Hello and welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition Ask a Nutritionist podcast brought to you by Nutritional Weight and Wellness.

I am Brittany Vincent, a registered and licensed dietitian. And here at Nutritional Weight and Wellness,

we are thrilled to be celebrating 20 years on air discussing the connection between what you eat and how you feel while sharing practical, real-life solutions for healthier living through balanced nutrition.

And we want to thank you so much for your support and listenership over the years.

I will be answering a nutrition question we've received from one of our Dishing Up Nutrition

listeners.

The question is, do you have ideas for packing kids' school lunches?

I think that this is top of mind for a lot of parents out there,

and it's heard to believe that kids have already gone back to school. I personally am now packing

my son's lunch every day for school, so I've been thinking about this a lot, and I want to keep

things interesting for him.

I also want to add that everything I talk about today can also apply to you, and the amounts might be different, but you could use the same ideas for yourself and just keep it super simple

for the family.

Before I dive into some specific ideas, I want to provide the ideal framework for a

kid's lunch. Real whole foods should really still be the focus. And just like we talk about

for adults, the goal is to have a balanced meal of protein, carbohydrate, and fat. Having that mix of protein, carbohydrate,

and fat keeps blood sugar stable throughout the day. This will help your kids have more energy,

more consistent energy throughout the day, focus, better moods, and they're going to be a lot more satiated.

So they're not going to be getting overly hungry.

Eating real foods is also going to support the immune system.

So hopefully you notice less illnesses in the house.

And I know personally, I absolutely notice the difference

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