One form of bread and cereal – bread, bread rolls, pita bread, tortillas, rice, pasta, crackers that don’t have heaps of salt, sushi

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Some dairy or soy alternative – cheese and yoghurt are the common options.  There are all sorts of cheese – cottage cheese, cheese sticks, chunks of cheddar.  Yoghurt can be purchased in big containers and then portioned out to suit your child in smaller lunch tubs.

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Fruit – seasonal fruit tastes the best.  Put fruit that easily gets squished into little containers to protect it.  Common fruit options include apples, bananas, grapes but depending on your child it could be strawberries, kiwifruit, stone fruit in summer, blueberries, pears, oranges and mandarins in winter.

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Protein – you may be limited with options if the school  is nut free.  Options include:  leftover roast meat, chicken, ham, tuna or salmon, hard boiled egg, baked beans, hommous, peanut butter (if allowed at school), cheese, cottage cheese

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One vegetable for munch and crunch time – carrot sticks, celery sticks, cucumber sticks, sliced capsicum, cherry tomatoes, lettuce or baby spinach leaves (its amazing how many kids will eat these), sliced radish

Healthy school lunch boxes vary depending on the child.  Some children like variety and the lunch box has to be swapped around every few days.  Other children will happily eat the same types of lunches week in, week out.

It is perfectly ok to send the same lunch every day if it is healthy (eg cheese sandwich, apple, carrot sticks).

The benefits of sending a healthy lunch box can be obvious – good concentration in class, plenty of energy and then the less obvious benefits such as teeth without fillings, kids that aren’t struggling with body weight issues.

The obvious problem is getting kids to eat the healthy foods!  Persevere, persevere, persevere – and if you still have troubles go and talk to an Accredited Practising Dietitian.

If you purchase fruit and vegetables in season you will only pay $2-4 per kg, if possible buy small pieces of fruit to reduce wastage.  For a giggle look at the cost per kg (not cost per 100g) of other common processed kid snacks.  Some of them are around $23/kg!

You will have other wise tips for fellow parents, feel free to post them on the blog.  Wishing you and your children a happy and stress free year at school.  Cathie Lowe

Zinc plays a central role in the maintenance of the immune system, and is important for growth and development in children. Zinc is found naturally in foods such as red meat, poultry, fish/seafood, whole cereals and dairy food.

It has generally been thought that children with downs syndrome have lower levels of zinc than typically developing children, however this is yet to be scientifically proven.  A recent study measuring the nutrient requirements of  downs syndrome children (that were very overweight) , showed that the reported energy intake was restricted in these kids, meaning that the overall vitamin and mineral intake was low, which resulted in deficiencies. This specific study recommended a multivitamin and mineral supplement in these children with restricted diets.

One study showed a potential benefit in supplementing downs syndrome children with zinc, reporting improved immune function and accelerated growth, however another study showed no evidence to support the use of zinc supplement in downs syndrome children.

When searched in google, the majority of websites suggest that there is a need to supplement zinc in children with downs syndrome, as some of the problems associated with downs syndrome may be caused by the lack of zinc. Others suggest that long term, a healthy, nutritious diet will be most beneficial.

The bottom line is that it is important for your child to be having a balanced diet including a range of vitamins and minerals.  Based on the evidence at hand, zinc or multivitamin supplementation is not something that should be given to every child.  To ensure your child is receiving the best nutrition, visit your local Accredited Practising Dietitian to get some individual advice.

Mother’s Day is coming up soon, so why not treat mum to a healthy, delicious breakfast in bed!  We have come up with some yummy brekky ideas that are sure to give your mum a great start to the day, and are also healthy, which she will love!

Porridge with sliced banana and a sprinkle of cinnamon

Grilled ham, cheese and tomato on wholegrain toast

Poached egg, grilled shortcut bacon on wholegrain toast

Fruit salad with low fat yoghurt

Vegetarian breakfast – poached egg, grilled tomato, mushrooms, feta cheese and spinach on wholegrain toast

Poached egg with avocado and tomato on toast

If you need recipes, check out healthyfoodguide.com.au as this website had great recipes for:

Healthy breakfast slice

Ham and avocado omelette

Apple and spice porridge

Wishing all the mums a lovely day on Sunday.

