When it comes to making good lunch choices, it's not always about the lunch that you pack at home. While you have control on what ends up in your packed lunch, when you have to choose from the available options at the tuckshop, canteen, cafeteria or local cafe, it sometimes becomes a little more difficult.
Whether you're thinking of your own choices at the cafeteria at work or coffee shop down the road or of the choices that your child needs to make at the tuckshop at school, its good to have a bit of an idea of how to make some good choices.
In the last few years there has been a push on changing the options offered at school tuckshops to reflect better choices for students. Below are 3 summaries of the guidelines that are now being developed in various countries around healthy eating in schools and in school tuckshops, cafeterias and canteens.
Firstly, the Education department of the Queensland Government in Australia have developed a program called Smart Choices which pitches the foods offered to students at their tuckshops as green, amber or red (reflecting the colours of the traffic lights on the roads).
Green choices are to be encouraged and promoted in schools and it is encouraged that children eat plenty of these. The amber choices shouldn't dominate the menu and should not be offered in large amounts, children are advised to select these carefully. And finally, the red choices should not be offered any more than 2 occasions during the term and are classed as occasional.
While this program is implemented into Queensland schools it is currently in a trial phase, which runs from October 2011 to June 2015. Each of the groups have more detailed descriptions and they can be the education Queensland website.
The Singapore Government also has some nutrition guidelines in place for catering in schools. Theirs is a 10 step set. They are:
- The sale of drinks and desserts must be with less sugar - Commercial products they sell must have the Healthy Choice Symbol logo and homemade choices must have less that 7g/100g of product, no artificial sweeteners and no sweetener added to homemade fruit juices.
- Deep fried and preserved food must not be offered more than one day per week and this day needs to remain the same day each week.
- When high fat ingredients are used to prepare food at least half of that must be replaced with the lower fat version of the food.
- Skinless poultry and lean meat must be used when preparing foods
- Rice dishes offered must have at least 2 dessertspoons of vegetables given with them and noodle dishes there must be at least 1 dessertspoon of vegetables given
- The canteen or cafeteria must sell at least 2 types of fruit everyday
- Gravies, sauces and soups must not be supplied unless requested and when they are requested not more than 2 dessertspoons may be given
- There must be at least 2 operating water coolers within the canteen/cafeteria area.
- Wholegrain or wholemeal bread must be used to prepare at least half of a sandwich.
- Limit the sale of commercially prepared chips, crisps, cookies, biscuits, cakes, buns and steamed paus to those with the Healthier Choice symbol or the healthier snack symbol logos. (Healthier Choice - eat all foods in moderation, Healthier Snack - limit to 2 servings per day)
And Scotland has the Tuckshop Policy, which is based on their healthy eating guide, which is called the Eat Well Plate.
It divides the items into High, Medium and Low categories. These are also indicated by the colours red, amber and green. They set down some standards for nutrients within each of these categories. The first is the High group (indicated by the colour red) and per 100g of product they are foods that have greater than 15g sugar, 20g of fat, 5g of saturates and 1.5g of salt. The Medium group (indicated by the colour Amber) has between 5 and 15 g sugar, 3 and 20g fat, 1.5-5g of saturates and 0.3 and 1.5g of salt. And finally, the Low group (indicated by the colour green) has less than or equal to 5g sugar, 3g of fat, 1.5g of saturates and 0.3g salt.
While all of these guidelines relate to what's on offer in schools these a great place to start when deciding what you need to think about when purchasing good choices at the tuckshop, canteen, cafeteria or even the local café or corner store.
So here's a summary on what to choose at the tuckshop/cafeteria/shop...
- Stick with fresher, less commercial choices, as these are less likely to have hidden sugar, fat or salt.
- Ensure you can choose something that allows you to balance your lunch For example make sure you include something from all the food groups - a bread/cereal, a fruit, some vegetables, some dairy and some protein (either meat/poultry/fish or a vegetarian protein choice)
- Choose a low or no calorie drink (water is best and sparkling water will make it feel more like a treat!)
- Watch the sauces, mayonnaise, butter/margarine, aioli etc. Simply being aware of whether the dish contains these will allow you to avoid the unnecessary calories.
- Limit or better still avoid deep fried foods and choose wholegrain/wholemeal foods in your choice.
By sticking to these principles it will narrow down the choices which, deserve your attention and then you can choose from these within what your taste preferences direct.
For more details on choosing healthier lunch choices that taste great and for learning just how to put healthy eating guidelines into practice while still satisfying your taste preferences see http://www.TheBalancedLunchbox.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joanne_Mirtschin
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