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Healthy Eating

Tomato Mozzarella Salad with Balsamic Vinegar
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Tomato Mozzarella Salad with Balsamic Vinegar

Ingredients

  • 4-5 similar sized tomatoes, sliced 1/4-inch thick
  • 2 (16 oz.) logs of fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced 1/2-inch thick
  • generous bunch of fresh basil leaves
  • extra-virgin olive oil
  • coarse sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
  • 1 cup good quality balsamic vinegar (if you are not using Moxie Mom Balsamic Vinegar – you will need to reduce enough to reduce it to 1 cup)

Instructions

  1. In a small casserole dish (I used 8X11X3) arrange slices of tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil vertically, in an alternating pattern until you have created two rows.
  2. Drizzle olive oil over the top of the salad, followed by balsamic vinegar.
  3. Sprinkle with sea salt and fresh ground black pepper. Serve immediately.

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Why Healthy Lunches Make All the Difference

Introduction – Leah is the busy mom of 7 children focused on teaching her children how to make healthy food decisions. Her approach is straight-forward and she gives some great ideas on how to pack healthy lunches. I hope you enjoy her blog post!

“Why Healthy Lunches Make All the Difference”

Written by my guest blogger – Leah Morency

Let’s start with the hard reality when it comes to packing school lunches: the struggle is real! Successfully filling your young one’s lunch box with foods in all the colors of the rainbow, seems like an impossible dream for moms and dads, but it doesn’t have be that way.  We can take back our kid’s lunch time appetite, one bite at a time. Today, thankfully, safe and healthy lunch options are gaining momentum against their nutrient void and processed counterparts. For our kid’s physical, mental, and emotional health, now and into their adulthood, taking back lunch is absolutely worth our effort. 
 


Advertisements and fake food products from the grocery aisles scream that we don’t have time or money for real food and that we can’t do what’s best for our kids. At the same time, they offer us this sorry solution: factory packaged, processed, chemically preserved, sugary-syrup sweetened, artificially colored, and artificially flavored lunch box convenience foods. Sadly these foods fail to provide the nutrients a healthy growing child needs. 



Lunchables are the perfect example of well marketed convenience food that is full of the toxins we are trying to avoid. Kids generally go nuts for these packaged snack packs that hold the illusion of a balanced meal while delivering mega doses of preservatives, additives, sugar, sodium, and a long list of artificial sweeteners.

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So, why is it so important for us to overcome this challenge? Why not just give in and let them have their fun at lunch?

Well, here is the rub: physical, mental, and emotional health in adult hood is founded on the habits learned in childhood. Physically, kids bodies absorb much more of the food content they consume because they are growing, making all of these questionable ingredients more impactful to every area of their physical development. Every health problem linked to poor nutrition and obesity comes into play if poor eating habits are left unchecked.

Kids are under pressure, mentally and emotionally, to perform their best academically, while also being expected to balance social interactions, peer relationships and a broad range of societal expectations. A diet that keeps their blood sugar in check while providing a steady stream of energy and nutrients lays the foundation for a smooth day of learning. Sugar highs bring sugar lows, and with that low, a young person’s emotional resiliency, and their ability to exercise their best judgement, is compromised. Behavioral issues with teachers and peers can negatively impact your child’s daily learning experience, attitude towards school, and over all learning potential!

Turning your energy to preparing home packed lunches that are fresher, and better able to meet your child’s specific taste and nutritional needs, is the best place to create solutions and make the difference for him or her.

First, Empty Calories Alert! Kids can quickly fill up on empty sugar calories, and then loose an appetite for the real sources of nutrition you have worked hard to pack into their meal! Besides the obvious lunchables, cookies, candies, donuts, and sweets to avoid, beware of these hidden sources of empty calories:

  1. 100% fruit juices, and really almost all juices period: they simply add more sugar than nutrients.
  2. Yogurt squeezes that are sweetened with fructose corn syrup: they cease to be healthy at the amounts of sugar added.
  3. Deli Lunch meat: most contain added sugar and are full of preservatives!
  4. Crackers, pretzels and snack bags: made from processed grains that are high in starch, these convert to sugar calories when eaten, raising blood sugar levels that can contribute to a post lunch sugar low!
  5. Fruit chewy snacks: again, more concentrated sugar, with no nutritional value, stealing the healthy appetite meant to be satisfied with nutritionally rich foods.
  6. Potato Chips: standard white potato chips are high in calories, salt, and fat but low in nutrients.

 

Instead provide healthy alternatives for your kids!

Why Healthy Lunches Make All the Difference
Why Healthy Lunches Make All the Difference
children meals
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How You Can Take Back Your Child’s Health, One Bite at a Time

Introduction – Leah is the busy mom of 7 children focused on teaching her children how to make healthy food decisions. Her approach is straight-forward and she gives some great ideas on how to pack healthy lunches. I hope you enjoy her blog post!

“How You Can Take Back Your Child’s Health, One Bite at a Time”

Written by my guest blogger – Leah Morency

If your kiddos are used to the processed sweets, try trading out the items to one every week or two until they have had a chance to get used to a slightly different looking lunch box.

A strong foundation in balanced eating habits will give your kids respect for healthy food and its positive effects on their emotional and physical well-being.  

Be prepared for some push back if you are making changes in the nutritious direction, but they will follow your lead. When you make feeding their growing minds and bodies with the good stuff a priority, they get the message that you care about what’s best for them, and in turn, they learn how to take the best care of themselves. That is why healthy lunches make all the difference.

Here are our suggestions for some of the best options optimizing nutrition with the convenience factor packed into these lunches. Some items can be made at home, and many can be purchased individually wrapped and in bulk for easy assembly, but all are healthier versions. We always encourage organic options when available as well! Remember Start small, One Bite at a Time!

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  1. The first suggestion isn’t lunch at all, but breakfast! Begin the day with plain yogurt with honey and fruit, or eggs and toast, instead of a bowl of sugar cereal. This sets kids up for balanced blood sugar, protecting them against sugar crash and sugar cravings.
  2. Pack only Water to drink! It’s really all they need, it’s cleansing, hydrating and saves money.
  3. Whole milk yogurt sweetened with honey in re-usable plastic containers. Or, for convenience, read the labels and search carefully, there are a few brands of squeezable yogurt, especially the organic options, that are low in sugar and have no artificial ingredients.
  4. Cheese sliced at home, or sold in individually wrapped packages, not American cheese product, but real cheeses.
  5. Sliced veggies, carrots, peppers and cucumbers, served up for dipping with hummus cups, or alternatively guacamole cups.  Hummus and guacamole cups are now sold in bulk packages, individually wrapped for convenience! Hummus is rich in protein and guacamole rich in healthy fats, are both great choices.
  6. A simple boiled egg, rich in protein and healthy fat, easily prepared ahead of time, can also be purchased prepared.
  7. Home cooked meats, choose a cut of meat to roast on weekends, once prepared and sliced in advance, can be quickly added to a lunch box meal, rolled in whole grain tortilla, make a meat and cheese wrap! Most cost effective way to add meat to lunches! Even a chicken leg from a baked chicken is an easy and fun unexpected lunch option.
  8. Nuts, seeds, and dried fruit are excellent finger foods for snacking, providing super nutrients, healthy fats, minerals, and vitamins. The great variety makes it possible to find a mix your child prefers.
  9. Sugar free apple sauce cups, along with fresh fruits! Sliced fruits with nut or seed butters in the center for easy packing. Whole fruits come ready to pack!
  10. Chips made from sweet potatoes and root veggies are the best choice, as well as whole grain varieties, as they contain more nutrients in exchange for their calories.
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