If I'm being honest, when I started our transition to healthier eating it had very little to do with the kids and everything to do with me. I was fed up with feeling tired, unmotivated and squeezing into jeans because I refused to go up another size. As I started making changes to my own diet I started to notice that I was much more focused and had a lot more energy than before. This peaked my interest in the topic of food and how it effects more than just our weight. This might sound silly and/or ignorant, but I had no idea the role food played in our brain's ability to function. The deeper I dove into the topic the more interested I became in how food effects our kids...especially as their brains are growing and developing. Long story short, I've done A LOT of reading about pediatric nutrition and some of what I've found is really shocking.

What surprised me the most is that when I'm reading about what kids needs in terms of nutrition to grow healthy brains and bodies seems to be in stark contrast to what the USDA and other government programs promote as "healthy". The other day I stumbled across this article and was in absolute agreement with the author. A peek at the obesity rates in the U.S. reported by the CDC reveal a disturbing trend about this epidemic.

In the article listed above the author discusses the importance of limiting sugar intake to keep insulin levels low and stable. High insulin levels not only effects weight gain, but can lead to other diseases such as Type II diabetes. The American Heart Association recommends limiting added sugar to 4 tsp (20 grams)/kids, 6.5 tsp (32 grams)/women, 9.5 tsp (42 grams)men. The average American consumes 22 tsp/day (that's 110 grams)! Last year as we were exploring healthier eating options, we recorded our average daily consumption of sugar. My kids were eating what I thought was "relatively" healthy, but when we got to the end of the week we discovered they were averaging close to 70 grams of sugar per day. It's no wonder that 1 in 3 children born after the year 2000 will be diagnosed with Type II diabetes before they are 50 years old.

All of this is to give you a better understanding of the purpose behind this blog. The other day I went to school to have lunch with my son and I watched the kids fill their trays with chocolate milk, an ice cream sandwich, and a processed cheese sandwich...most kids bypassed the fruits and veggies altogether. I came home and calculated the estimated sugar content of this lunch to be around 31 grams (remember the recommended sugar intake for kids is 20 grams/day.) I was saddened to know the effect that food would have on these kids' brains, moods, and behavior for the rest of the day. (I'm not saying this with any judgement...my kids ate this way for years.) I can't say I blame the school district because on paper it does look like they are meeting the daily recommendations. In my opinion, the entire "nutritional system" in the U.S. needs an overhaul to reduce the amount of sugar consumed...especially by children.

So, now for today's lunch!! Can you believe that it's March 23rd and we have a SNOW DAY! We've had a brutal winter and so far, spring hasn't been much better. The kids were beyond excited when they woke up to the news that we were snowed in at home. The boys have been on a pirate kick lately and I saw a cute pirate pizza idea on-line a long time ago (I wish I could remember where!). I thought this would be a perfect lunch for this snowy afternoon.

Today's lunch includes: pepperoni pirate pizza, homemade "Twinkie" boat, (recipe from Maria's Nutritious and Delicious cookbook and baked in this canoe pan), nuts/sugar-free chocolate chips, brocolli

I knew this morning was going to be a little hectic, so the other night I saved some leftover taco meat to re-heat for today's lunch. My son LOVES tacos so this is going to be a real treat for him and it was oh, so easy to throw together! The Thermos container you see in this picture is the best thing I've found so far to keep food warm through lunch and I've tried quite a few so trust me on this one. I bought this particular container at Target. Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Today's lunch includes: taco meat (using locally raised grass fed meat), taco fixings, plum, carrots, "churros" which are actually mini cafe cinnamon twists from Trader Joe's.

One of the best parts about starting this blog is that I seem to be connecting with like-minded parents on-line...oh, the beauty of cyber world. Last week I stumbled across The Happy Family Movement blog and fell in love as soon as I read their manifesto (especially the last line "We believe happiness is not something you find. Its something you make.") . I immediately subscribed to their blog, friended them on FB and signed up to follow them on Twitter. I know...borderline blog stalking, but when I like something I tend to like it a lot. The folks behind the Happy Family Movement sent a tweet showing off a new shark cookie cutter they bought on a family outing to the local aquarium saying they were inspired by This Lunch Rox. So fun! I thought it was worthy of a shark inspired lunch. Of all the cookie cutters in my collection there isn't one shark so I had to improvise with my trusty little paring knife.

Today's lunch includes: turkey/cheese shark sandwich with blueberry eyes and provolone cheese teeth, locally made summer sausage, peanut butter/celery (substitute sunbutter if peanut allergies are an issue), blueberries & grapes, homemade mini donuts

I've had a lot of questions about how I package the lunch to keep it together so I'm showing some "after" photos below. Broken toothpicks are the only solution I've come up with for holding sandwiches together. I'm on the hunt for something a little more refined, but for now this will have to work.

