Eight tips for healthy, child-friendly lunches

As children prepare to go back to school, many parents are seeking creative ways to pack healthy lunches their children will eat.

Pre-packaged foods can be tempting but often don’t have the nutritional value your child needs, says Theresa Diduck, Senior Clinical Dietician at The Scarborough Hospital. Variety can help; the same lunch every day can be boring. If your child is looking forward to lunch, he’s more likely to eat it, she says.

Theresa shares some of her tips for making healthy lunches that will get almost any child’s approval:

1. Use different kinds of bread like whole wheat pita pockets or wraps and stuff with lean cuts of preservative-free deli meats.
2. Add legumes like beans, chickpeas or grated vegetables to sandwiches.
3. Fresh herbs contain anti-oxidants. Add chopped mint, cilantro or dill to sandwiches and dips.
4. Have your child help make lunch. Children are more likely to eat their lunch if they participated in making it.
5. Don’t forget thermos lunches. A hearty soup, or last night’s low-fat macaroni and cheese are great lunch alternatives.
6. Add vegetable and fruit slices to sandwiches. Chopped apple and diced chicken mixed with a little low-fat mayonnaise is a great option.
7. Vegetable slices and whole grain crackers with hummus are a good alternative to sandwiches.
8. Children like to eat fruits and vegetables when there’s something to dip them in.  Make a yogurt-based, low-fat dip for fruits and veggies.

Top five tips for back-to-school hand hygiene

As students gear up for another year at school, it’s a good time to remind them about the importance of proper hand hygiene, says Vydia Nankoosingh, Interim Manager of Infection Prevention and Control at The Scarborough Hospital. “Schools are busy places, and it’s easy to pick up bacteria and viruses on lockers, door handles, hand rails, sporting equipment and many other public surfaces. Good hand hygiene can help protect you from a number of preventable illnesses.”

Vydia says there are a few simple things all students can do to keep their hands clean while at school—and the most important one is to carry a travel size container of hand sanitizer foam or gel in your backpack.

“Those little bottles of sanitizer do a great job of killing harmful bacteria on your hands, providing you clean them correctly,” Vydia says. “The problem is, most people don’t clean their hands often enough, or thoroughly enough, to be totally effective.”

To stay healthy, and to prevent the spread of infections to others, students should follow these simple tips:

1. Remove any rings and rub your hands together, palm-to-palm, using a dime-sized amount of sanitizer. Then use your palms to rub sanitizer on the back of your hands and between your fingers.  Rub the sanitizer on each finger individually, paying particular attention to the outside of your thumbs. Continue until the sanitizer is dry
2. Remember that alcohol-based hand sanitizer can dry your skin. Look for products that contain moisturizers to counteract the drying effect.
3. Hand sanitizer is not a substitute for soap and water if your hands are visibly soiled. If you can see dirt on your hands, soap and water is the way to go.
4. For young children, remember that alcohol-based sanitizers can be poisonous if ingested in significant quantities. Parents should teach younger children about proper use of the product, and monitor the quantity used each day. Only send your child to school with a mini-bottle.
5. Always clean your hands after using the bathroom and before eating, as well as after gym class or recess.