Nutrition  *  Wellness  *  Spirituality

IT’S IN THE BAG: HEALTHY SCHOOL LUNCH

I hope to address those of you who have made the decision to provide your child(ren) with healthy lunch, as well as those of you who have not thought about what your child will eat for lunch while at school. It is hoped that the foregoing will inspire all of you to become concerned about what your child eats while at school. Hopefully the discussion will inspire you to find ways to feed your child healthy lunch that promotes growth and development for his physical and mental health. Having had experience with local, state and federal food programs, I have not found a lot of what is offered or served in school lunch programs to be of quality for my standards. The high fat, sugar and caloric content not to mention the preservatives, pesticides and fungicides in the food, is not my idea of food that should be eaten by anyone, least of all our children. You can be sure that since the government supports foods that are genetically modified, that GMO foods and other such chemicals will be consumed by your child if they eat school lunch.  

Studies report that the children of America are obese (as well as the adult population). The African American child has the highest incidence of obesity among all American children.¹ We as parents of African children must begin to see that our children eat healthy food from infancy to young adulthood. We need to reverse this negative health condition of our children by making the decision that lunch (and all meals) are healthy.  Studies have also revealed that children as young as 10 years old having symptoms of hypertension.² School regions across the country have made decisions to improve the quality of school lunches. New York City, which has the largest school lunch district in the country, is among the districts making moves to improve the lunch it serves students. This is commendable, but why didn’t the school dietitians ensure that our children receive quality food long before this? After all, they do claim to be ‘the nutrition experts’. Why did it take legislative mandate, as in some school regions, to serve quality food to our school children?

The school cannot take the full blame for the obese and other negative health conditions of our children, however. The parents must own up to their part – often through no fault of yours. How and what we eat is largely culturally molded by family and society. If your family normally served foods high in excess calories, fat and sugar, receiving little nutrients from vegetable, fruits and whole grains and quality protein and fat, then this is what you serve your children. You largely eat and serve your children what you were brought up on. Unless parents make a conscious decision to change their own diet to a healthier one, their children will eat unhealthy meals. If it was fried chicken, with mashed potatoes covered with gravy and tasteless canned green beans flavored with butter or margarine, oven rolls laced with butter or margarine and soda, then this is a meal the child will grow up eating. If the parent purchases cookies, donuts, candy, chemical produced ice cream and other snacks high in fat, sugar and calories, then the child will grow up with this habit of snacking. If the parent doesn’t become involved in the child’s diet in a positive way, we can expect the incidence of obesity and other, once adult health conditions, to be experienced by our children. Even with nutrition education classes being taught in the public schools, our children still frequent fast food establishments and the corner stores with poor quality snack food items high in fat, sugar and calories devoid of any substantial nutrient content. There are no non-institutional community-based nutrition education classes for the parent except when ‘special’ programs  are offered, and this is usually offered by a hospital on an irregular basis.* (*Atiya will be offering nutrition/health education classes soon. Contact her at her email info@wholefullyyou.com or phone 973 449 4972 if you are interested taking a class).

To provide healthy lunch to your child make a conscious decision that the food choices will be healthy. Don’t expect your child to readily accept changes to a more healthy diet right away if they are not accustomed to eating healthy. Such sudden changes from over-zealous parents will only be met with resistance. Change of any kind for a child programmed one way is difficult unless introduced in a gradual, friendly environment.  In my experience with pediatric nutrition, I’ve found that some of our children are so used to poor quality food, that they shun food that is more healthy for them because they are not used to it. Their taste buds are deadened by the constant consumption of adulterated food that eating healthy, fresh foods or real sources of food like fresh vegetables and fruit (other than the classic apple, banana and orange) is unacceptable. I experienced this within my own family with my nieces and nephew. I remember offering them a piece of ‘real’ chocolate made with honey and they made such ugly faces at the treat I was stop short with surprise. I realized that they had never tasted a real piece of chocolate and were only accustomed to highly sugared candy made with high fructose corn syrup or sugar or dextrose. The same thing happened when I had my first experience serving them lightly seasoned steamed fresh vegetables (and it was just carrots and peas, people!). I got a real lesson that day.  I saw this often when working with the WIC Program during cooking demonstrations with parents.  Though the children generally accepted the vegetables if prepared in an interesting way, it was the children who rarely were served vegetables or only ate canned vegetables if they did eat them that shunned the fresh vegetables dishes. Taste is molded very early in life from the first feeding whether it is the breast or the bottle.

