier than the original.

A PDF factsheet downloaded from Kellogg Canada’s website, titled “Kellogg Company Strengthens its Commitment to Fibre: Frequently Asked Questions” asserts that Kellogg’s first priority is “helping moms increase the fibre in their kids’ diets by adding it to some of their favourite cereals.” To me, this sounded suspiciously similar to the “mothers’ demands for less sugar” issue from the last reformulation of Froot Loops.

Inspired by the work of Ms. Carere, I took a little trip to Metro’s cereal aisle to see this latest reincarnation of Froot Loops for myself. What upset me the most about this new product was that while the fibre had increased to 2 grams per ¾ cup serving, the level of sugar was no longer decreased: it had jumped back up to 12 grams per serving. 2 grams of fibre is hardly enough to redeem a cereal which contains that much added sugar. It is nowhere near the health food that the commercial and the box want you to believe it is.

And really, adding one gram of fibre to a child’s diet each day is not going to have any noticeable effect on his or her health. Kellogg’s is simply using the tricks of the marketing trade to cash in on current health trends. Buyer beware!

- SW 

Sources:

The article by Suzanne Carere, mentioned above, has been taken off the Toronto Star’s archives – luckily, however, a U of Guelph prof included it in a lecture at some point, and posted it online! It was originally appeared in the Toronto Star on July 21, 2006, on page D.03 of the Life section.

Probably my favourite children's book ever. I love that crazy mouse.

The words “bedtime snack” bring to mind the ubiquitous milk and cookies: homemade chocolate chip ones, if you’re lucky, and served as an accompaniment to the nightly bedtime story (If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, anyone?).

We’ve come a long way. Savvy parents recognize that sugar right before bed is not usually the best idea. Remember the Glycemic Index (GI) I mentioned two entries ago? Foods with a high GI value tend to be high in sugar and cause a spike in blood sugar, or a “sugar rush,” which can obviously lead to problems sleeping. Even a little bit of caffeine, too, like what’s in those chocolate chips, is enough to cause some kids to get jittery and anxious and stay far away from the shores of sleep.

A big dinner too close to bedtime can cause discomfort. The digestive system slows down during sleep, so too much food in one’s body can cause pain or reflux. Too big a gap between dinner and bedtime can lead to not only a distracting, growling tummy that makes it harder to fall asleep, but to imbalances between the hormones that signal satiety and stimulate hunger. These imbalances can cause signs strong enough to wake us up in the middle of the night.

What makes a good bedtime snack, then?

• Carbohydrates increase the amount of the sleep-inducing hormone, tryptophan, in the blood and help it make its way to the brain. Carbohydrates are also easier to digest than proteins. Just make sure it’s not in amounts large enough to cause big “sugar rushes.”
• Milk has melatonin, a hormone that controls the “clocks” in our bodies. It regulates sleep patterns and tells us that it’s time for sleep. It also contains tryptophan (mentioned above). If your child doesn’t drink cow’s milk, then soy or rice milk, while they don’t have any melatonin, can be comforting, too, especially if served warm.
• Vitamin B6: when tryptophan gets to the brain, it must be converted into serotonin, a natural sedative hormone. This vitamin helps make this conversion happen.

With all this in mind, here is my favourite bedtime snack:

Oatmeal Walnut Gems

Ingredients:

• 1 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp each ground cinnamon and nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp salt
• ½ cup chopped walnuts
• ½ cup canola oil
• ½ cup brown sugar or natural sweetener
• ¼ cup milk or soy milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ cup mashed ripe bananas

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly oil a baking sheet or line with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, stirring well to combine. Add the raisins and nuts and stir again.

To a medium bowl, add the oil, sugar, milk, vanilla, and banana, stirring well to combine. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and blend well. Drop by rounded spoonful about 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and transfer to cooling racks. Let cool slightly then serve with a glass of warm or cold milk. Store extras in an airtight container, or freeze. Yields about 18 large (2-inch) cookies).

