Top Lunch Box Picks

If packing lunch is on your daily to do list this fall, check out some of my top picks to help build a healthy lunch that you children will actually eat! And stick to Skinny Rule #18: Eat Like a Kid and enjoy these tips for yourself too.

JUICE BOX: CapriSun Super V
These are nutritionally wonderful and what makes them standout is that they are a blend of 100% fruit and vegetable juice! They are 3/4 fruit juice and 1/4 vegetable juice.




JUICE BOX ALTERNATIVE: Horizon Organic Milk Boxes
When your kids are tired of juice, to switch it up, try shelf-stable (no refrigeration needed) milk boxes. Look for lowfat milk like these Horizon Organic milk boxes which are available in chocolate lowfat milk too.


CHOCOLATE MILK BOX: Silk Pure Almond Dark Chocolate Milk
This dark chocolate almond milk is delicious and tastes like a treat while delivering bone building calcium with 50% of daily calcium needs per cup. Although, keep it in the 'treat' category because there still is about 17 grams of sugar per serving.




YOGURT TUBE: Chobani Champions Yogurt Tubes
One major bonus with Chonabi's yogurt tubes is they take children more than a few seconds to slurp down thanks to the thick texture of Greek yogurt. Quick tip: freeze a these, then add then frozen to lunches to double as an ice pack.


PEANUT BUTTER: Justin's Honey Peanut Butter Packs
If you can send peanut butter to your school, these packets are great and perfect to send along with whole-grain crackers for a snack, each packet is a 2 tablespoon serving. Also available in a maple variety.

VEGGIE DIP: Sabra Single Serve Hummus Cups
Hummus is a delicious dip for vegetables and mini single serving cups is convenient!



REUSABLE LUNCH BAGS: LunchSkins
These reusable bags come in snack size, sandwich size and big bags. They hold up wonderful and can be easily washed in the dishwasher. LunchSkins is also offering lunch kits which include ice packs, lunch bag and sandwich/snack bags. Check them out at lunchskins.com



REUSABLE CONTAINERS: Fit & Fresh
The major bonus to these reusable containers (aside from the football theme) is that they have a removable ice pack built into the lid. You simply snap in the frozen ice pack to the container. Check out the Fit & Fresh web site for more details.

The Scoop: Coconut Water

What is coconut water? It is the water that pools in whole green coconuts. In general plain coconut water is not very sweet (even though it has sugar) and naturally has sodium and potassium, which are electrolytes which help maintain fluid balance.

The type that I prefer to drink occasionally is Peach Mango Coconut Water which is flavored with fruit puree (check the photo in my recent Facebook post). It has 60 calories, 30 mg sodium, 500 mg potassium, and 15 grams of sugar in 8.5 ounces. What I like about fruit puree flavored coconut water is: it is flavored with fruit puree and it is nutrient rich!

Coconut water can be a stand-in for a sports drink but keep in mind a sports drink is only needed when a work out is going to be one hour of continuous (and vigorous) activity or longer. For light workouts or short workouts a sports drink is not needed and plain water will do.

The bottom line: coconut water is a great alternative to higher calorie beverages and look for vartities that are sweetened with fruit puree and do not have added sugar. But as with anything, some is good, more is not better!

Oscars Party Planning

Are you hosting or going to an Oscars party? Here are some simple party planning strategies.

1. Strategically place light party foods throughout the house like: fruit platters, shrimp cocktail, air popped popcorn, trail mix.
2. Put away the candy dishes. One ounce of m & m's has 140 calories, mindless snacking from candy dishes can pile up the calories in a hurry!
3. Have a 90/10 rule: 90 percent healthy items, 10 percent splurge! This will still allow for plenty of delicious goodies.
4. Lighten-up party heavy weights. For example: instead of chicken wings, make baked chicken fingers and serve with hot sauce, barbecue sauce, or light ranch dressing. And have plenty of sliced carrots and celery on the side for dipping!
5. Try a new recipe! Grab my Wasabi Avocado Dip with Crispy Wonton Chips recipe.

Last but not least, focus more on spending time with your guests and take some of the emphasis off of food!

Easy, Healthy New Years Resolutions

If you are looking to calibrate your resolutions or are still thinking of one. Check out this article from Family Circle, the tips are realistic and attainable and include: getting organized, stall the snack attack, swallow a supplement...! Check out my expertise in tip #9.

64 Ways to Eat Food

Mr. Michael Pollan just came out with a new book: Food Rules and Eater's Manuel. I can't wait to read it! The book includes 64 rules that are loaded with simple and practical advice. The three major sections of the book include: Eat Food, Mostly Plants, and Not too Much. I'll blog more once I get my hands on a copy and find some 'free' time to read. Click here to read more on this new book!