Healthy makeover for your lunch

By Kelly Pate Dwyer

Special to The Denver Post

Article Last Updated: 11/11/2007 05:07:09 PM MST

You're up, showered and dressed. Quick, in the six minutes left before you rush out the door, pack your lunch, and if you have kids, pack theirs, taking care to include four food groups that make for a nutritious, tasty and filling meal.

Right. In reality, many of us begrudgingly go through the same routine each morning - grab a frozen entrée, make a turkey sandwich that will be soggy by noon, or, after an uninspiring peek inside the refrigerator, decide to eat out.

But it doesn't have to be this way. With the help of several dietitians, we discovered ideas for nutritious lunches that you or your kids will want to eat, and tips on helping you find the time to make them.

First, the good news: The most common mistake adults make when it comes to packing their own lunch is not packing enough food, say dietitians. Add job stress to the equation, and many workers, even those who eat a healthy lunch, are notoriously trolling for fatty, sugary, crunchy snacks by 3 p.m. Or, they head home hungry enough to eat the contents of the whole refrigerator.

"People oftentimes aren't getting enough calories before 5 p.m.," says Suzanne Farrell, a registered dietitian with Cherry Creek Nutrition and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. "If you're bringing a yogurt, an apple and crackers (for lunch), I'd consider that a snack."

The main challenge with kids' lunches is packing something they'll actually eat. Eighty-three percent of school-age kids bring their lunch at least one or two days a week, according to a 2004 survey by the American Dietetic Association. And while 92 percent of the kids say their parents encourage them to eat a healthy lunch, 67 percent say they want to eat a healthy lunch and 74 percent share their lunch.

Creative presentation and getting kids involved in preparation are key, dietitians say. "The kids who help Mom or Dad at the grocery store, help them pack their

lunch, are more likely going to eat it," says Annie Sasseville, a pediatric dietitian at Children's Hospital.

The basics

Lunch should include one or two whole grains, a low-fat dairy item, protein and at least one fruit or vegetable. (See mypyramid.gov for amounts depending on gender, age, weight and activity level). Add a healthy snack and a treat, like a small cookie, or what Farrell would call a good "competitive option" to yours or your child's favorite junk- food fix.

"I always tell my clients, I don't believe in lack of willpower, it's lack of preplanning," she says. Farrell worked with one client who thought she might break her afternoon M&Ms habit

(Post | John Prieto)by bringing an apple. "Is the apple competitive enough?" Farrell asked her. Graham crackers or trail mix with a few M&Ms or chocolate morsels sprinkled in are more likely to satisfy her until dinner.

If chips are your vice, try pretzels, low-fat popcorn or baked chips and salsa.

"Anything baked will be better for you than anything fried," says Jessica Knowles, a registered dietitian in Evergreen.

Trying to lose weight? "When you don't eat breakfast your metabolism slows down, so it's defeating the purpose of cutting calories for breakfast," Knowles says.

If you don't have time for breakfast at home, grab two or three fast but healthy snacks you can munch on throughout the morning, such as a

banana, yogurt and granola bar, or a hard-boiled egg, orange and whole-grain crackers. (If you're packing for breakfast and lunch, you may have enough food to fill a grocery sack or small cooler.)

What to pack

A favorite among dietitians: Leftovers. Seems a bit uninspiring, we know, but think of the last time you brought leftover spaghetti or chili or enchiladas. You probably ate every last bite and wished you had more. Plus, it doesn't get any easier than this, especially with dishes that combine lean proteins, vegetables and grains all in one. In addition, kids are more likely to eat vegetables mixed in with other foods.

"If the parents are eating healthy the night before, they know their kids are

eating healthy at school today," adds Eric Stein, a registered dietitian and chef who teaches nutrition and culinary arts at Johnson & Wales University in Denver.

You're not always going to have leftovers, or want them. For adults, sometimes it's enough to switch a few sandwich ingredients. Swap regular bread for a whole-grain pita or tortilla. Add a slice of cheese. Go light or nil on mayonnaise but keep the sandwich juicy with tomato or red pepper and a hearty spread, such as hummus, pesto or avocado.

If you like to graze through the day, bring a half-dozen or so stand-alone items. Ideas: avocado, chicken breast or several slices of your favorite lunch meat, string cheese, a few fruits, your favorite vegetables with low-fat dressing for dip, an egg, nuts or yogurt.