Bananas and oats are sources of both carbohydrate and vitamin B6. Just make sure to not let your little one eat too many! One cookie contains less sugar than do many store-bought brands, but too many can still lead to a sugar rush! The recipe is modified from one that appeared in the Student’s Go Vegan Cookbook by Carole Raymond (Three Rivers Press, 2006).

- SW

References:

Clarke J. Yummy! : Every parent’s nutrition bible. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2006.

Libov C, Breus MJ. Trouble Sleeping? Some Bedtime Snacks Can Help You Sleep. Good Housekeeping, 2008. Retrieved from here. 

The Reader’s Digest Association. Sleep and Diet: Eating to Sleep Well. Reader’s Digest.com. Retrieved from here.

This report gave poor grades to Ontario’s kids in nearly all “subjects” tested. Only 13% of GTA kids are eating five or more servings of fruit and vegetables each day, less than half eat whole grain breads and cereals, and only 57 percent is active more than three times each week in the winter. Not quite all the news is bad, however. 76 percent of kids eat junk food no more than twice per week, and 89 percent of kids are active during the summer months.

Habits aside, the rate of childhood overweight and obesity has tripled over the past 25 years and is now 28 percent – meaning that more than one quarter of kids are overweight or obese. This puts them at risk for developing long-term, chronic diseases that were once reserved for adults, like heart disease and type 2 diabetes, at a much younger age.  In light of these findings, they have launched a new program called Spark Together for Healthy Kids: 

Spark Together for Healthy Kids is the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s response to the growing epidemic of childhood obesity. We’re an Ontario-wide initiative helping to inspire individuals, families, communities, businesses, and government to spark collective change to help children become more physically active and eat healthier foods.

- Heart & Stroke Foundation, 2009

  This program advocates for improved access to physical activity and healthy food for children and works with partners from all sectors in an attempt to create sustainable solutions. To date, it has distributed more than $500,000 to date to grassroots organizations across the province. Each community has its own unique challenges and strengths, and funding is given to community organizations to kick-start the kinds of healthy programs they need. It works hard to make sure that cultural barriers do not interfere with this message reaching all Ontarians.

The program’s cornerstone is the Spark Promise to Our Children, a vision for a healthier future. It will be used to show the government that the people of Ontario are committed to this cause and that something needs to be done for our kids, and soon. It describes the future that we are currently heading toward as well as the brighter future that we can have if we act now on the issue of childhood obesity.

I initially heard about this program at a Heart & Stroke Foundation volunteer information session I attended in the summer. They encouraged all of us potential volunteers to help spread the word about it, but I hardly needed their encouragement! This is such an exciting venture and I really want to see it get off the ground and cause some change. It’s up to us, as a society, to push for healthy environments, and we need to make a commitment to our kids to ensure their bright futures. You can learn more about the program and read the Promise here. I strongly encourage you to do so! Even if you choose not to sign it, they have a strong message that is definitely worth reading.

- SW 

Source:  

The Heart & Stroke Foundation. (2008, September). Heart and  Stroke Foundation Report Asks: Is the Heart Health of Ontario’s Kids Making the Grade? Press Releases. Retrieved October 11, 2009, from this page.

Wouldn’t that be nice…

Let’s see what the experts have to say: quoted in the Globe article is Dr. David Jenkins, who holds the Canada Research Chair in nutrition and metabolism and is a professor at U of T. Dr. Jenkins is considered the father of the Glycemic Index, a measure of the effect that a carbohydrate has on blood sugar levels. These modified cakes, because of their vegetable and nut content, release energy more slowly than, say, a regular cake would. This keeps you feeling full longer because energy is released gradually into your blood. The high amount of table sugar in a regular cake causes a spike in blood sugar, followed by a drop that leaves you feeling hungry sooner.

In addition, the vegetables add vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fibre. The calorie counts of these desserts are lower than their store-bought counterparts, but the levels of fat are comparable due to icing and nuts.

