Back at School – Our Team's Top Tips to Revitalize Your Lunch Box!

Are your school (or work!) lunches in need of a revamp? Are you struggling with ideas to keep things interesting and healthy? Want to learn some tips and tricks for encouraging your kids to make healthier lunch choices? Intrigued by what we’re putting in our own lunchboxes 🙂 ? This article gathers input from across our clinic team to help you make healthier lunches a reality.

It’s that time of year in New England, the leaves are changing, the smell of fall is in the air, and kids are back at school. The start of the school year can be a challenging transition for parents and children alike, particularly when it comes to getting back into the school year routine – lunches included!

While packing school lunches can seem like a daunting task, there is truly no greater gift than packing your kids a healthy satisfying lunch that will fuel and nourish them throughout their busy day. Here are our top six lunch tips followed by links to some nutritionist approved lunchbox items. Please comment below with any additional tips- we’d love to hear them!

Tip 1: Pack Lunches in Advance

Every parent knows weekday mornings can be busy. Most of us scramble to get kids dressed and everyone out the door. It’s not easy to find time to pack lunch! To help the morning run a bit smoother pack lunches the night before. A great time to pack a lunch is right after dinner; since everything is already out, you can pack up the leftovers and place them right into the lunch box.

Tip 2: Involve your Children

One of the best ways to encourage kids to try new foods and to eat a more balanced and nutrient dense lunch is to involve them in the process. Involving your kids can start at the grocery store, farmer’s market, or local farms—bring your kids along and let them smell, touch, and taste foods.

When you involve your children in the preparation of their lunch they will build a sense of ownership and pride, and practice decision making. Why not create a template for your kids so they know what items should make up their lunch? A suggestion from one of our team members was 1 protein/main dish, 2 vegetables, 1 fruit, and 1 snack/treat.

Tip 3: Skip the Plastic Packaging

There are many wonderful products on the market that can help you stop hormone-disrupting plastic chemicals from leaching into your lunches. Here are some of our team favorites:

Metal Straws
Stasher bags (great for use as sandwich/snack baggies)
Beeswrap (Can be used to seal anything placed into the lunch box)
Smoothie Containers
Reusable water bottles- here are a few brands we like: Kleen Kanteen, Takeya, Swell
Cloth napkins
Reusable cutlery
Metal lunch containers

Tip 4: Batch Cook

Batch cooking is a great way to save time and stock your freezer with go to lunch items. Some things that you can batch cook and freeze easily include soups, stews, chili, and meatballs.

It can be helpful to portion out these items into mason jars and place them in the freezer for storage – these mason jars can go straight from freezer to refrigerator to lunch bag if needed. Freeze the contents in the jars with the lids off first, then place the lids on (helps to avoid cracking the glass when the liquids inside expand). When packing the mason jars into lunches, we recommend putting them into the refrigerator the night before so that they can defrost.

Tip 5: Make it Visually Appealing

Kids love colors, variety, and often like having food separated into different compartments. Including different bags and containers in lunch boxes is a great way for kids to improve their motor skills and to allow them to make decisions about what food they want to eat first and how much of it.

One of our nutritionists encourages parents to focus on packing lunches with lots of colorful nutrient dense food, think salmon, leafy greens, and berries. Offering children a variety of colorful foods will help expose them to new flavors and textures. A fun way to separate items is using these silicone cupcake holders, these are great for cut veggies and fruit, popcorn, nuts, and just about anything that can fit in them. There are some wonderful non-plastic lunch boxes on the market that can help streamline the lunch packing process with their built in dividers, check out the Planet Box and LunchBots.

Tip 6: Maintain Balance to Ensure Long-Lasting Success

Balance is key for life, and also for packed lunches! It isn’t necessarily ideal to restrict foods entirely from our children’s diets.

To that end, we recommend balancing nutrient dense, colorful foods with the occasional treat, as long as there isn’t a medical contraindication. This helps a great deal when kids are also exposed to others eating treats at school and don’t want to be singled out for having a restricted diet.

Balance might mean a weekly pizza day, sweet treat, or piece of candy. Of course, we suggest healthier versions of these treats (organic, natural, etc.) and only in moderation.