All this was said to limit any resistance to changing to a healthy school lunch for those parents who are now making conscious decisions to do what is right in regard to their child’s nutrition. Change is a big step for a child to take no matter what the change is.  To limit resistance, have a family meeting about school lunch and offer your suggestions for lunch in a loving and caring environment. Let the child make suggestions. Be prepared for the unhealthy choices to be offered. Hey, parent! Get real! A pita sandwich with tuna or beans may be culture shock for your child if this was not normal for your family at mealtimes. Involve the child in the decision of what they will eat. If the child is capable, let them help prepare their lunch. By becoming involved they will be accepting of the changes and eat the wholesome food as opposed to not eating it and consuming something unhealthy from a friend’s lunchbox. Make changes gradually and introduce only one new change at a time; get the child involved in the planning and preparing, annnd!, pray for acceptance of the new food regime! This advice applies to all meal times for the child not just lunch time as you can see. All meals should be healthy for the child, not just lunch.

You, the parent, have to take responsibility for changing the child’s eating habit. If you make a conscious decision for the family to eat more wholesome food you can do so by letting this be a time of family bonding by explaining to the child why the changes are being made in terms the child can understand. Remember, you want the child to fit in with the other classmates.

·        Introduce new lunch items one at a time.

·        Be creative – don’t serve the same food item too frequently in the same week. The child will become board and develop a dislike for the food items.

·        Offer fruit and vegetables shredded or cut in bite size pieces and add to soups and sandwiches.

·        Limit high sugar and fat snacks.

·        Choose organic foods.

·        Substitute hummus or bean spreads for mayonnaise – It provides healthy fat and quality protein.

·        Serve complex carbohydrates such as millet, brown rice and whole grain bread. Keep in mind that if you serve your child a sandwich prepared with a multi-grain bread you are not necessarily serving a whole-grain product. You are, instead serving a refined multi-grain product. You want the package to say whole-grain

·        Serve mixed nuts with raisins or dates or apricots. They can be eaten plain or served with yogurt (soy or goat or cow milk)

·        Pack 100% fruit juice and it must say 100% fruit juice on the package.

·        Service left over food in sandwiches or pita bread or as a soup.  A hearty vegetable soup also made from left over food is an indirect way to give your child vegetables.

Here are some other things to be aware of when preparing your child’s school lunch.

·        Don’t prepare or purchase low or no fat food items. Your child is growing and fat is needed for proper growth and development. What you want is for your child to eat fat that is healthy such as olive oil and in the right amount. This means no fried foods. Fried foods produce free radicals and suppress the immune system and increase the aging process having the child age physiologically sooner than they should. If the child is obese, see a pediatric nutritionist before placing the child on low fat foods.

·        Read food labels for any product you purchase. Know what is in the food you serve your child. Look for foods that are free or limited in added sugars (including cane sugar, Sucanant, organic or evaporated cane juice). The child can still be predisposed to obesity and diabetes because there are so many products (even in the health food store) that are made with sugar. Also, read labels for foods low in saturated fat (the bad fat) and free of chemicals and preservatives.

·        Decrease wheat products.  Wheat is one of the food items of the top five foods that produce allergies and food sensitivities in children (and now, adults). Serve spelt bread instead – I can assure you that the child will never know the difference. (Trust me on this one.) Kamut is another alternative.

·        If the child eats meat or poultry, make sure the animals are raised without hormones. In the minority communities it is almost next impossible to find hormone-pesticide-fungicide-GMO free foods. You will have to go outside of the neighborhood to get such food items. Some food chains are beginning to provide these foods, but usually not in the food chains in minority communities. To get better quality food and expanded choices, sacrifice is necessary unfortunately. If you want these items in your local food chain, you can use this as an opportunity to spearhead a community campaign for food chains to provide better quality food in your neighborhood chain store as they do in the stores outside of your community? 

