Pack a Healthy Back to School Lunchbox With These 5 Tips

Here's a list of items you might want to avoid on your next grocery run:

• Convenience foods such as snack bars and packed crisps. If your kid wants them anyway, opt for baked crisps
• Drinks with added sugar. Instead, reach for milk, water, freshly squeezed juices, or packed juices without added sugar
• Processed and instant foods, including hotdogs and spam meat. Try not to make a beeline for the frozen meats section and head straight to the butcher to check out options for freshly ground, healthy sausages and sliced meats
• Overloading on carbs - avoid packing too many carbs such as pizza, pasta, rice, and bread in hopes that it will fill your kid's stomach for the day. It's always best to portion the sizes. Consider replacing pasta noodles with zoodles (vegetables noodles)

Japan ranks low in the world's childhood obesity rates. A previous study found that students who ate a typical US school lunch, which usually consisted of a lot of carbs (pizza, hotdogs, fries, etc.), chicken tenders, sugary desserts, were 29% more likely to be obese than kids who brought lunch made and packed from home.

For parents who want to reduce such risks, try sending your child to school with a lunch based on the Japanese school meal guideline. If you balance the portions right, it won't pack heaps of calories. Instead, ranging an average of 650 to 850 per meal.

• Carbs (bread or rice)
• Protein sources
• Side of vegetables
• Soup - Consider using a thermos and pack homemade soups or smoothies rich with nutrients (kids can also snack on these between classes)
• Milk
• Fresh fruit

Every student, at some point, sneaked bites between classes or when the teacher isn't looking.

Skip the easy options like chocolates and pastries, and pack a brown bag with healthy finger foods. If your kid is a picky eater, try and use cartoon sticks to skewer fresh fruit kababs - this will make them look more enticing, even more so if the cartoon stick is their favourite character.

Some healthy sneak-snack options include:

• Fresh fruit - apples, pears, grapes, melons, bananas, oranges, berries, etc.
• Low-fat cheese snacks
• Nuts - walnuts and almonds help with brain health
• Celery sticks dipped with peanut butter or low-fat cream cheese
• Fresh vegetables like carrots, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, and bellpeppers - play around with how you present these. The more creative you are, the higher the chances your child will munch on them

If your kid doesn't want to/cannot eat a whole apple, cut the apples into slices and store them in a zipped bag with a squirt of lime or lemon to slow down the browning process.