Healthy Snack and Lunch Ideas

Our team has compiled some of our favorite go to snack and lunch options below, we hope you’ll consider adding a few of these to the lunches you pack.

Yumbutter
Mackerel
CHOMPS Jerky
Wella Bars
Mary’s Gone Crackers
Methylation Trail Mix
Know Better Slices
Homemade Fudge (We recommend using ½ the amount of raisins)
Homemade Muffins
Love Good Fats Bars
Life Changing Loaf of Bread
Banana Bread
Hard boiled eggs
Chopped vegetables with hummus

Sneak peek! Here are some sample lunches from staff nutritionist Janine Henkel MS CNS and our nutrition resident Lindley Wells MS CNSc.

Author: Lindley Wells MS. CNSc.

https://www.drkarafitzgerald.com/

Lindley Wells holds a degree in nutrition and integrative health from Maryland University of Integrative Health. Before entering the field of nutrition, Lindley studied environmental policy at Colby College where she focused on sustainable agriculture and domestic and international food regulation/policy. Lindley is deeply passionate about bringing food and nutrition education into schools and to get people of all ages back into the kitchen preparing their own healthful meals. Lindley’s areas of interest include the brain gut connection, eating disorders, culinary nutrition, mindfulness and stress reduction, and the prevalence and physiological impact of chemicals in everyday products.

Cancel reply

2 Comments

Jim Wilday says:

August 12, 2020 at 3:01 pm

I want to thank Lindley Wells and the Nutrition Team at SHC for this terrific blog article. I will share this with my daughter-in-law who, when seeing the lunches provided by the schools my grandchildren were attending, started a business now called No Fuss Lunch headquartered in Hawthorne NJ. The approach espoused, the outline for meal plans, the rationale, the tips for saving time and effort and much more leave me with the hope that many Moms, in particular, get to see this. I know my daughter-in-law will appreciate it as well as your personal mission.

Reply
- Kara Fitzgerald, ND says:
  
  August 12, 2020 at 4:29 pm
  
  Jim,
  so nice to hear from you!
  
  DrKF
  
  Reply

The info you are putting out is awesome. You’re playing an enormous role in helping so many practitioners and people to better understand the immune system and all the wonderful bioactives and lifestyle modifications that can make a difference. Thanks for all the time, effort, and research that you put in on a daily basis to help others. You should certainly be proud of what you do.

Neil C.

Dr. Fitzgerald’s book is an extraordinary integration of a vast amount of diverse information that makes practical sense of the complex interplay between our genes, the folate/vitamin B12 cycle, homocysteine, and the clinical importance of methylation.

Jeffrey Bland, PHDPresident PLMI

I was thrilled to see the principles of a methylation food plan. This helped to confirm my teaching principles.

Kylene Bogden, MS, RDN, CSSD, LDNCleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine

The nutrition methylation webinar has fabulous information on methylation and specific nutrients that are required to support the process. I think I can speak for our team of dietitian nutritionists in saying that it is valuable to connect the science and biochemistry from Dr. Fitzgerald’s point of view with the nutrition and implementation from Romilly. They are a knowledgeable team! I love that this is a food-first approach with an emphasis on food and dietary intervention for sustainable long-term nutritional support. Food is not just medicine, it’s information for methylation and you can’t supplement your way out of a bad diet!

Brigid Titgemeier, MS, RDN, LDCleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine

I enjoyed the presentation and really appreciated the food first approach. There were many talking points to help solidify this concept with patients, particularly those that don’t “buy in” to the food first approach or simply want to take a supplement.

Lindsay Malone, MS, RD, CSO, LDCleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald always produces clinically relevant and compelling cutting-edge content in her blogs, PodCasts and newsletters and I try to never miss one. Her dept of knowledge in the functional medicine paradigm and its relevance to modifying the course of the chronic disease epidemic is not only valuable, but inspiring. She is a respected colleague and I always appreciate the effort she puts into keeping up the important dialogue between integrative and functional medicine clinicians, as well as her clear desire to educate the health care consumer in the process. Dr. David M. Brady (University of Bridgeport, Designs for Health, Inc., Diagnostic Solutions Labs, LLC, and DrDavidBrady.com)

David BradyDoctor

I want to drop you a note to tell you how much I enjoy your newsletter-Your newsletter is no doubt the best newsletter I receive. It’s not too long, not too short, yet chock full of great info, and, most importantly for the reader, enjoyable to read because your playfulness comes through. All of this separates your newsletter from the pack. You are doing a superb job, and it’s a pleasure to read! Keep it up!