Health is a 24 hour experience. Let the times your child is at school be positive in all ways. By assuring that your child is eating a healthy lunch, you will help bring forth the genius we know exists in our children.  The following web links are examples of websites that will also help you prepare healthy bag lunch. Kidsheath.org for example has a link just for kids and teens as well as parents. Remember, school lunch is also a family event.

http://kidshealth.org/index_noflash.html http://www.ahealthyadvantage.com/topic/lunchkids.

Refereances:

1.        Energy expenditure in African American and white boys and girls in a 2-y follow-up of the Baton Rouge Children's Study. Author(s): DeLany J; Bray G; Harsha D; Volaufova J; The American journal of clinical nutrition.; 2004 Feb;79(2) p268 – 273.

2.        Why are So Many Toddlers Obese, Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting in Seattle May 4, 2003

3.        Irradiated Meat In Schools; Burros, Marion; The New York Times, October 2003.

The following piece on the meaning of the word the 'healthy' is so important to remember when addressing wellness issues that we are repeating it againr. What are your thoughts and ideas in health? Share them by emailing your thoughts and ideas to: atiyaafi@yahoo.com. Let us know if we can quote you if we do decide to print your sincere thoughts -- we will keep your name and email private.

HEALTHY. Is it just a word. What meaning does it have for you. What do you do to manifest a 'healthy' body? Is it eating food? Is it exercising? Is it praying-meditating? Is it a belief in God. Think about what the word 'healthy' really means to you and what you are doing to manifest a healthy body.

Many people have not earnestly thought about what they do to manifest a healthy body daily in their lives unless asked as was done here. Yet, many people say they want a healthy body not really knowing what this means to them as individuals. People want a healthy body, yet do not do the things that will make that a reality. Instead,  they have health experiences that can be anything from hypertension to obesity to diabetes to cancer to AIDS.  Hypertension, obesity, diabetes and cancer, for example, have a common factor that can re-produce a healthy body and that is the food eaten. For most people who experience any negative health expression where food is a major factor in the health process and are told that a change in the diet is necessary to have the healthy body they desire resist the need to change the diet. Yet, when asked, the individual will say they want to be healthy. What happens is the person doesn't experience a healthy body because they don't want to make the required changes necessary in the diet. They don't want to take responsibility for their actions or behavior.

There is only one way to have a healthy body and that is to take responsibility for your health actions and eat and do what will bring about a positive result. For many this means change is necessary and for many, change is a difficult task to engage in. To manifest a healthy body, though, change is necessary and the change must be for the good. It all comes down to choice or free will. What health expression do you really want to manifest? When the decision to manifest a healthy body is made, you have the responsibility to make the appropriate food and lifestyle choices that will result in your expressing a healthy body. If you are not sure what choices to make to manifest that healthy body,  seek out a qualified licensed health practitioner. If you pray honestly and sincerely for the right person, your God will lead you to the licensed health practitioner that is right for you. If it is your diet that needs adjusting, you will be lead to an appropriate licensed nutritionist/dietitian.  If you need to incorporate more exercise into your life, you will be lead to the right certified personal fitness trainer or program. If it a doctor for an medical exam, you will be lead to the appropriate one. You must take the first step. Then God can heal you. God cannot heal you with wrong choices. Wrong choice don't bring positive results.

Remember, you must take the responsibility for your health expression to see that a positive result occurs. You alone must take charge and be responsible for your health! The doctor can’t heal you. The nutritionist can’t heal you. The acupuncturist can’t heal you. The colon therapist can't heal you. The minister can’t heal you. Only you can heal you with God's intervention. You do this by prayer-meditation and knowing what is appropriate to do to achieve health in the body. All the practitioner can do is provide you with the tools and insight for expressing health in the body. Health is a personal act one does to manifest their highest and best expression of God in the physical. Are you expressing your highest and best by manifesting positive health?  Remember, when you are ill, you can’t accomplish your goals and desires as you should because your focus is constantly on the illness or disease condition instead of the goal or desire you want to achieve.

Now is the Acceptable Time for you to take charge of your health. Health begins with you and only you. Everybody and everything else is only a path to achieving or maintaining a positive health outcome.