At minimum, shoot to eat three smaller meals, getting at least 60 percent of your day's calories before 5 p.m., Stein says. Don't have time to eat four meals? You're probably doing it already: "Let's say you grab coffee and a doughnut on the way to your desk. There's junk food in your desk you snack on before lunch. You have lunch and then between 2 and 5 p.m. another snack. That's four meals," he says.

If you have space at work, you may want to stock up on healthy snack foods such as trail mix or staples like peanut butter, so your go-to snack is something healthy, but only with items you're not inclined to overeat.

Kid stuff

Good marketing and packaging go a long way toward getting your kids to eat healthy foods. Replace the square turkey sandwich for a turkey wrap. Take a cookie cutter to your sandwich bread. Slice a quesadilla into pizza triangles. Spread foods evenly on a whole-wheat tortilla, such as peanut butter and jelly, roll it and cut it into spirals. With younger kids, name the spirals after their favorite hero, like Spider-Man. (See sidebar for kids' lunch ideas.)

And while older kids wise up to such tricks, parents say the simplest (but perhaps hardest) way to get kids to choose healthy foods is to serve them healthy foods - despite sometimes years of protests - and to eat healthy foods themselves.

Remember to keep perishable foods hot in thermal containers or cold with reusable ice packs. Invest in an insulated lunch bag or box if you are unable to refrigerate your lunch.

Finding the time

Pack the next day's lunch after dinner, or pack several lunches one night a week. The kitchen is already a mess and you're putting leftovers into the refrigerator anyway. Get kids in on the act whether they're washing an apple or making their own custom snack mix, Sasseville says.

"You buy eight ingredients and ask your kids to pick four healthy ones," she says. "They actually learn which ingredients are healthy choices."

Ideas include raisins and other dried fruits, pretzels, almonds, walnuts, cashews, Chex cereal and shredded-wheat squares. And of course, chocolate chip morsels are a hit.

So, if you have all that good stuff on hand, you've executed a well-thought- out plan - the starting point for good nutrition, dietitians say. You've made a list of all the foods you need for a week's worth of meals and snacks, you shopped on Sunday afternoon and you doubled up on dinners planning for leftovers, right?

If such order seems like wishful thinking, or if you prefer to shop every day or two for what's fresh, so be it. A good rule of thumb is to fill your cart mostly with foods from the perimeter of the store - meats, dairy, fruits and vegetables. When you can, choose meat and dairy products without growth hormones and antibiotics, and fruits and vegetables grown without pesticides. With packaged foods, choose the brand with the fewest ingredients on the label.

"We eat what we see, so you really want to surround yourself at work or at home with the foods you want to be eating more of and what you know you need to be eating more of," Farrell says.

If you have kids, bring them along and ask them to choose, for instance, between two types of fruit, healthy lunch meats and brands of yogurt (low-sugar and with live cultures).

Jena Lipton of Aurora gives her son choices at the store. "He has to pick a fruit and veggie," she says, and he helps pack his own lunch. "So far this seems to work and he has found he really likes things like eggplant and artichokes. I also cut veggies up really tiny and put them into spaghetti sauce or soups."

For snacks, think beyond pretzels and chips to satisfying but nutrient- packed foods including cheese slices or cubes, yogurt, edamame, strawberries, nuts, avocados, apples and hard- boiled eggs.

If you like to bake, make some homemade treats that are more nutritious than they taste: zucchini or banana bread that substitutes half the flour with whole-wheat flour and half the sugar with honey, or oatmeal cookies or bars made with a favorite cereal.

An occasional visit to a farm or stopping by your local farmers market can also pique kids' interest in healthier foods.

"This fall, our family went to a few apple orchards," says mom, teacher and coach Pamela Connolly, who grew up in Littleton and now lives in Iowa. "I let the kids pick out their favorite apples after sampling, so they really looked forward to having those particular apples in their lunch."

Repackage last night's leftovers for lunch

Among the easiest and healthiest things to pack for lunch are leftovers, particularly if you've made dishes that combine lean proteins, vegetables and grains.

Lunch should include one or two whole grains, a low-fat dairy item, protein and at least one fruit or vegetable. Most dinner leftovers taste best reheated. If that's not an option, pack them piping hot into a thermos container in the morning. Or pack them cold, like the first three here:

Naked burrito. If dinner was tacos or burritos, toss a bit of each ingredient - such as chicken, beef or fish, reduced-fat cheese, vegetarian refried beans, avocado, lettuce, tomato, salsa and low-fat sour cream - into a to-go container. Bring a whole-wheat tortilla or multigrain chips on the side.

