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t m c » p u l s e | s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 7 18 S uccess at school and at work has a lot to do with the type of fuel people put in their bodies. Making a healthy lunch promotes good eating habits, is cost-effective and ensures that people of all ages will make it through the day with the energy they need. Providing a healthy lunch for children also helps build a foundation for healthy eating. "Putting carrots in your child's lunch instead of chips, or giving them milk or water instead of a sug- ary beverage, is import- ant—especially in lunches that you give them every day," said Deanna Hoelscher, Ph.D., R.D., director of the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living and John P. McGovern Professor in Health Promotion at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health. "These things add sugar to kids' diets, and they don't really need those extra calories. It also kind of sets kids up when they are drinking; they think it has to be sweet." Hoelscher conducted a study of sack lunches prepared by parents who were send- ing their children off to preschool. That study led to a nutrition education program that aims to increase the vegetables, fruits and grains that end up in kids' lunches. "Lunch is in the Bag is a program we started and it teaches parents how to pack a healthy lunch for their preschool kids," Hoelscher said. "Most preschools offer a hot lunch, but there are a certain num- ber that require parents to send a lunch, and that can be in high- and low-income settings. What we found, regardless of the parent income, is that most parents were not packing healthy lunches." Hoelscher said many of the lunches parents packed lacked the fruits and vegetables that are essential to a well-balanced meal. Instead, the lunches were filled with foods with added sugars. "Many of the lunches con- tained foods that parents per- ceived to be healthy—granola bars, fruit leather, fruit drinks, apple sauce and canned fruits," Hoelscher said. "If you have the choice, a piece of fruit is much healthier than fruit leather or a fruit juice." Another obstacle she and her team encountered was the perceived eating habits of children. Hoelscher and her team found that many of the unhealthy options parents packed in their children's lunches were cho- sen because they didn't think their children would eat healthier options. "Interestingly enough, when we talk to other teachers, the teachers say the children will try other foods in the school setting," Hoelscher said. "The kids are in a different environment, they see what other kids are eating and the teachers might be encouraging them to eat different foods." In her work as a clinical dietitian at Texas Children's Hospital, Stacey Beer, MPH, R.D., L.D., witnesses similar food struggles. "I do encourage eliminating the words 'picky eater,'" Beer said. "There are foods we like, there are foods we are learning and foods we may not prefer. But overall, it takes about 15 times for you to know if you like something. I encourage parents to mix foods with foods they know their child likes to try to get them to accept new foods, but I really try to stay away from labeling kids as picky eaters." What to pack in a healthy By Britni N. Riley