Ask yourself these questions regarding your health expression:

1. What does 'healthy' mean to you? 

2. When do you know you are in a state of positive health? 

3. What will you do to regain or maintain your health?

Answer these questions truthfully, and make an appointment with Atiya Antoinette Aniton to help you achieve your goal.  Now is the Acceptable Time. It is never too late to live a healthy and prosperous life.

Don't forget to send in your thoughts and ideas to: info@wholefully.com .

BE HEALTHY, SO YOU WON'T HAVE TO BE HEALED ^SM!

QUESTIONS ANY ONE?

Future issues of the Whole Health Newsletter^sm will have a Q & A section. If you have a question on Nutrition, Wellness, or  Spirituality^tm email them to info@wholefullyyou.com .

In health;  May your health be expressed through you.

Your health, as well as that of your child's, is a personal responsibility.

You won't have good health if you don't do your part (eat right, exercise, pray or meditate).

Health is a family affair.

Health Prevention:

Health prevention is a 24-hour affair. When living a healthy lifestyle becomes the norm for you, suggestions as those made above will be done subconsciously -- they will be the way of life for you just like breathing. Think of being healthy as living a life of prevention.

Begin each day with a personal Prayer/Meditation. Ask your Most High God to give you the strength and wisdom to make wise food and health behavior choices. Pray to do His Will in selecting your food choices each day and you will soon find your false need for unhealthy food gone. As an example, if you had the intention of going by the ice cream shop to purchase a pint of your favorite ice cream, you'll find yourself home without having purchased the ice cream. As such, God's Will for you has been fulfilled. Whenever you get tempted to eat or purchase food items that are not for your body's highest health promoting good, stop, turn within for a minute and ask your God to allow you to do His Will for your life. It works!

POINTS TO PONDER

Reminder: Health is positive or negative depending on what you do to express health in the physical body. Make wise choices and you will be healthy.

Don't ask God/Source/Creator for healing if you are not going to do what is appropriate to manifest  health in your body. You have to give God something to work with to heal you. You cannot continue inappropriate behavior like eating the wrong food and expect a healing. It is a give and take situation - as you give (appropriate behavior), so shall you receive (health and healing from God). 

Health is an attitude of the mind.

Man cures; God heals. What do you want? To be cured or to be healed?

SERVICES

Nutrition, Health & Wellness:

Atiya Antoinette F. Aniton is a wholistic Personal Health Manager^tm  who provides nutrition and health counseling and consulting services through Wholefully You^tm Health Service. As a Personal Health Manager^tm  (PHM)  Atiya Antoinette F. Aniton cares about your health as much as you^tm and can assist you in integrating nutrition, wellness and spirituality into your health experience to regain or maintain a healthy body.  It's like checking in with a coach or mentor to ensure success - healthy living success that is. All programs are individually designed to fit your needs.  Both alternative/complementary and orthodox medical approaches are used where appropriate.  Make an appointment today to meet with Atiya, and let her be your Personal Health Manager^tm  and Nutritionist. Phone consultations  can  be arranged. E-mail or call for details at: info@wholefullyyou.com ; 973-449-4972

Spiritual: 

As an Ordained Interfaith Minister, Atiya Antoinette F. Aniton is available for spiritual guidance, marriage ceremonies, baptisms, etc. for your spiritual enrichment. Atiya is also a Reiki Master and is available to provide this healing service. 

Whole Health Esthetics^sm: 

Atiya is a licensed esthetician incorporating an wholistic approach to skincare. Both men and women services are provided.

Workshops and Lectures: 

Rev. Atiya Antoinette F. Aniton is available for lectures and workshops on a variety of topics covering nutrition, wellness and spirituality/mind-body connection.  

To arrange for a lecture or workshop call:  973-449-4972; or e-mail: info@wholefullyyou.com to make arangements.

Wholefully You^tm Health can best be contacted in the following ways:

 

Telephone

973-449-4972

Electronic mail

info@wholefullyyou.com

Address

New York and New Jersey

Send mail to wholefullyyou@yahoo.com with questions or comments about this web site.
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Last modified: May 18, 2008