With the return to classes, not only will the students’ learning modality change, but also the way they eat, which must be adapted to the dynamics of the school year. One of the main priorities in the student stage is to create healthy habits that can last for a lifetime, so it is important to motivate them to have a varied diet and to learn to make healthy decisions, when they are at home, in school or college.
Going back to school means that the children will return to their established schedules during the day; to study, play, do physical activity or sports and for meal times. For this reason, we must offer children and young people balanced and varied meal times that work to promote satiety during the day and improve their school performance.
Here are some recommendations, according to the study modality that the educational centers will experience
While studying virtually
Maintain five meal times a day: (breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack and dinner). Each of these meal times should be separated by a period of two and a half to three hours. There are snack options that can only be offered when the children are at home (because sending them to school can mean they could get sick). For example, a fruit smoothie in milk or yogurt or homemade fruit ice cream.
Increase your water intake during the day: It is recommended to always keep a bottle of water on the desk so that they stay hydrated.
Prepare in advance a menu with the snacks of the week: so that when they go to the kitchen to make this snack, they already know what to eat.
Have easy access to healthy foods: rather than foods that are tempting to eat but are not nutritious, such as: filled cookies, toasted or fried packaged products, and juices.
Snacks for In-person study
Opt for easy and simple breakfasts to prepare: because you have to wake up earlier and get ready faster.
Some ideas: Fruit smoothie with Greek yogurt / milk + oatmeal + peanut butter.
Refrigerated oats: oatmeal flakes with milk, cinnamon, vanilla, chopped fruit, almonds; mix and refrigerate from the day before).
Prepare homemade pancakes in advance: ideally using wholemeal or oatmeal flour and adding some fruit such as bananas. These pancakes can be frozen and at the moment of serving it is nothing more than defrosting and heating.
Fruit dessert such as: strawberries, blueberries or bananas, with natural Greek yogurt and granola.
If you send snacks, they should be balanced and high in fiber to give them satiety. Snacks should ideally provide: Chopped fruit or fruit in unit, for example: apple, tangerine or pear. Unit fruits last longer fresh in the lunch box.
If fruit is not sent, it can be alternated with a vegetable to complement the snack such as: carrot, cucumber, cherry tomatoes.
Carbohydrates: Ideally carbohydrate with fiber contribution, such as: whole wheat bread, homemade oatmeal cookie, corn tortilla, granola.
Protein, dairy or healthy fat: turkey, hard-boiled egg, cheese, tuna, hummus, homemade ground beans, yogurt, milk, avocado, seed butter.
Avoid refined foods or beverages with high sugar content
Plan the menu of snacks and / or lunches to send to school
It is advisable to include the students in the elaboration of the menu, to ensure that the food that is going to be sent they like. It is always going to be better to ship prepared foods from home than store-bought or packaged foods.
The childhood and adolescence stages are characterized by being periods of growth and development that are key for the rest of life. The caloric expenditure is very high, which means that the body will have high needs for energy, macro and micro nutrients.
