A funny thing happened today. A friend told me she loves looking at my lunch boxes and shows them to her friends. One of her friends said something like “Yeah, but what does it look like when it comes home – does it get eaten?”
Well folks, what I am about to say may make you hate me, love me, or respect me, but I feel it’s important to say. The truth of this matter is this:
Your kids eat what you let them eat. Simple as that!
What you see in my kids lunch boxes is what we eat at home for breakfast, dinner and snacks. Lunch is no different. They are used to eating this kind of food, so that’s what they eat for lunch. Most days their lunch boxes come home empty. On the odd day, they may come home with a little bit left over, but that’s totally OK. Why? Because I pack a balanced lunch box and so I know that even if they’ve left a bit, they have still eaten a great recess and lunch.
So I thought I’d do this post about what the lunch box looks like when it comes home. And so, here is what today’s lunch box looked like when my daughter unpacked it from her school bag after school. To be honest, there is probably more left over than normal, but I decided it was a great way of showing how nearly all the food got eaten today, and why I don’t get fazed if some left overs come home.
Let’s take a look at what got eaten today and what didn’t:
What got eaten |
What came home in the lunch box |
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I am pretty happy with that effort. The baby carrot got eaten this afternoon with a bit of the left over dip. In total, the wastage – a dead piece of strawberry, a little bit of a cheese dip, the asparagus stick, and half a muesli bar.
My Message To You
Your kids could eat this kind of lunch box too.
But it takes something.
It takes YOU to lead the charge.
You see, your kids eat what you let them eat.
They look to you for the answers (although they’d never admit this.)
They expect the food you are feeding them is what is right for their health – both now and in the future.You can do what I did, and transition your kids to better foods.
My lunch boxes haven’t always been like the ones I share with you. The picture below is what my daughters lunch box looked like just over three years ago.
Back when I use to pack lunch boxes like this, I thought I was doing a good job with packing a lunch from home. But then when my husband Israel was diagnosed with depression, I learnt a whole lot about food and how it affects your mood, behaviour, concentration, sleep and more.
When I started to learn more, I realised I could do a whole lot better.
I tried to change everything about what we ate, practically overnight. It failed. There were tears, lots of hangry (hungry/angry) moments, and a lot of cranky words. I soon realised if I was going to take everyone on the journey to eating better foods, I would need to transition them. I spent a good six months transitioning my family to eating a more wholefoods diet. Now that’s what we all eat.
I led the change.
My family now eat what I let them eat.
And we don’t go without.
There are heaps of incredibly yummy foods you can make extremely quickly at home from just a few wholefoods, that are far better for you – and more economical – than food that comes in a packet.
My hope for you is that after reading this, you gain the strength to know that you too can learn more and do better.
There is even research that now shows you can train your brain to prefer healthy foods. After all, the marketing departments and the scientists and engineers behind packaged foods have trained our brains to like their foods, so it only makes sense that we can reverse that training and make it work the other way.
If you would like help with transitioning your family to healthier lunch boxes, I can help. That’s what I do.
As a Health & Wellness Coach, I have specifically chosen to educate children and parents in how to pack healthy lunch boxes, including everything it takes to get you from where you are today, to where you want to be. Please email me at belinda@therootcause.com.au or phone me on 0401 649 289, and I’d be happy to have a chat to you about it.