If you live in Queensland you can download the seasonal fruit and vegetable wheel from www.ecofriendlyfood.org.au to see what is in season.  (The state fruit and vegetable growers websites often have information on seasonal fruit and vegetables.)  When I had a look at the chart, most of the fruit and vegetables I buy are available locally and in season except carrots.  However, a lot of the food I was buying at the supermarket had travelled many ‘food miles’.  To get fresher local produce the food markets are the best option.  For time poor people like me, I discovered Food Connect and received my first box of fresh produce last Thursday.  You can definitely taste the difference with food picked the day before delivery.  Check out their website www.foodconnect.com.au for more information – they have systems in place for New South Wales and Queensland.  Another website is www.localharvest.org/csa  – you can plug in your post code and it tells you what farmers markets or locally produced food is available nearby.  Finally the last website that was interesting during this week’s challenge was www.lovefoodhatewaste.nsw.gov.au.  If you go to this website it has plenty of resources including a meal planner that helps you to plan your meals and prevent you from buying more food than you need for the week.

I do talks to groups about healthy eating on a food budget using the FoodCents information.  It is interesting to see that by purchasing seasonal fruit and vegetables locally you can keep to a budget easier and also be doing your bit for the environment.

Love to hear any tips or comments people have.

Some of the great ideas people came up with:

• buy a Bokashi bin as you can put all kinds of scraps including meat into it
• leave the green bags in the car so you don’t forget to take them to the supermarket
• plan meals so that you don’t buy too much food – also saves money
• purchase and use a compost bin
• check out what items can be recycled – it’s amazing what can go in the recycling bin

Personally, I found that I could reduce my food scraps by using the compost bin and not getting lazy and just putting waste into the landfill bin, planning meals definitely helps reduce waste and I’m thinking about buying a Bokashi bin.

The ecofriendlyfood website is a great resource for practical ideas on being more enviromentally friendly.

If you would like to register go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YPCLMYQ and receive a free resource kit.

My goal is to blog once a week about my experiences.  This week I’ve got to measure how full my wheelie bin is with food related waste.  I’d love to hear people’s comments if they try the challenge.

If you think you may have coeliac disease it is important to get screened and diagnosed before making any dietary changes. Adults need to be eating 4 slices of wheat containing bread per day for the screening blood test to be accurate. Then the Doctors will do a gastroscopy and biopsy to confirm the diagnosis.

Once a diagnosis is made, choosing gluten free foods is the treatment to prevent short and long term problems. An Accredited Practicing Dietitian will help you understand what foods can be included, foods to eat to get all your vitamins and minerals and how to read food labels to avoid gluten. The Dietitian will communicate with your Doctor to make sure you have regular blood tests to check iron status, vitamin D, folate and vitamin B12.

Many foods and meals are naturally gluten free – free from wheat, barley, oats, rye and triticale. Below is a frittata recipe that can be used as a main meal or lunch with a salad.

What are some of your favourite gluten free recipes or products? Please feel free to post them for others to share.

Vegetable Frittata

Serves 2 people

3 eggs

1/4 cup low fat milk

1/4 cup reduced fat tasty cheese

pepper to taste

parsley dried or fresh to taste

1tspn oil eg extra virgin olive oil

50g ham off the bone – diced

1/2 tomato or 8 cherry tomatoes – sliced

1/2 cup mixed frozen or fresh cooked veggies eg corn, peas, carrot

Preheat a small non stick pan and add 1tpsn oil, then cook ham and tomato. In a bowl, mix eggs, cheese, milk, pepper, parsley, and frozen or fresh vegetables together. In the small fry pan add the egg mixture and cook until the egg mix is nearly set. Place the fry pan under the grill and cook for 2-3 minutes until cooked. Serve with a salad or sliced and served cold in a lunch box.

Nutrition Information per serve

Energy 1040kJ, protein 21g , fat 16g, saturated fat 6g carbohydrate 4g, fibre 2g.