Students need good lunches to focus in class, stay healthy

DANIEL CLIFTON • PICAYUNE EDITOR

LLANO — Breakfast might be the most important meal, but don’t overlook the value of lunch, especially for students.

“A lot of times in school, people forget that, without a healthy lunch, kids have a hard time concentrating in class or just paying attention in general,” said Jennifer Reeves, the family and consumer science extension agent for the Llano County AgriLife Extension office. “Without eating properly, kids just aren’t going to learn as well. It takes 100 grams of carbohydrates a day for the brain to function properly.”

People, parents especially, put a lot of emphasis on breakfast for students. And with good reason. The first meal of the day sets up a student for a good day of school and other activities. But as the morning goes, the benefits from breakfast begin to fade as the body uses up the valuable nutrients and calories.

Lunch becomes a time for kids to refuel.

But parents can’t just pack anything into a lunch and expect it to benefit their children. A lunch filled with junk food will get similar returns.

Reeves said parents should pack a lunch with several things in mind. First is food safety.

“If you’re packing that lunch in the morning and dropping a child off at 7:30 (a.m.), the lunch may be sitting for several hours before the child eats it,” she said. “So keep this in mind and pack a lunch with non-perishable snacks and other items. If you do make an egg salad or chicken salad sandwich, or something like that, make sure you are putting an ice pack in the lunch container as well.”

As for the lunch itself, Reeves emphasized the importance of healthy items, even down to substituting fruit for desserts.

She pointed to the Choose My Plate program through the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service as a place to start. The program uses a diagram of a plate broken down into four color-coded sections. Each section is for a specific food group: vegetables, fruits, grains and protein foods. A blue cup off to the side represents the dairy food group.

From that diagram, parents can build a healthy lunch. For a look at the diagram and lunch ideas, go to choosemyplate.gov.

“And remember, 50 percent of all the grains you consume should be whole grains,” Reeves added.

She said parents should remain vigilant for “hidden sugars,” which turn up in unsuspecting places such as fruit drinks and other supposedly healthy food items.

Learning to read ingredient lists on the back of food packages can be an eye-opening experience.

While packing a lunch is one option, parents might not feel like they want to do it or just run out of ideas after the first few days and weeks. But it’s important to make sure kids get a lunch, Reeves said, so parents should consider the school lunches. People can check their children’s district or campus websites for up-to-date menus and costs.

School lunches, and even breakfasts when offered, not only provide meal options but can also help fight one of the least-known problems in the United States: childhood hunger.

“One out of every four kids in this country is going hungry,” Reeves said. While they might not be starving as children in some foreign countries are, Reeves said many kids suffer from hunger issues. All this can impact a child’s learning as well as his or her well-being.

“The school lunch program sometimes can be one of the few ways a kid gets a regular meal,” Reeves said.

Go to fcs.tamu.edu for more information on nutrition, meal planning, packing school lunches and healthy eating.

daniel@thepicayune.com