Then I pack two ice packs in the bottom of the lunch bag.

Then I snap the lid on top of the lunch box and tuck it into the lunch bag. As you can see, the lid sits very close to the top of the lunch which keeps the items from moving around too much. I also pack the box flat in the top of my son's backpack. As soon as he gets to school the box goes on a shelf above his coat.

The other day I mentioned that not all of my lunches are created equal. We often have busy mornings so I have to put my hobby of creating detailed lunches aside and just focus on getting the job done. Today was one of those days so for those of you requesting to see an "everyday lunch"...here it is. I'm going to make more of an effort to include these types of posts moving forward just to give everyone some simple & easy lunch ideas. I do also want to take a moment to encourage any readers that might have questions to write them in the comments section. Then, as time allows I will update the FAQ and Favorite Things sections with my responses to your questions/requests.

Today's lunch includes: turkey/bacon/cheese pita pocket, plum slices, cucumber slices, hardboiled egg, almonds & homemade "Twix" candy bar (I store these in the freezer and pull them out as needed...perfect for a busy morning!) The lunchbox is the "No Ears Lunchbox" from Goodbyn.

My boys don't care for "regular" pita's as they are a typically hard to chew and tend to be quite dry. I found this pita pocket by Joseph's and they are very thin and soft. Plus, they are much healthier than an average pita. It's a great sandwich pocket and my boys love them! Every now and again I'll make pita crackers with these and we use them to dip in hummus. (I'll post about that another day.)

A little St. Patty's Day inspired lunch to celebrate this fun and festive day. The boys and I saw the end of a rainbow on a trip last summer. As luck would have it, the end of the rainbow was in a field of gold so bright you wouldn't believe it! Ever since then they will occasionally bring that up and contemplate theories about what happened to the pot o' gold...did it explode, spill, crumble?! Who knows what happened to the pot o' gold that day?! So for this St. Patty's Day lunch I knew I had to incorporate said pot somehow!

Today's lunch includes: A ham, cheese & cucumber sandwich, shamrock buttered pasta, Pot O' Gold filled with nuts and chocolates, carrots & fruit

To make the pot o' gold I cut the top off of a dipped ice cream cone and "glued" it to a Back-to-Nature mint cookie using peanut butter. Then I filled the pot with peanuts and place two chocolate pieces on top.

And just for fun...here's a photo of the end of the rainbow we saw last summer. (Please excuse the photograph quality...it was taken with my phone!)

One of the driving forces behind my lunch box creations is that I'm competing with junk food that is so very appealing to my kids. Have you ever noticed how junk food manufacturers package their goods in bright, colorful wrappers that practically scream "EAT ME! EAT ME!"? It's also hard to compete with school lunches that almost always consists of pizza, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, sugar glazed french toast...you get the idea. Making creative lunches keeps my son motivated to choose cold lunch. Now, do I create a fancy lunch every day of the week? Absolutely not! We have busy mornings here too, and on those days my son gets what you might call a "normal" lunch. Up to this point I haven't posted those, but I've had a few inquiries about this very topic so I'm feeling encouraged to do so. Stay tuned!

Another reason I create these lunch boxes is that I simply love doing it! I mentioned the book, "The Happiness Project", a few days ago. In that book author Gretchen Rubin writes "...happiness research predicts that making time for a passion and treating it as a real priority instead of an "extra" to be fit in at a free moment (which many people practically never have) will bring a tremendous happiness boost." I agree with this wholeheartedly. Working on these lunches brings me so much joy and allows me (a person who rarely makes time for myself) a chance to do something I love!

Today, I wanted to incorporate some elements from our recent trip to Arizona. Our boys had such a great time exploring the state and I was so happy when I walked into a gift shop and found a cactus cookie cutter! It's crazy how I can hone in on cookie cutters these days!

Today's lunch includes: ham & cheese cactus sandwich, homemade fruit leather strip (recipe from Maria Emmerich's "Nutritious & Delicious" cookbook), dark chocolate/peanut butter bite (two squares of dark chocolate with peanut butter in the middle), broccoli & raspberries/blackberries.

It must be the former Geography teacher in me, but I just love looking at my blog tracking service to see where in the world my blog readers are located. Yesterday I logged in and almost fell out of my chair to see so many hits from across the ocean. It is encouraging to me to know that healthy eating for kids is a topic that hits a cord with people all around the world. I'm more inspired than ever to keep doing what I'm doing. Thank you to each and every one of you who continue reading my blog!

Recently I've had a few friends challenge me about the changes we've made to our family diet. The underlying question is whether or not we fear we are depriving our kids of "normal" food and that someday our kids will grow up and devour any and all the junk food they can find. Let me start by saying that I absolutely LOVE how my friends and I are close enough that we can challenge each other on issues such as this and it only brings us closer.