Cake is not health food, nor should it be. But if a once-in-a-while treat is a little bit healthier at no expense to taste and enjoyment, what’s the harm?

I’m going to play devil’s advocate for a minute here, so bear with me. Replacing a cake recipe’s butter and sugar with vegetables makes it a little healthier, and hiding vegetables in a child’s birthday cake will increase his or her intake of vegetables that day – but so what? Kids don’t eat cake every day, nor will every cake they eat contain vegetables. It has been suggested that the way to get a new food to be trusted and accepted by a child is through repeated exposure and through creating visual, taste, contextual, and categorical familiarity – meaning that the child has to know and have experience with how the food looks, tastes, is presented, and to which family it belongs. In short, children like what they know and eat what they like.

My own attempt at a vegetable face plate. Even I would go nuts over this, and I don't even like cherry tomatoes.

Therefore, if the child isn’t aware that he’s eating eggplant, not much is being done toward creating familiarity. If we want to create healthy habits, maybe this whole idea of being crafty with the veggies is futile. For many kids, acceptance simply depends on being exposed to the new food eight to ten times, with days in between, with a little positive reinforcement thrown in (e.g. “Your cousin Jack LOVES broccoli! Don’t you want to try it?”). Introducing small amounts of new foods into a child’s diet through incorporation, like mixing cooked tomatoes in scrambled eggs or grated carrots in pasta sauce, may be helpful in the short-term to bump up his vegetable intake and may even make the vegetable’s taste more familiar. But will this child ever eat a normal-looking, undisguised vegetable? In terms of sustainable dietary habits, this is an important concern.

Kids need a bit of healthy fat, anyway, and a little margarine or cheese sauce has never hurt broccoli’s cause. Vegetable soups with alphabet noodles are so much fun to eat, even if there are peas and chunks of carrots floating about. Turning a plate of raw veggies into a face might work for a kid who would really love the appeal of eating the “eyes.” Maybe instead of being deceptive, we should be focusing our efforts on making vegetables in a more natural form more appealing to kids. As an added bonus, that would leave more Heartache Chocolate Cake for us grown-ups to enjoy.

­- SW

References:

Aldridge V, Dovey TM, Halford JCG. The role of familiarity in dietary development. Developmental Review. 2009;29:32-44.

Belluz, J. (2009, September 15). Have your rutabaga cake and eat it too. The Globe and Mail [Electronic version].

Clarke J. Yummy! : Every parent’s nutrition bible. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2006.

Eggplant-o-lanterns are yet another way to make eggplants more fun

Children don’t eat enough vegetables. That probably does not come as a surprise to very many people. After all, right from birth, humans are hardwired to love foods that are high in sugar and fat. The appreciation of bitter flavours, like those found in vegetables like Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and kale, tends to only be developed with age. Bitterness is often a sign of toxicity and toxic things should be avoided during sensitive periods of growth and development – childhood, for example – and the tongue rejects it. However, the bitter compounds in these vegetables, though toxic to insects, are part of the reason why these vegetables are so healthy. No one ever said that antioxidants were delicious…

On this note, and on the note that I love dessert, I was beyond excited to find a review in The Globe and Mail of a new cookbook that substitutes vegetables for butter and sugar in cake recipes. Red Velvet and Chocolate Heartache by Harry Eastwood is purported to take eggplants, parsnips, zucchini, and squash and turn them into delicious sweets. Eastwood was trained at Le Cordon Bleu and, from the article, is clearly passionate about cake – so, needless to say, I was dying to track down this cookbook and test the recipes to, umm, do research for this blog. It seems like a fantastic way to sneak some vegetables into kids – because what kid doesn’t love cake?

Unfortunately, this book has not crossed the pond yet and is still only available in the U.K. Being the resourceful researcher that I am, however, I was able to find a limited preview of it online and jot down the recipe for Heartache Chocolate Cake, featuring eggplant. The idea of something so intrinsically savoury as eggplant in a dessert piqued my interest. I had to try it.

