Tooth-Friendly Lunches For School

All of Canberra’s school students will be back at school this week, and so school lunches are likely to be the topic of conversation at home and school. It can be hard to think of nutritious meals and snacks, and the soaring temperatures that are typical of a Canberra February make it tempting to resort to packaged foods that will stay fresh.

This is what the Australian Dental Association says about tooth-friendly foods:

http://www.dentalhealthweek.com.au/parents/kids/tooth-friendly-foods.html

In many schools, the inclusion of nuts and other allergen-containing foods in your child’s lunch box is not possible: there may be students within the school who have severe allergies to some proteins, and often parents are asked to pack alternative foods in order to keep these children safe.

Cheese is a very tooth-friendly food, and is strongly recommended by the Australian Dental Association. Proteins such as meat, fish and egg are also tooth-friendly, as are vegetables. In hot temperatures, there’s nothing less appetizing than a wilted salad or warm cheese or egg sandwich, so invest in freezer blocks or freeze a water bottle to ensure these foods are still tempting at lunch time.

Whole fruit is an easy-to-pack option, but remember that many fruits contain natural sugar or are acidic, and therefore are not as tooth-friendly as the foods already mentioned. So don’t go overboard with fruit: one piece is delicious and energizing, and if it is washed down with a drink of water, all the better for their teeth! Dried fruits are sticky and the natural sugars are more concentrated, so unfortunately are not as tooth-friendly as fresh fruit.

Speaking of drinks, water is absolutely the best option for school: it’s thirst-quenching and free of sugars of any sort.