Pizza with whole-grain or thin crust and lots of vegetables. "Pizza is misunderstood," says Eric Stein, a registered dietitian and chef who teaches nutrition and culinary arts at Johnson & Wales University in Denver. "Pizza can hit four food groups. And you can incorporate kids in the process."

Pasta primavera, vegetarian or with chicken. (For kids, try using bow-tie or spiral pasta.)

Lasagna made with lean beef or tofu, and spinach or zucchini

Shepherd's pie

Red chili, vegetarian or with low-fat beef, chicken or turkey

Pad Thai with chicken or lean beef and broccoli (sprinkle extra nuts just before eating to add crunch)

Meatloaf made with ground turkey, lean beef or pork and minced vegetables, such as carrots, green pepper and celery

If you're grilling, broiling or baking, make extra portions of each item. Slice chicken, for instance, and mix it with the vegetable served at dinner. Or put the chicken into a pita with last night's salad. (Hold the dressing until lunchtime.) Round out the lunch with an apple and cheese slices.

Leftover couscous, wild rice or pasta also make great additions to your favorite can of vegetable soup (low-sodium), or mixed with dark salad greens and topped with walnuts, a sliced egg and light vinaigrette (packed on the side).

Mix and match for a lunch kids (and grown-ups) will love

Aim to include the following four food groups in any lunch you pack. Choose foods you know that you or your kids will eat. If you're skipping breakfast at home, pack two or three extra servings. Registered dietitian Suzanne Farrell helped us craft these suggestions:

Grains

Whole-grain bread, crackers, tortillas, pitas or English muffins

Low-fat microwave popcorn

Whole-grain crackers

Brown or wild rice

Whole-grain pastas

High-fiber cereal

Proteins

Eggs

Lean meats

Chicken

Tuna fish

Raw nuts

Peanut butter

Hummus

Canned beans (pinto, kidney, black)

Refried beans

Edamame

Dairy (also a good source of protein)

Low-fat yogurt with no more than 16 grams sugar

1 percent or skim organic milk

Low-fat cheese slices

Low-fat cottage cheese

Fruits & Vegetables

Bananas

Apples

Pears

Peaches

Oranges

Berries

Avocadoes

Romaine lettuce

Bagged salad greens

Baby carrots

Bell peppers - red, green, yellow

Tomatoes

Tomato juice

Tomato sauce

Salsa

100 percent fruit juice

Fruit/vegetable juice blends

Natural fruit preserves

Tasty tempters

Creativity is the key to getting your kids to want the lunch you pack for them. Here are some lunch ideas that may tempt you too.

Bean tortilla triangles

Spread vegetarian refried beans on a whole-wheat tortilla, sprinkle reduced-fat shredded cheese and top with salsa. Fold the tortilla and cut it into triangles.

On the side: watermelon chunks and low-fat milk

Turkey wrap

Roll turkey slices, Romaine lettuce, shredded carrot and a slice of Swiss cheese and mustard into a whole-grain tortilla.

On the side: pineapple chunks and low-fat yogurt

Grazer's delight

Hard-boiled egg

Homemade snack mix: whole grain cereal, dried fruit, nuts and seeds

Low-fat yogurt

Vegetable juice

PBJ wheels

Spread peanut butter (without hydrogenated oils) and fruit preserves on a whole-wheat tortilla, roll it and cut it into bite-size pinwheels.

On the side: carrot sticks and low-fat cottage cheese

Mini-pizzas

Tomato sauce, shredded cheese and your kids' favorite toppings on a whole-grain bagel or English muffin. If you're desperate, hide vegetables in the sauce such as minced green pepper or spinach. For cheese, try parmesan, reduced-fat cheddar or Monterey jack in addition to mozzarella. Heat the pizzas and melt the cheese and serve cold.

(Other ideas for hiding good stuff: thesneakychef.com/recipes.php)

Dipper's dream

Hummus (or low-fat cottage cheese) with carrot chips, sliced cucumber or sliced red pepper, whole grain pita triangles and a few pitted olives.

On the side: graham cracker sticks and strawberries with low-fat yogurt to dip them in.

Also check out: "Feeding the Kids: The Flexible, No-Battles, Healthy Eating System for the Whole Family," by Pamela Gould, Eleanor Taylor and Katherine Cason (Mancala Publishing, $16.95) and feedingthekids.com.