The world’s most active two-year-old can eat as much as she benches. Get inspired with creative new ways to get true nutrition into your Baby Spartan’s lunch box.
The best part about toddlers is they are easily distracted by a fun colors and shapes. I love including as many colors of fruits and vegetables as possible into her lunchbox. Not only is this a powerful way to get an array of antioxidants into her system but it is also a comfortable way for her to grow accustomed to seeing and eating all sorts of vegetables. What baby can resist a heart-shaped Bell pepper? It’s always fun to see her face when she opens up her lunch and finds all of the healthy foods in fun shapes. Our dentist emphases the importance of healthy eating habits. I totally agree. For emergency tooth repair in Calgary visit Eastport Dental Centre, but you can do your best to prevent emergencies. Being that are little whiny does not receive empty snacks throughout the day she has definitely worked up an appetite by the time lunch rolls around. Armed with a vicious hunger by lunchtime (having run hundreds of laps around me) she is more willing to try foods that she might otherwise reject when she is not as hungry.
Packed lunches that travel can be difficult for Baby Spartans because many vegetables do not travel well unless they are raw, which can be a choking hazard two children that are very young? We have just introduced more solid rock vegetables along with her juicing but they are not yet thoroughly appealing to her.
I thought it would be fun to share an example of what a Baby Spartan’s lunch is might look like. The key is colors, shapes and variety. A child’s diet should be comprised of about 40% healthy fats for brain development when they are two years old and under. I generally feed our little one about 20% protein because she is such an active baby. She has gymnastics in the morning 4-5 days a week and keeps up well with my very active lifestyle so muscle replenishment is a must for her. The remainder of her diet consists of whole food carbohydrates with an emphasis on fresh organic vegetables and fruits. We limit fructose to less than 40 grams per day and focus on gluten free whole gains. This being said, packed lunches take a little forethought and brain work.
I was tickled pink when I stumbled across the world’s cutest waste free bento box. We call this lunchtime character, “workout bunny’. Workout bunny is the Jane Fonda toddler food and easily houses all the delectable grow foods she can eat in a sitting! This is what workout bunny has on the menu for tomorrow’s lunch:
Bunny’s lower level is lined with fresh organic spinach leaves. Though raw leaves do not yet appeal to her, I keep them readily available for the day that they do! Steamed green beans are cooled, dusted with Himalayan sea salt and tucked in to the sweet little hearts. The red hearts are bell pepper that met my cookie cutter set. The other hearts are organic chicken and spinach sausage which I carved into hearts with my trusty sushi knife. This is not as time extensive as you might think. It takes me as long to prepare this energy food as it would to make a pb&j and put junk food in zip locks.
Layer two is where sautéed vegetable stuffed olives live. Their copilot is a toddler style turkey wrap. I keep it simple by lightly sautéing fresh spinach leaves in grape seed oil with pink salt. I layer the spinach leaves between two pieces of organic nitrate free turkey slices. I just roll it up and slice it into itty bitty pinwheels. Body Spartan: Genesis includes other turkey wrap recipes that can be used in the same manner.
Bento boxes are so adorable and come in all shapes and sizes. This one stacks neatly, houses a toddler fork and looks so precious when it’s all packed up.
If your kiddo is hungry for lunch and healthy food is the option, then healthy foods are what they will eat! Baby Spartans will eat it and thrive!!!
