Healthy Eating Guidance

We will present a draft Healthy Eating Policy in the coming weeks to children, staff and parents an guardians. We will develop our Healthy Eating Policy based on feeback from the school community.

The following advice is from Safefood  with further information accessible at https://www.safefood.net/healthy-eating

Good food habits set early in childhood can last a lifetime.

We all want to improve our children’s wellbeing and help them enjoy learning. Sending them to school with a healthy lunch is a good way to start.

Most schools have policies to help families to make better choices when planning and preparing school lunches. Ask your school if they have a policy.

This page gives you some ideas for your child’s lunchbox. After all, a balanced lunchbox will help ensure children have the energy they need to learn and play. If your child is taller or more active, they may need to eat more. Go by their appetite when deciding how much food to offer them.

How can you make a healthy lunchbox more fun?

  • Put different things in every day to make lunchtime more fun.
  • Get your child involved in planning and choosing what they want to eat.
  • Let them pick a different colour of fruit each day.
  • Keep the crunch! To stop a sandwich going soggy, arrange the filling in layers with salad in the middle.
  • Let them choose a brightly coloured drink bottle and lunchbox or decorate a plain lunchbox with stickers.
  • Encourage your child to try out new food at home before adding them to a lunchbox.

A healthy lunchbox includes at least one serving from each food group

Vegetables, salad and fruit

  • Use carrot or celery sticks with cheese for a more savoury snack.

Wholemeal cereals and breads, potatoes, pasta and rice

  • Vary the types of bread you give your kids. It keeps well in the freezer so stock up in advance on pitta bread, bagels, wholemeal rolls… whatever they love.
  • Including wholegrain varieties of breads and cereals will support gut health and prevent constipation.

Meat, poultry, fish, eggs, beans and nuts 

  • Lean cuts of meat such as chicken breast are lower in salt than processed meats such as ham and bacon.
  • Choose lean meat more often than processed meat.

Milk, yoghurt and cheese 

  • Dairy products are especially important in the diets of children and teenagers.
  • They provide calcium to support growing bones and teeth.
  • Low-fat dairy products are suitable for children over two years of age.

Mix and match

Choose one option from each of the categories below.

Mid-morning snack

  • Carrot sticks with cream cheese
  • Half a bagel with nut butter (if school allows) and banana
  • Breadsticks with cream cheese
  • Yoghurt and a pear
  • Crackers with cheese
  • Yoghurt and apple
  • 2 rice cakes with 2 cheese triangles
  • Cucumber sticks with hummus

Lunch

  • Chicken salad roll
  • Tuna pasta salad
  • Lentil soup in a flask
  • Pasta salad with tomatoes and grated cheese
  • Egg salad sandwich
  • Turkey salad wrap
  • Cold rice and chickpea salad (tinned chickpeas drained and rinsed with chopped tomato and peppers)
  • Ham, lettuce and tomato sandwich

Fruit

  • 10 Grapes
  • 2 Mandarins
  • 1 Apple
  • 1 Banana
  • 2 Kiwis
  • 1 Pear
  • 1 Orange
  • 10 Blueberries

Suitable Drinks for Children

Picky or fussy eating is something most parents face at some point. It’s usually just a phase, but it can be worrying for parents.

Follow these tips to help your child develop better eating habits:

  • Encourage your child to touch, smell and taste food
  • Lead by example and eat with them
  • Praise your child when they eat well
  • Stay calm and positive
  • Give smaller portions at first. If they finish, offer them more
  • Don’t force feed – your child may develop a negative association with a food
  • Don’t bribe or pressure
  • Don’t give children drinks or snacks close to mealtimes
  • Turn off the television or any other distractions
  • Keep offering. It can take as many as 10 times for a child to try a food and like it

Remember, we don’t all like every food. To make sure they are not missing out on important food groups, here are some alternatives you can give your child: 

If your child refuses vegetables:

  • Offer vegetable sticks as snacks
  • Blend them up in soups and meals
  • Mash with potatoes – carrots and parsnips work well
  • Many children prefer fruit, so give an extra piece of fruit instead

If your child refuses to drink milk:

  • Add cheese to mashed potato or pasta dishes
  • Add milk to mashed potato and sauces
  • Offer yoghurt or cheese as a snack
  • Try milk-based desserts like custard or rice pudding

If your child refuses meat:

  • Offer eggs – boiled, poached or scrambled!
  • Use baked beans or try peas and lentils
  • Serve meat with a sauce or gravy
  • Try casseroles using pulses like lentils and chickpeas instead of meat

You can access the following podcast “Healthy Lunchboxes for Kids” from the HSE via this link.

https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-qjhde-16ae1ae

In this episode, we discuss Healthy Lunchboxes for Kids and much more.

With school routines starting again and parents getting to grips with what to put into those lunchboxes and what to avoid. Marian McBride, Dietetic Lead, HSE Health & Wellbeing discusses the importance of a balanced diet to ensure children develop a healthy relationship with food.

With tips on how to introduce healthier foods into children’s daily diets.  Marian gives ideas on what to include, recognising that parents are busy, she explains that it’s about frequency and taking those different opportunities to introduce healthier options. For more information and ideas visit: https://www2.hse.ie/living-well/healthy-eating

If you would like to get in touch with the podcast or join the HSE Health and Wellbeing mailing list, email Healthandwellbeing.communications@hse.ie.