Are your child’s school lunches driving you crazy?

School lunch meals are designed to meet one-third of a child’s calorie and nutrient intake. On the surface, this makes sense because lunch is one-third a day’s intake typically. But, if the lunches aren’t eaten, then how much nutrition it provides is moot. How do you expect your 10-year-old to eat an over-cooked piece of chicken, dried-out mashed potatoes, and mushy mixed vegetables? You can’t.

If more money were spent on the lunch program, it would possible to have cuisines like those served at the Four Seasons. Surely that isn’t practical. The challenge is to figure out how to make tasty meals that meet the “one-third” requirement that are still within budgetary constraints.

Recently, making healthier meals was put into action in two counties in Florida. These children were given foods based on the South Beach Diet. The cost of the meals was the same as before. However, these children enjoyed the foods. Even more impressive was that scores on the end-of-year tests increased by a greater percentage compared to children from surrounding counties, where the regular meals were served. This pilot study was funded by the South Beach Diet Foundation, can serve as a model for the future of food service in the schools.

Use the following for creating healthy meals at home:

• Make sure to include at least one fruit and vegetable in each meal.
• Divide a small to medium plate into three sections. Those are your portion sizes for protein, starch, veggies and fruit.
• Avoid the highly processed package foods.
• Experiment with things like hummus, edamame beans, and other items. This will make sure you don’t get stuck in the sandwich rut.

Blaming the school for bad food doesn’t help improve the nutritional health of your child. Don’t forget the child eats the remaining two-thirds of the nutrients elsewhere. Are you giving your child a nutritious breakfast every morning? It’s clear children who eat breakfast are smarter. What about dinner? Do you prepare or provide meals that have a protein, starch, and multiple vegetables and fruits? Parents can do a lot to overcome the inadequacies of the school lunch program.

Dr. Stacey J. Bell is a nutrition doctor and expert on food and dietary supplements: staceyjbell.com