January 10, 2012 What Is In Your Lunch Box?
I'm experiencing a love/hate reaction to Parenting.com's new Healthy Lunch Maker. Have you seen this calculator?
You drag a sandwich, snack and a drink into a lunch box, press calculate and the program spits out the nutrition profile of whatever is in the box.
"All the nutrition facts you need to pack tasty, healthy lunches for your child. Count calories, fat, sodium and more."
Test out Parenting.com’s Healthy Lunch Maker
I love the calculator because it's so much fun.
No matter how much I think nutrition information leads parents astray—Read Why Nobody Needs Nutrition Labels— I can't resist nutrition gadgets. I describe my problem, and how much fun I had shopping this summer with the Fooducate App, in Why I Feed My Daugther Inferior Food.
Plug a PB&J sandwich on wheat, an apple and a small carton of low-fat milk into the Healthy Lunch Maker, push calculate:
- Total calories = 466
- Fat=12g
- Sodium=450 mg
- Protein=19g
Fantastic! I spent an hour one day trying out different lunchtime combos. That is the love part. Now to the hate part...
I hate the calculator because it's impossible to know what the information means.
Is 466 calories a lot or a little? What about 12 grams of fat?
And even if you look at the % daily value based on your child's age, which the program conveniently lets you punch in, the information that 12 grams of fat is 22% of your 3 year old's daily fat needs will only take you so far.
Unless you're going to calculate every meal and every snack (something I don't think anybody would ever do) knowing that lunch is going to deliver 45% of your toddler's sodium intake is meaningless. Sure, 45% seems high, but what if the rest of the day turns out to be basically sodium-free? That puts 45% into a healthier perspective.
Now, let's imagine that you could put together a magic meal, one that made the grade on all the key ingredients.
What would you do?
- Would you serve this perfect meal to your child over and over? That would narrow, rather than expand, your toddler's palate.
- Would you shy away from foods that don't make the grade? Or feel guilty when your tot eats anything short of the gold standard? That would make the "bad" but desirable foods even more desirable?
So again, I ask, what would you do?
As far as I can tell, the only useful thing you can do with any nutrition calculator is bust some myths.
- A PB&J sandwich, apple and carton of low-fat milk delivers 19 grams of protein or 172% of your 3 year old's daily protein needs.
- The PB&J alone delivers 11 grams of protein or 100% of your 3 year old's protein needs.
Who knew?
What I take away from this is that most people worry more than they need to about protein intake. Indeed, if your 3 year old pounds down one small carton of milk, he'll take in 8 grams of protein, 72% of his daily needs.
There are other problems with using this, or any other, calculator.
- It sticks to traditional lunch items (for obvious reasons) but doesn't let you put soup or salad into the box!
- You don't know how much of any one ingredient is calculated in the sandwhich. You might be heavier on the peanut butter or lighter on the jelly and then your numbers would all be off.
- You'll need another calculator to estimate what your toddler actually takes in: Do three bites constitute half a sandwich, a quarter, less?
- The % daily values are estimates based on a range of needs (with a point picked for mathematical reasons). On any given day your child might need more or less food based on activity level and growth patterns.
Instead of thinking primarily about nutrition, start focusing on your child's eating habits instead.
Read 10 Habits MORE Important Than Vegetable Eating. Then, teach your tot to:
- Eat different foods on different days. Read House Building 101.
- Accept a wide range of tastes and texture. Read Training Tiny Taste Buds.
- Consume fresh, natural foods more often that processed and packaged one. Have Your Cake and Eat it Too!
- Use food for hunger and not for emotional reasons. Read Using Sweets to Soothe the Soul.
The nutrition part of the picture will fall into place—perfectly. I promise.
~Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits.~
Reader Comments (7)
The graphics are interesting and it probably is a neat tool, but I agree with your points. I tend to be heavy handed with peanut butter (I have never measured, but I am pretty sure that I use at least 2 Tbsp pb, upwards of 2.5) and our family uses honey sometimes, not jelly. Do the calculations include the crust, which some kids don't eat?
The tool didn't have veggie options, other than the celery with hummus. We don't pack hummus in lunchboxes- it's too messy/tupperware might leak. We just pack plain veggies. We sometimes use the no-added-sugar applesauce or sugar-free pudding. I don't know whether the applesauce and pudding choices on their website have added sugar, which would throw off the calories and grams of sugar.
Overall, that tool does have potential. Maybe they will update it to have more variety & explain more about what the numbers mean and info about the importanc of healthy eating overall. Although, then I might feel guiltier about packing a peanut butter sandwich almost every single day.
The other thing I dislike? Every kid is different. My child has always been on the small and slight side (she is 30 lbs and 5 1/2 years old - she is NOT unhealthy). We are ALWAYS encouraging healthy fats in her diet. If I hadn't been paying attention to the fact that she needs them, a calculator like that would be very restricting.
Wow.
My 2.5 yr old son will often eat a PB sandwich, a plain yogurt (I assume their calcs use sweetened?), a banana & some goldfish or kix cereal (I used pretzels in the calc) just for his lunch, and then have a cup of milk before nap. This equates to almost half his total daily calories, 300% of his protein, nearly 100% sodium and 100% carbs. NO WONDER he doesn't want to eat dinner most nights!!! (He also eats a pretty big breakfast & morning snack too). Interestingly, it's only 13% of his recommended daily sugar (probably less, due to the unsweetened yogurt), and 30% of his daily fat allowance.
Friends of mine always seem to be worried their kids aren't getting enough protein - I've never worried too much about that (and obviously have no reason to!).
I wish the calculator wasn't so limited though, so I could see what a typical day of his works out as (just for interest's sake - I totally agree that habits are WAY more important than nutritional value).
The calculator can be eye-opening for some things—Vestifarian, isn't it amazing that your child might be getting 300% of his protein needs?—but I think rotating through foods on a regular basis is the healthiest way to go.
Thanks everyone for your comments.
Dina
I agree with you. I think it's a neat gadget, but my 6 year old girls don't eat sandwiches on a regular basis. I know I have really unusual kids, but we pack things like goat cheese and strawberry salad or smoked salmon, cucumber, and avocado sushi rolls for school lunch in addition to the occasional ham and cheese sandwich or PB&J.
I agree it's fun to play with, but way too limiting. What about pasta? Or Graham crackers with natural peanut butter (I'm assuming they are using skippy or similar)? I don't buy separate PB, she eats ours which only has one or two ingredients organic peanuts and sometimes salt, and we always pour off most of the oil on top before stirring it, so it has less fat for DH and myself. Some other favorites like cheese and crackers as the main, or pretzels and hummus, I know my LO isn't the only one who has something besides a sandwich.
Thanks for your comments Rhonda and Tracy,
To me, the problem with the limitations is that it reinforces the idea that these items are the ones kids are supposed to eat for lunch. But even if they expanded the offerings, I would still say that the only thing people can really get out of the information is some fact checking and myth busting.
Thanks for "playing along."
Best,
Dina