Make that lunchbox healthy

(By Lisa Sarah John, Courtesy Bangalre Times, Feb 19, 2007)

Many children today are unable to eat breakfast before they leave for school. They eat a snack for lunch and come home at 4 pm, tired and hungry, sitting down to a huge meal. Thereafter, they are unable to eat a proper dinner. This imbalance of their meals can affect both their mental and physical growth and development.
Start the day right
It is very unhealthy to begin your day without breakfast. A hungry child will not be able to concentrate in class and might get moody and bad-tempered. Even if it means waking up your child 15 minutes earlier, see that he does not leave the house without eating.
Here are some quick breakfast options:    
A glass of milk with two slices of bread or toast. A cup of cornflakes with milk. Oats or ragi porridge with milk. Bread and egg, bread and cheese, idli or dosa and sambar are all quick-to eat-foods.
If this is not possible, at least a glass of milk and a small banana is the minimum required for starting the day right. But this isn’t breakfast and must be followed by a packed meal in school to be eaten during the 10 am break — a sandwich or two idlis, dosa or chapati.
Ideally, it should be a proper breakfast at home and then some fruit and snack for the 10 am break. Plan it so that chocolate, pastry, chips and fries are consumed at the 10 am break and not so much in the late evenings as they get stored as fat at night.
Lunch
Do not send a snacky lunch. The lunch tiffin must be properly balanced. Lunch suggestions: Rice, sambar and cooked vegetables Chapati, thick dhal and sabji Lime rice or pulav with chole Chapati rolled with vegetable and shredded non-veg food Chapati with scrambled egg and vegetables Noodles, vegetables and egg or paneer Curd rice plus vegetables or sprouted moong
Time for tea, and then dinner    
Four pm is tea time, so it’s not a good time to have a full lunch. A glass of milk or lassi is a must, and biscuits or sandwiches are also good now. At 6pm, after playtime, a fruit is essential. Dinner should again be a balanced meal. Roti or rice with dhal or pulses and a vegetable dish must be the base. Curds and non-veg can be added and a salad should be served with dinner.
If it’s a Continental dinner, the balance is important. Pasta must be served with vegetables and white sauce, cheese or egg.
Food should be distributed as breakfast + snack 40 per cent, lunch + tea 40 per cent and dinner 20 per cent. If it is breakfast 0-10 per cent, lunch 20 per cent and dinner 70 per cent you are paving the way for obesity and various health problems. The second big rule is to see that every meal has a carbohydrate and protein combination. Bread, cereals, rice, chapatis are carbohydrates while, dhal and pulses, milk, curd, cheese, egg and non-veg foods are the main sources of protein.

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