Usually, if your mom was like mine, you would find a sandwich, a piece of fresh fruit, a couple of your favorite cookies and enough change to buy milk. Sometimes, there would be a snack bag of peanuts or cashews. Or, for a special treat, one of those cream-filled, pre-packaged spongy snack cakes.

Of course, after lunch you would run out to the playground to immediately burn off every single carbohydrate and every gram of fat.

Those were the days. The days before you acquired a driver’s license, a real job at a desk and an expanding waistline.

Now, if you aren’t eating “drive-by style,” you are packing your own lunch. And, unless you work for a mega-corporation that encourages its employees to utilize the on-site gym each day for 30 minutes after lunch, you don’t get recess. Besides, you would rather take a nap, because the after-lunch sleepiness has just hit you hard.

But, there are ways, say those in the health and nutrition world, to pack a lunch that packs a low-calorie, good nutrition, high energy punch that can keep the energy level up and the dress sizes down.

Apple slices with peanut butter as a snack is applauded by Baptist Hospital registered dietician Lisa Scalf.

According to Scalf, antioxidants are hiding in all of the brightly-colored foods, from apples cherries and strawberries to tomatoes, kale and spinach. All of these foods make great snacks and additions to the sack lunch.

Packing your own lunch several days out of the week and trying to eat at home more often rather than dining out is the first of several baby steps that can lead to better, healthier eating.

The easiest way to choose what to pack in that sack is to refer to the food pyramid, said Scalf who recommends MyPyramid.gov for advice on healthy eating and the relationship between food intake and exercise.

“Get back to the basics,” advises Scalf. “There are a lot of good choices to be made with a little thought.”

Shop for, and prepare lunches and snacks that incorporate fruits and vegetables and foods high in protein to keep the caloric intake down and the energy level up.

Dark, beautiful fruits, yogurt, graham crackers, wheat crackers with a little peanut butter and protein bars such as Fiber One, make good snacks, as do whole grain cereals mixed with nuts and dried fruits.

“Protein helps with the rebound thing,” Scalf said about the energy-dive you often feel after a sugar-high.

Sweet snacks provide quick energy, but rebound just as quickly, leaving you feeling tired.

While an apple is a good snack choice, apple slices with a little peanut butter will keep you full longer.

Versilla Turner, registered dietician and nutrition director for Escambia County Health Department, said that protein can be found in lean lunch meats, low-fat cheeses and yogurt. Sandwiches made with these meats and cheeses on whole grain breads – while skipping or going very, very light on the mayonnaise – or a green salad with hard-boiled eggs and sliced meat left over from last night’s dinner can provide a nutritious lunch without a lot of fat or calories.

Beans, humus, even a bean and low-fat cheese-filled tortilla, are all healthy sources of protein, Turner said.

Vegetable drinks such as V-8 help provide the daily recommended servings of vegetables. Once again those brightly colored fruits and vegetables, and yogurt, cheese sticks, or crackers with low-fat cheese come highly recommended.

“It takes a little planning ahead of time. It’s important to plan snacks.”

Although many companies are now advertising their 100 calorie snacks, Turner said, “Most people can afford a 200 to 250 calorie snack if they are eating right, especially if they (typically) have a light breakfast.”

“Don’t wait (to eat) until you are too hungry,” Turner said. “Most people need to snack a little throughout the day.”
Her guideline is to eat “when you are 10-percent hungry” and stop eating “when you are 90-percent full.”

“Watch portion sizes, but get enough to satisfy your hunger, she added. “Otherwise you’ll be right back there at the candy machine.”

Healthy Lunches
- Sandwiches made with lean lunch meats and low-fat cheese, using mustard instead of mayonnaise or a very light layer of mayonnaise.

- Salads full of dark green, leafy vegetables and some type of meat such as chunks of chicken.

- Soups, avoiding the heavier, higher calorie cream-style soups.

- Low-fat cottage cheese.

- Vegetable drinks, tea with light sugar.

Healthy Snacks

- Yogurt.

- Snack bars with fiber.

- Whole grain cereals mixed with walnuts, almonds or pecans and dried fruit.

- Carrots, apples and other brightly colored fruits and vegetables.

- Celery or crackers with peanut butter.

- Low-fat string cheese.