[0] Amerigroup Offers Ways to Make School Lunches Healthy and Fun.

Health/Medical Writers

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.--(BW HealthWire)--July 26, 2000

Helpful tips to make bag lunches more nutritious and fun for kids

In the next few weeks, countless children will once again start their daily trek to school with a book bag in one hand and a lunch bag in the other.

Many parents realize that a carried lunch beats a school lunch more often than not, for both nutrition and taste. For a child to have an energy-filled day, school lunches must be nutritious, while low in fat and sodium. To help you during the hectic back-to-school time period, AMERIGROUP Corporation (NASDAQ: AMGP) would like to offer the following tips for making bag lunches fun and nutritious.

Lunches should include selections from the major food groups, such as--

-- carbohydrates: a variety of breads for sandwiches

-- proteins: peanut butter or a slice of boneless/skinless turkey

-- fruits: apple or orange slices

-- vegetables: carrot or celery sticks

There are many ways to liven up sandwiches in a bag lunch.

-- Use a variety of types of bread, such as rolls, buns, pitas or bagels.

-- Take slices of turkey, cucumber and tomato and place them in a pita with low-fat cream cheese.

-- Try a cold taco salad by using tortilla chips, shredded cheese, lettuce, tomato slices and low-fat sour cream.

-- Make a pizza bagel with tomato sauce, low-fat provolone and mozzarella and turkey pepperoni.

In addition to preparing different types of meals, there are creative ways to get children more interested in eating their lunches.

-- Dress up the meal by using different containers or unique utensils, such as fruit slices or vegetables on tooth picks.

-- Finger foods are very exciting for children. Try foods, such as shredded carrots or string cheese, gelatin cubes made with fruit juice or low-fat pudding.

-- If peanut butter is a child's favorite food, try using it more frequently on foods that would not normally have it. Vegetables, such as carrots or celery, taste great with peanut butter and, with a few raisins on the top, can be a fun lunch time snack.

When children crave potato chips, try baked potato chips, unbuttered popcorn or unsalted pretzels. There are also many ways to make low-salted trail mixes, including unsalted peanuts, pretzels, raisins and sunflower seeds.

A sweet tooth can be tamed with fruit, such as frozen pineapple slices that will thaw by lunchtime and will stay fresh. Also, there are many low-fat cookies that work well, including vanilla wafers, gingersnaps, animal crackers or fig bars.

AMERIGROUP hopes these nutritious lunch tips help parents pack a fun lunch that will provide their children with the necessary energy to get through the school day.

Healthy Alternatives

Making Food Fun and Healthy

Kids want fun in virtually every aspect of their lives, but they often don't see healthy food as "hip" to eat. What some kids don't know is that healthy food can be fun and "cool." Using the following tips, parents can help their children eat smarter and healthier.

--Use cookie cutters to turn sandwiches or bread and cheese slices into works of art.

--Keep homemade trail mix--with dry cereal, pretzels and dried fruit--ready in sandwich bags for on-the-go snacks.

--Create single-serving pizzas using English muffins, pizza sauce and low-fat mozzarella cheese.

--Kids often love different food combinations.

-Put peanut butter and sliced bananas together on bread for a different kind of sandwich.

-Add unsweetened cereal to yogurt.

-Spread cream cheese on tortilla bread and top with various fresh fruits for an instant fruit pizza.

--Create shapes or objects with food.

-A tree can be made by using carrots for the trunk, broccoli as the leaves and vegetable dip as the ground.

-Create "ants-on-a-log" by filling celery with peanut butter and topping with raisins.

-Pears can be turned into "people" by adding low-salt pretzels for arms and hair and using raisins as eyes.