FITNESS
Know What's In Your Child's Lunch
By Nick Pabon, Personal Trainer
In August, department stores fill half of the store with back to school supplies, so it's no
wonder moms and dads have special tricks ─like letting little Jimmy pick out a snack or
two that will be put in his school lunch─ in order to get through the store quicker.
Sounds like good news for the kids, but you can make it fast and Healthy!
It is time to start packing your kids' lunches with healthier choices. Nutrient-dense
foods that still taste good is the key to a successful school lunch.
How much SUGAR is your child consuming on a daily basis?
Let’s break down a hypothetical child’s breakfast and lunch for a day. Jimmy wakes up
and has one his favorite bowls of cereal, Frosted Flakes. In one serving ─which is ¾
cup─ it has the following nutritional values:
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size ¾ Cup (29g)
Calories 110
Calories from Fat 0
*Amount in cereal; ½ cup skim milk
adds 42 calories, 2mg cholesterol,
51mg sodium, 191mg potassium, 6g
Amount Per Serving*
% DV**
Amount Per Serving*
% DV**
Total Fat 0g*
0% Potassium 35mg
Saturated Fat 0g
0% Total
Trans Fat 0g
Carbohydrate 26g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0g
Dietary Fiber <1g
Monounsaturated Fat 0g
Sugars 10g
Cholesterol 0mg
0% Protein 1g
Sodium 150mg
6%
total carbohydrate (6g sugars), 4g
protein. **Percent Daily Values (DV)
are based on a 2,000 calorie diet
1%
9%
3%
Vitamin A 10% ● Vitamin C 10% ● Calcium 0% ● Iron 25% ●
Vitamin D 10% ● Thiamin 25% ● Riboflavin 25% ● Niacin 25% ●
Vitamin B₆ 25% ● Folic Acid 25% ● Vitamin B₁₂ 25%
For the complete nutrition panel visit Kellogg's Frosted Flakes
Not only should you focus on the sugar,
but the serving size as well. It is unlikely
that we will pour our cereal into a ¾ measuring cup as indicated, so I decided to fill
an average size cereal bowl; it easily took
1½ cups, twice as much as the serving
suggestion. Then after adding a ½ cup of
skim milk, the amount of sugar in my bowl
was 26g ─to put that into perspective,
that's roughly 6½ teaspoons of sugar.
That might not seem like a lot to you right
now, but this is only breakfast.
The sugar in this type of
food is refined which is
not like the natural sugar
we get from fruit. This
means Jimmy's blood
sugar will spike and
lead to that
midday
mental
CRASH.