This year, 4.6 million Polish students will sit in school desks. Children spend most of the day at school, often skipping their second breakfast and lunch as a result. However, their young bodies need the right amount of calories and essential nutrients to focus on classes and have the energy to be active. If parents don’t want their child to nibble on potato chips or candy bars during the school break, they need to make sure to prepare homemade healthy snacks for school. What is worth packing in a student’s backpack for second breakfast and lunch?
What nutrients does a young student’s body need?
The basis of everyone’s diet is protein, as well as carbohydrates, but preferably complex ones, rather than simple ones, the source of which are sugary snacks. Thus, the menu of a young student should not lack dairy products, such as milk, eggs, white cheese and meats, among others. A very important role is also played by energy-giving carbohydrates, the source of which is, for example, bread. The importance of fatty acids, necessary for the proper functioning of the nervous system, should not be underestimated either. A student’s diet should also be rich in fresh vegetables and fruits, which are a source of fiber, vitamins and minerals.
How to ensure that the child eats healthy at school?
If a parent gives a child money to buy food for school, that child is likely to spend it on sugary candy bars, salty chips or other types of quick snacks full of salt, sugar and unhealthy fats. So it’s worth spending a little more time and preparing healthy snacks for school yourself.
This is the best way to make sure your child eats a worthwhile meal during the break. However, smuggling healthy food into a young person’s diet is not the easiest task, so the parent must show some cleverness. What should satisfy the child and the caregiver?
Fat-free popcorn – a healthy and familiar snack
Children love popcorn because they associate it with the cinema, festivals and various outdoor events. It is worth knowing that it is not only tasty, but also healthy – it contains fiber, polyphenols and a large amount of manganese, which helps build bones.
However, popcorn lying on store shelves is full of fat, salt and other additives, so instead of reaching for ready-roasted kernels, it is better to prepare popcorn at home. A special machine, for roasting corn kernels (for example, from Ariete from the Partytime line) will allow you to prepare fat-free popcorn with reduced calories. If you also do not add salt to it, it will be an extremely healthy snack that you can overeat almost without limit.
Fresh, crunchy popcorn should be packed in an airtight container for your child after cooling, so that it retains its flavor, aroma and pleasant crunchiness.
Pancakes with valuable additives
Pancakes are a very simple to prepare dish that can be served in many ways. Salty pancakes are based on sugar-free batter. For example, a stuffing of poultry meat with vegetables or egg stuffing with mushrooms is wrapped inside them – in both cases the meal will provide the child with the desired amount of valuable protein. On the other hand, sweet pancakes will allow to smuggle into the diet of a student primarily fruits and very valuable nuts, full of vitamins, minerals and unsaturated fatty acids.
The basic pancake batter can be prepared quickly by a parent with the help of a planetary mixer from Ariete’s Vintage line. All you need to do is put milk, flour, eggs, water, a little oil or melted butter and salt or sugar into its bowl. The device itself will mix all the ingredients very thoroughly into a perfectly smooth batter. The dough is good to chill in the refrigerator, and then fry on low heat already without adding fat.
Finally, it is worth remembering that healthy eating habits come from parents. If we provide healthy meals low in fat and sugars, children are likely to follow in the parent’s footsteps. Modeling good eating habits is also key to building immunity.
Source 1: https://www.pap.pl/aktualnosci/news%2C938966%2Cdla-46-mln-uczniow-rozpoczal-sie-rok-szkolny-czasem-w-maseczce-ale