This is definitely something that crossed my mind when I started making changes to our everyday eating habits at home. So much so, that I held off doing anything until I read, read, and read some more carefully developing a strategy for approaching healthy eating with the kids. When I finally did start implementing some new foods onto their plates I did it a little at a time. Throughout the transition phase I spent a fair amount of time educating the kids about the benefits of eating certain foods. It was more important to me to focus on the benefits of healthy food to start, rather than telling them why so much of the food I had been feeding them was bad.The book "Eat This, Not That For Kids" got me off to a great start! The author outlines a variety of "superpowers" different colored fruits and vegetables provide. The kids really got into the superpowers and every night at dinner it became a bit of a game to see just how many superpowers we could consume in one meal.

Several weeks into our transition to healthier eating I got a little more in depth with the kids about how important protein is for our brains. I looked for opportunities to comment about how certain foods my kids are eating are helping their brains, or helping their healing powers, etc... We looked at labels on some of the food we had around the house and I showed the boys where to find the protein/fiber/sugar content. I explained what sugar does to their bodies and how in a sense it wipes away the superpowers they get from eating fruits and vegetables. The moral of the story is that my husband and I have spent a great deal of time educating our kids about food and how it effects their body in the hopes that they understand why we eat the way we do.

Just this past week I was sitting by the pool in Arizona reading "The Happiness Project" (a great read, by the way!). In the book the author describes a recent study by happiness experts who advocate periods of deprivation to sharpen pleasures. This hit home for me because I feel as though that is EXACTLY what is happening with our kids. Last year our boys had sweets and treats on a daily basis (that might be exaggerating a bit, but it was VERY close to everyday). A "treat" wasn't really a "treat"...it was just a normal, everyday food. Now, when the boys get a treat...it's an honest to goodness treat! Plus, so many of the foods I've been making lately taste even better than the "fake" food we lived on before.

When we were preparing to leave our hotel yesterday my son was in tears because he didn't want to leave Arizona. He loved the sun, the new friends he met, the pool...everything about it he loved. He said he wanted to move to Arizona and live there every day so he could swim and play. It made me think about the point I read about deprivation. If we lived in Arizona and my son had an opportunity to swim and play outside EVERY day of the year would he have enjoyed our vacation as much as he would if it were an occasional visit? My gut says no.

My son just celebrated his 8th birthday last week and a dear friend of mine made him a cake. A cake filled with white sugar, white flour, food dye and a few more scoops of sugar. I didn't stress about my son eating a piece of cake on his birthday and he enjoyed every bite. It was a special day and I didn't have any qualms about celebrating the day with a mound of sugary cake.

So, do we fear that our kids will grow up feeling deprived? Maybe? But, maybe that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Here's a photo of the sugar-filled goodness he enjoyed on his birthday:

My son was still a little sad this morning about having to leave all the fun behind in Arizona. I tried to encourage him by telling him he'd be happy to see all of his friends at school and get back to football at recess. As a surprise, I sent him to school with a box filled with his favorite lunch foods...including one sliver of leftover birthday cake I kept in the freezer while we were gone. Another one of my crafty friends loved the idea of including a little note in my son's lunch boxes so she made up an assortment of "lunch notes" for me and is now offering them on Etsy here...how cute are they?!!!

Today's lunch includes:

peanut butter lavash bread roll-up, pesto hummus with carrot sticks, string cheese, kiwi/blueberry, birthday cake

So, we made it to Arizona and I am happy to report that so far we've had an amazing vacation. Our trip started in Sedona, Arizona where we hiked to an area with some spectacular views. About halfway through our hike I started reflecting on how far we've come as a family over the past year. A little over a year ago, I'm not sure anyone in my family could have made it through this particular hike. It's crazy to me how much of an impact food has not only on our physical abilities but also on our motivation, drive and enthusiasm. Prior to making changes in our diet, every physical task seemed daunting and somewhat overwhelming. I always loved the "idea" of hiking and rock climbing but figured it must not just be for us as nobody (including myself) was ever willing to commit to such an adventure.

Here we are one year later and the boys were chomping at the bit when we suggested we go out for a short hike on our first day of vacation. I wasn't sure what to expect from the boys, but when they suggested climbing to the top of a VERY tall canyon I seized the opportunity. The boys loved our hike so much that we decided to take them on a guided Jeep tour of Broken Arrow. The entire experience was such an eye-opener for me. It left me feeling so grateful that we made the changes we did last year.

Here are a few photos of the boys on our hiking and Jeep tour adventure:

I packed these Chocolate-Peanut Butter bear shaped crackers as a fun treat on our hike! This is another snack that freezes well and you can pull them out and add to lunch boxes as needed.