Healthy School Lunch Challenge

How many calories do growing children need daily for good health?  According to
USDA’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans, children 4 years to 8 years need between 1,200 calories and 2,000 calories a day.  For children 9 years to 13 years, the Dietary Guidelines recommends between 1,400 calories and 2,600 calories per day. 

Some children need more calories and others need less depending on his or her age, gender and physical activity level. The chart below will help you determine how many calories your child needs based on these factors.

Click here to view the estimated calorie needs per day by age, gender and physical activity level.

Click the cards below to choose what you think is the healthiest lunch. For Best Choice Not Best Choice
***Meal options, fat and calories were identified through Chartwells’ DC Public School menus and nutritional information and Nutri-Café.

To help approximate how many calories your child should consume during school, here is an easy way to create a benchmark.  Lunch should consist of approximately one-third of your child’s total daily calorie intake.  For example, a sedentary 6-year-old boy should have approximately 1,300 calories a day and approximately 433 calories during lunch.  While the amount he eats at lunch day-to-day will vary, this is a good formula to determine approximately how many calories your child should eat while at school. 

At most public schools, the lunch menu is published monthly.  You can use these menus as a discussion starter with your child to talk about nutritious foods and how to make appropriate selections. 

Use the Healthy School Lunch Challenge to practice choosing the better meal options in the cafeteria.

 

New Math for a Lean Lunchbox

Here is an interesting fact: according to a survey of 500 moms, almost half (44%) regularly pack a school lunch for one or more of their children. This means moms have another chance to prevent childhood obesity by creating a lean lunchbox for their children.

To take the guesswork out of packing a healthy school lunch, the National Turkey Federation created "New Math for the Lean Lunchbox - Easy as 1-2-3." The program involves three easy steps.

Remember this simple 1-2-3 formula:

1serving of vegetables (one serving = 1/2 cup chopped raw or cooked, or 1 cup leafy)

2servings of whole grains (one serving = 1 slice bread, 1/2 cup cooked pasta or rice, 1/2
        cup cooked cereal, or 1 ounce ready-to-eat cereal)

3ounces of lean protein like turkey

Then add healthy sides, like a serving of a low-fat dairy product (one serving = 1 cup milk or yogurt, or 2 ounces cheese), and juice or a piece of fruit (1 piece fruit or 1 melon wedge, 3/4 cup juice 1/2 cup canned fruit, or 1/4 cup dried fruit).

These steps are not only fast and easy but they will result in lunches your children will want to eat. Here is a week’s worth of Lean Lunchbox sample menus to get you started.

Click here to view some Lunch Box Samples