Robert Hedaya, MDClinical Professor of Psychiatry

I’ve had the opportunity to review Dr. Kara Fitzgerald’s blogs. She is a well-recognized leader of functional, integrative medicine. Her blogs effervesce with her enthusiasm for her subject matter and convey her genuine warmth and compassion for her patients. She writes in an engaging style while conveying significant and meaningful information about the varied topics she has covered. They are simply fun to read and easy to learn from her wealth of experience.

Shalesh Kaushal, MD PhD

Dr. Kara’s blogs are current, scientifically sound, and relevant to clinical care. Her case studies and reviews are focused on how to improve clinical thinking and outcomes using a systems biology and functional medicine approach. They are one of my favorite learning tools and I look forward to her insights and interviews monthly!

Sarah Lobisco, NDND, IFM-CP

Dr. Fitzgerald is what you get when you merge a brilliant clinical brain with a powerful loving heart. Her ability to incorporate seemingly disparate details into a mosaic of meaning that can improve patient care is extraordinary. The opportunity to learn from her should never be missed without great reason.

David H. Haase, MDIFM-CP, FABFM, DABIHM, CNS, BCN

Kara and I have co-authored case studies for peer-reviewed articles and textbooks over the years. I love reading her blog, while evidenced-based and geared towards the professional, the casual style makes for fun reading!

Dr. Mark Hyman, MD9 Time NY Times Best Selling Author

I thoroughly enjoy reading your blog and recommend it to the medical students. It is interesting, informative and up to date as well as an excellent supplement to their text.

Albert E. Dahlberg, MD, PhDProfessor, Brown University

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald’s writing style is clear, concise, well-translated from scientific gobbledygook to understandable every language. And most importantly, it’s accurate.

Dr. Tom O’BryanFounder: The Gluten Summit

Of the myriad blogs I receive in my inbox, Kara’s is one that I actually read! It’s funny, clinically relevant and smart.

Sara Gottfried, MDNYT Best Selling Author, Clinician

I am a regular reader of Dr Fitzgerald’s blog/newsletter. I read it because it is useful. Dr. Fitzgerald, stimulated by a recent article, looks into the bulk of the literature and synthesizes the relevant takeaways. Dr Fitzgerald is brilliant and always delivers clinical pearls.

Tom Sult, MDIFM Faculty, Author, Clinician

Wading through emails is not an ideal part of my day. For this reason, I’m very particular about who’s information I want coming into my inbox. When I see an email come in from Dr Fitzgerald, I stop what I am doing and I read it fully right then so I don’t miss it. Her content is always interesting, clinically relevant, cutting edge and many times entertaining as well. I only wish one thing: that she’d write more!

Ben Lynch, NDExpert on MTHFR & Epigenetics

Dr. Fitzgerald has her finger on what’s happening in holistic and integrative health and medicine. I love reading her blog! It’s always right on the mark!

Liz Lipski, PhD, CCN, CNS, CHNAuthor, Lecturer, Educator

I love reading Dr Fitzgerald newsletter! It is both funny and relevant and offers great info for my patients and colleagues.

Susan Blum, MD, MPHNYT Best Selling Author

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald is a clear, brilliant, and insightful clinician. She always seems to unwrap the story of the patient so well, then identifies the pertinent imbalances and together with the patient initiates the therapeutic plan with successful treatment. She is rare in the education and clinical circles. I always learn from her blogs, conversations, case studies, and lectures. She is an outstanding educator and functional medicine physician.

P. Michael Stone, M.D., M.SCertified Functional Medicine Clinician

I am so happy to have found Dr. Fitzgerald, Romilly and Rhonda who all care about my well being. My life has changed for the better and I will continue whatever staff recommends so I can enjoy my family and feel great.

Victoria O

Back at School – Our Team’s Top Tips to Revitalize Your Lunch Box!