BACK TO SCHOOL!!

Hey, hey, hey!!!  

I don't know about y'all, but this past week and a half has been a RUDE awakening! Sheesh!  We were so ready for a schedule around here, but actually starting it has been a bit hard to get into here at our house.

School started for our kiddos on Monday, but the past couple of weeks have been so crazy busy for me at work that I did ZERO back to school shopping until Saturday.  In the rain.  It made me angry was quality time spent with my kiddo.  Whatever.

Anyway, it's good to be back with a quick post!  I get asked a lot about school breakfasts and lunches...what is easy, healthy, etc.  We don't claim to get things perfect around here, but I do really try hard to make breakfast with little to no sugar at all, lots of good clean protein, fruit, and a healthy carbohydrate.  Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day and it's how our kids start their days, so starting out with a well rounded breakfast can really affect how our kiddos get their day started, how much energy they have, their mood and behavior, and how well prepared their brains are to learn.

Protein at  meals for kids is essential. Good clean lean meats really help balance blood sugar and fill them up.  Proteins provide our body with the building blocks it needs to grow. They also maintain and replace body tissue, such as muscles, bones, blood, and body organs.  These building blocks are called amino acids. Some we can make and others can only be provided through diet. These are called the essential amino acids and 12 of them are required from the diet for growing infants and children.  The best sources of protein are poultry, fish, eggs, nuts, seeds, and legumes like black beans and lentils.  In our house, my son and I get what we fondly refer to as "hanger" if we don't have enough protein during the day.  It truly helps balance out blood sugar.  I have consulted with numerous nutritionists over the past several years and they all tend to use a lot of animal protein.  I tend to still keep this as our primary source of protein.  HOWEVER, it is important to know where your food comes from!  How it is raised, what it is fed, how processed, etc.  I try and stock up and buy my meat almost exclusively from Rehoboth Ranch when I can.  They come to the Coppell Farmers Market locally here.  In my humble opinion, this farmers market is one of the very best in the Metroplex. You can pre-order your meat and then just pick it up on Saturdays at the market all packaged up for you.

I try and also incorporate healthy fats into all the meals I serve my family.  Fat had a bad rap for awhile.  Whole avacadoes and avocado oil, Extra Virgin Olive oil, flax meal, and unrefined coconut oil are good and easy things to hide incorporate into each meal.  I add a tablespoon of coconut oil and flax meal into smoothies, drizzle avacado or EVO onto steamed veggies and pasta wherever I can.  Healthy fat is an important part of anyone's diet.  Children, especially, need it to grow up healthy, and strong. Fats are an integral part of every cell, they are used to make vitamin D and hormones, they protect the entire nervous system, and they also help to transport some vitamins into our bodies.  Unhealthy fats are really to be avoided.  The worst type of dietary fat is the kind known as trans fat. It is a byproduct of a process called hydrogenation.  Avoid these.  Examples are partially hydrogenated anything oil.  Stick to monounsaturated and saturated fats.  Limit polyunsaturated fats.  To learn more about fats, read here.

Fruits and vegetables...try and get these in at each meal.  Even if the kids don't eat them, at least offer them.  I have found that if I put out a plate of crudités, while I am cooking dinner (celery sticks, carrots, radishes, etc.) that we ALL eat them even before dinner.  That is an easy way to serve them up.  Serving these with any dip can help get them in your family.

Healthy carbs give us energy.  I find that I feel much better when I eat a diet low in carbohydrates.  Not a no-carb diet, just a specific carb diet.  I like to eat sweet potatoes or red potatoes, organic brown whole grain rice, and quinoa for my carbs/energy.   My son needs a lot more carbs than I do, so I have to serve up some gluten free pasta, clean cereals, and whole gluten free grains for him.  In our family, since our son has allergies to gluten and dairy products, we all avoid them and have found we all feel better.  So, more will come about my love for no gluten and dairy at a later date. :)  Choosing the whole grain options for the foods listed above will help your child feel fuller longer and the slower absorption caused by the fiber will help to prevent too much sugar from entering the body too quickly.  A high level of blood sugar is not healthy for the body and can lead to diabetes if it occurs often over a long period of time.

So, enough of the nerdy stuff!  Here is one example of a typical breakfast for my son in the morning:

 This is our kind of "running late breakfast".  I don't like to do a lot of boxed cereal, but I do use these 3 cereals by One Degree regularly.  The Ancient Maize Flakes,  Brown Rice Crisps, and Brown Rice Cacao Crisps are all gluten free. They use very little sugar and it is in the form of coconut sugar, not cane sugar.  Coconut sugar is much less refined and has a much lower glycemic index than other forms of sugar.  I use this exclusively when I bake.  My preference is to do warm/baked whole grains with fruits baked in like apples, pears, and blueberries or raspberries.  However, I am not a morning person and, well...LIFE.  The cereals will taste similar to rice krispy, cocoa krispy, and corn flakes.  Except they have REAL ingredients and zero preservatives:)  Local people, I find all three of these at Central Market.  Applegate Farms makes easy, clean frozen sausages that we like to use for busy mornings.  My son eats a lot of eggs, sausages, bacon, whole grains, and fruit for breakfasts.

As for lunches, I tend to do a lot of leftovers from the prior night's dinners.  Then, I fill in here and there.  If you really find it hard to pack healthy lunches for your kids, make it easy on yourself and put your focus on making healthy dinners.  Then, make more than you need for dinner and pack the leftovers.  Here are some examples:

The Thorntons love us some breakfast, brunch, and "brinner."  This was a  quick leftover lunch over the weekend, but I have often packed this type of lunch for school and my son LOVES it.  I will either roll up organic ham or put a sausage patty in there with a hard boiled egg.  He likes to dip waffles in jam sometimes, instead of syrup, so that's the weird dip thing you see to the left.  When we make waffles on the weekend, we make a big batch and freeze them for times like this. Then, you can pop them in the toaster.  I love the Namaste pancake/waffle mix.  Every kiddo that has slept over at our house eats these up in the mornings.  They don't have the typical grainy texture that sometimes gluten free baked goods can have.

 

These are bacon wrapped chicken poppers over organic brown rice (the rice is under the chicken:).  I drizzle a lot of EVO and then sprinkle sea salt over the rice.  I also always cook my rice in chicken broth, since we don't use butter.  It tastes amazing.  Add in fresh fruits, veggies, and a little snack and you are good to go.

Pork ribs, organic sweet corn, organic potato chips, and fresh fruit.

Taco Tuesday leftovers with corn tortillas, shredded seasoned chicken, romaine, Daiya cheese (*Disclaimer:  I'm really not fond of this cheese.  It's a little weird and the ingredient list is a little too long for my liking.  It is just OK in terms of healthy.  But, my son likes to have this "cheese" on a taco or pizza, so I choose my battles.), organic corn tortilla chips, and fresh fruit/veggie.  I would LOVE it if my son liked avocados.  Guac or sliced avocado would be perfect in here, but he doesn't like them:(  So, I hide drizzle avocado oil over the chicken. So, as you can see I'm pretty simple with this, lol!  I love where I can multi-task and then try to remember to put real, whole foods into meals.  Just keep it simple and REAL.  Protein, healthy whole grains/carbs, fruit, and veggie. Happy lunching!  Would love any sharing on fun healthy lunches and snacks that work for your family!  💓