In the meantime, though, I decided to see what kinds of similar recipes were more readily available to the North American chef. Jessica Seinfeld’s 2007 Deceptively Delicious hides extra vegetables in everything from macaroni and cheese (cauliflower) to brownies (avocado). I had the privilege of tasting said brownies as made by my sister last year, however, and much to my disappointment, they left something to be desired. This sentiment is generally shared in the reviews of this book on the Amazon website. Successfully hiding vegetables in dessert is harder than it looks, it seems.

Missy Chase Lapine’s The Sneaky Chef also sneaks cauliflower into macaroni and cheese and disguises blueberries in chocolate cupcakes – not that it’s hard to get kids to eat blueberries in the first place, but this way they lend their nutrients to a cupcake to create a dessert that is maybe a little healthier.

Back to my Heartache Chocolate Cake: the baking went well, and resulted in a very moist, very chocolaty, very rich dessert. While not overly sweet, it was well-received by not only my family but also by my sister’s vegetable-avoiding fiancé (though I did make a special point of not revealing the secret ingredient to him). The real test only occurred, however, a few days later when we got the neighbourhood kids involved. What good is hiding eggplant if the kids won’t eat it anyway? This cake passed this test as both 12-year-old Erika and 10-year-old Russell devoured it and wrote me some rave reviews.

Tune in next time to find out what the experts have to say about these vegetable-laden cakes, and more!

- SW

Special thanks to: the Walsh family, the Stouffer family, and Tom for all being marvellous taste testers, and especially Monica Walsh for helping to facilitate the taste tests.

Note: While I would love to provide the recipe, it’s not mine to share! However, if you want to do your own (cough) sneaky research (cough), the limited preview of this book on amazon.co.uk can be found here.

References:

Belluz, J. (2009, September 15). Have your rutabaga cake and eat it too. The Globe and Mail [Electronic version].

McGowan, K. (2003, Sept/Oct). Food: The Science of Scrumptious. Psychology Today Magazine [Electronic version]. Last reviewed 4 Oct 2007. Article ID: 2994.

 What about lunch? The staple peanut butter and jelly sandwich of yesteryears is now passé as schools become “Peanut-Free” environments to cope with allergies, and candy and snacks as desserts are touchy subjects as certain schools restrict students from packing them in their lunches. Food safety is the name of the game and no one wants to leave risky foods in the “temperature danger zone” all morning.

 Enter Dietitians of Canada, stage left. A news release featured on their website from September 23^rd, 2009, titled Keeping school lunches nutritious and delicious all year long, arrived just in time to cope with this panic.

Lunch just tastes better when you eat it out of a Spiderman lunchbox. I wish my lunchbox was this cool... (amazon.com)

Citing statistics from the Canadian Community Heath Survey, it notes the evident lack of fruits, vegetables, and milk products in the diets of Canadian children and gives helpful meal planning tips to keep lunches tasty, healthy, and easy. In addition, it offers several links to other resources on their website that tackle all sorts of lunch issues. Whether you need to learn the components of a nutritionally-balanced meal, ways to get your family involved in meal planning, or new and healthy recipes to try, they have you covered.

 The link titled Healthy Lunches to Go leads you to an interactive resource of the same name covers everything from nutrition facts tables and portion sizes, to ways to cope with all the things that get in the way of packing a healthy lunch. Short videos are also included to tackle ideas such as incorporating treats into a healthy meal, saving time, and including plenty of fruits and vegetables. Activities, games, and quizzes are provided to test what you have learned and help you along your way to healthy grocery shopping, meal planning, and lunch packing. The Recipes section leaves something to be desired, with many of the recipes being neither kid-friendly nor suitable for packing in lunch containers, but throughout the site there are enough tips and links to other helpful webpages to inspire at least a few new meal ideas.

 Now, with lunch taken care of, the only thing left to do is enjoy October’s falling leaves.

- SW