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December 30, 2004
Tiffin to health
Skipping breakfasts and non-nutritious lunches can cause your child to tire easily and make him lose concentration due to low blood sugar, says Dr Shanti B. Rangwani
You don’t need to read about the Atkins diet or the South Beach diet for your children’s health. What you need to do is pack the right tiffin box and ensure that they get the perfect breakfast for their nutritional requirement. In the early morning children are in a hurry to get to school and mothers are too hassled to do much about packing a great tiffin for their children.
Skipped breakfasts and non-nutritious packed lunches can cause your child to tire easily and make him lose concentration due to low blood sugar. In the long term this can affect his studies and make him lethargic and depressed. Children tend to use up a lot of energy early morning, whether it is putting on their thinking caps in school or over-exerting themselves at recess. The snacks we pack for our children should provide more than just empty calories.
Here are the basic nutrients that you should ensure for your child:
Carbohydrates are the most vital component of your child’s tiffin. These are the primary fuel for high-intensity activities. Carbohydrate-rich foods include breads, bananas, vegetables, and the dairy sections of the food pyramid. At least two-thirds of a child’s morning and afternoon intake should come from foods rich in carbohydrates. Not so for the meals later in the day when your child is running perhaps in the second gear.
Most of what you eat in the evening turns into fat because you are unlikely to physically exert yourself after dinner and your energy requirements are low. As you sleep, your metabolic rate drops even further, and little energy is used. Meanwhile, the liver can convert a substantial portion of your food into fat, including the carbohydrates. So if your child is already mildly obese, serving carbohydrate-rich diet later in the day is a strict no-no.
Do remember that even among carbohydrates, there are the good ones and the bad ones. Simple sugars such as those contained in candy and soft drinks often have little nutritional value besides providing calories. You should ensure that your child gets at least three-fourths of his total intake from complex carbohydrates, such as whole wheat breads, macaroni and cheese, baked potatoes, cereals, chapattis etc.
Save the simple carbohydrate foods such as desserts in a separate tiffin compartment. Even better, pack a special dessert, such as sweetened yogurt with chopped grapes, plums, figs, dates, and bananas that will provide your child with quick energy.
Vegetables, too, are a good source of carbohydrates, and if they are green, they are also rich in proteins, minerals and vitamins. Remember, that even for generating extra energy in your child, it is necessary to supply him with not just foods rich in calories but also foods rich in vitamins that help the body to assimilate and burn the fuel contained in carbohydrates. For example, if your child does not get adequate Vitamin B-complex, he is likely to be as exhausted and lethargic as a child who is getting little carbohydrates for the simple reason that the child’s body cannot put the carbohydrates to use without suitable levels of B-complex.
It is also important that mothers educate themselves about the food groups and the exact nutritional requirements for their children. Get yourself a food chart that lists calories, vitamins and minerals in our everyday foods. Use this chart to keep a rough track of the nutrients and calories your child is getting in his normal meals. Use your snack plan to put in those nutrients that might be getting left out. Be careful to get your food pyramid right, always keeping in mind that no one food group is more important than the other. The balance of nutrients is more important.
Serve proteins such as eggs for breakfast, but don’t overload a child’s tiffin with too many protein sources such as chicken or fish. For starters, most proteins tend to denature without refrigeration. Secondly, they are much more difficult to digest and serving them for your child’s mid-afternoon meal will cause him to feel heavy and sleepy instead of reinvigorating him.
Carbohydrates can provide energy in about 15-30 minutes after consumption. However, their effect is short-lived and the body gathers energy from carbohydrate sources for up to two to three hours after intake. In contrast, proteins “stock you up” with energy for at least 12 hours. With your child’s energy levels low in the morning, what is needed are carbohydrates and quick sugar sources along with a few protein-rich foods — eggs and cheese are classic high-protein breakfast foods.
One reason sugary breakfast cereals have become a global standard is that they satisfy the body’s early-morning need to build up blood sugar levels. The sugar gets in the blood within five minutes, and the complex carbohydrates energize one for the next hour or two. But overloading your child with only simple sugar carbohydrates depletes micronutrient reserves in the body, especially B-complex vitamins. With lowered levels of these essential micronutrients that metabolize carbohydrates, the amount of time your child can feel energetic in the morning slowly declines.
While some children thrive on the extra calories provided by snacks, for most (as evinced by recent statistics about obesity in children) the problem is not one of too little but of too much. If your child is obese or not very physically active, it might be a good idea to serve high-fibre snacks like whole-wheat bread sandwiches with lettuce and tomatoes. Get them to smile with their snacks but without saying, “Cheese!”
Give them variety. Don’t dish out the same fare of jam or cheese-sandwich, rice or noodles because it is convenient for you to make and pack. Ask your child for feedback on the tiffin you pack for him and discuss with him what other children bring to school. Often, you will find that children share lunch boxes so it’d be a good idea to put some extra effort into your child’s tiffin, not just for his health, but also for his popularity!
The easiest way to get used to the complexities of nutrient tiffin packing is to start with the box itself. Get your child a box that is about as large as he will agree to carry in the schoolbag! Make sure the box is compartmentalized and use each of the compartments for the food group you need to serve your child. Include salads, fruits, carbohydrate staples, a small slice of grilled chicken or fish, separate, or made into a sandwich, and also a high-sugar dessert — lots of it, for your child and his buddies! — Dawn/Khaleej Times Service
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