Which foods are best for your child’s lunchbox?
Want your kids to stay energised, focused and in a good mood all day?
Packing blood sugar-balancing foods in their lunchbox can be a game-changer!
Balancing blood sugar in children’s lunchboxes is important for several reasons:
Sustained Energy
When kids eat foods that balance their blood sugar, their energy levels stay more stable throughout the day. Foods high in refined sugars or simple carbs can cause rapid spikes and crashes in blood sugar, leading to periods of high energy followed by fatigue, which can make it harder for them to concentrate and be active.
Improved Focus and Concentration
Stable blood sugar supports better brain function. When blood sugar drops (or crashes), kids can feel tired, distracted or irritable, making it hard for them to focus at school. Balanced meals with protein, healthy fats and fibre help prevent these crashes, allowing them to stay more focused and engaged in class.
Mood Stability
Blood sugar imbalances can affect mood. A drop in blood sugar can lead to irritability, anxiety or even tantrums, which is often referred to as being “hangry.” By providing balanced meals, you're helping your child to regulate their mood and behavior throughout the day.
Preventing Overeating
When blood sugar levels spike and crash, it can lead to cravings for sugary snacks or overeating. A balanced lunch keeps hunger in check and helps kids feel full longer, reducing the likelihood of them overindulging or snacking on less healthy options.
Long-Term Health
Encouraging balanced meals in childhood helps establish healthy eating habits that can carry into adulthood. Consistently eating foods that stabilise blood sugar can reduce the risk of developing chronic conditions like insulin resistance, obesity and type 2 diabetes later in life.
Providing your child with a blood sugar-balancing lunchbox doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. Often it just means adding a bit more protein and reducing the amount of foods containing refined carbs and sugar.
An easy formula to remember is to make sure the lunchbox has the following things:
A source of protein (preferably for both lunch and recess)
A healthy carb / wholegrain
Some good fat
Fruit
Veggies
What this might look like (adjust portion size depending on age and appetite):
A chicken and salad wholegrain wrap, grapes, a low-sugar yogurt and a small container of trail mix
Zucchini slice with cherry tomatoes, hummus and carrot sticks, seaweed snacks and a nectarine
Leftover pasta bolognese in a thermos, a bliss ball/protein ball, edamame and watermelon
A tuna mayo and cucumber wholegrain sandwich or roll, blueberries, popcorn and a hard-boiled egg
Chicken and avocado sushi, cheese and crackers, celery sticks and a small banana
You may also like to add a healthy homemade muffin or slice.
If your child insists on taking packet food so that they can be like the other kids (speaking from personal experience here ), some healthier options are Cobbs Sea Salt Popcorn, Table of Plenty Mini Rice Cakes, Parkers Pretzels, Ceres Organic Seaweed Snacks and The Happy Snack Company Roasted Chickpeas or Fava Beans.
A word of warning: many brands market their products as healthy for lunchboxes but the reality is the complete opposite! I recommend checking the ingredients list and avoiding any products with a long list of additives, especially artificial flavours, colours and flavour enhancers.
A good example of this is Harvest Snaps Baked Pea Crisps. This product may contain 70% peas and be labelled with a "Healthy Food Magazine Lunchbox Award", but in reality it is highly processed with an ingredients list full of additives (Rice Bran Oil (Antioxidant (304)), Pea Fibre, Original Salted Seasoning (4.5%) (Sugar, Salt, Maltodextrin, Yeast Extract, Vegetable Oil, Flavour Enhancer (635), Anti-Caking Agent (551), Acidity Regulator (Citric Acid)), Stabiliser (170)).
Snacks like this also undergo A LOT of processing, including the following steps:
The peas are ground into a fine powder or flour. Sometimes, pea protein is used as well, depending on the variety of the snack. This flour or protein is then mixed with water to form a dough.
The dough is fed into an extruder, a machine that forces it through a mould at high pressure and temperature. This gives the dough its shape and creates the crispy texture.
The extruded shapes are either baked or fried to crisp them up and give them a crunchy texture.
After the snacks are cooked, they are flavoured with various seasonings, such as salt, cheese, herbs, spices, artificial flavours and flavour enhancers. The seasonings are typically sprayed onto the snacks or mixed into the dough before baking.
To further confuse and mislead consumers into thinking this is a healthy option for their children, this ultra-processed product has been given a 5 star health rating! (but don't get me started on that...)
If your children still regularly eat processed snacks and you'd like to steer them towards more healthy options, my advice is to take it one step at a time and start by making a few simple swaps to snacks that are less processed with fewer additives.
You may even find that by increasing the protein in your child’s lunchbox, they start to not crave the sweet snacks as much!
If you’re interested in learning more, check out my other blog posts: