Delectable Dipping

This Week's Bento Lunch


Trying to get your loved ones to enjoy a rainbow of fruits and veggies? We say, "Let them dip!" Dipping is so fun and tasty that those veggie containers are sure to come home empty. Mission accomplished!

Click here to view this week's full menu.

The A, B and C’s of Lunch

By: Paula Sirois

It’s happened to everyone – even you. You've finished with lunch and suddenly you’re sleepy – ready for a nap. Eyes start closing, mind stops listening and nap time starts calling. That’s fine and dandy if you’re home and inches away from your bed (with a magically empty ‘to do’ list – as if!). But what if you’re ten years old and in school and in the middle of math class no less? What’s a kid to do?  Well, first off you (the parent), need to know what’s causing this dire need for sleep and then you need to know how to fix it.

According to Dr. Oz’s site (http://www.doctoroz.com/), the University of Nevada School of medicine explains “There may be many reasons you may feel tired after eating lunch. One common reason is that after a meal your blood sugar quickly rises as food is digested.” Basically you eat and your body’s reaction is to jump onto this blood sugar roller coaster.  Heading up the coaster it tells your muscles and fat cells to soak up that extra sugar. You've seen kids (and adults) on a sugar high – lots of energy, quick talking and quick moving.  But what goes up must come down.  So when the coaster is heading down, the sugar is gone, the ride is over and you’re energy is over too.  We all know this phase as the sugar crash.  “Meals with a large amount of simple carbohydrates (sugars and starches) tend to cause this blood sugar rise and fall to a greater extent than meals heavier in proteins or complex carbohydrates.”

Livestrong.com notes “Making time for a healthy lunch can pay off both mentally and physically. Eating in the middle of the day, several hours after breakfast, re-energizes your body…” The site suggests that for kids, lunch is even more important, “Since most kids don't get breakfast or dinner at school and may not have any snacks until they get home, lunch is the only meal they have to power them through the day. According to ChoiceUSA.net, school lunch makes up one third to one half of a child's nutritional intake for an entire day and is essential for helping children succeed in school as well as grow and develop successfully and healthfully.”

Now that you know why it happens and why lunch is important, here’s how to fix it. Packing some ‘stay-awake-and-learn’ lunches is as easy as your A, B’s and C’s:

A is for ‘a little of this, a little of that.’ Kids are notorious finger food eaters. Instead of sending a big thermos of something, consider tiny portions that make it easier to pick up and eat. A little (immunity boosting) yogurt, some (slow-burning source of energy) granola, rolled-up lean turkey (for the protein) and some carrot sticks (for the vision helper Vitamin A) make for a simple, fun and healthy lunch.

B is for Berries: Joy Bauer, a registered dietician suggests memory and brain healthy food choices like blueberries. Blueberries (or really any berries will do) have been shown to reverse memory decline. Not just help with your memory, but also actually reverse any damage. Impressive stuff for a tiny berry, no? Dark, leafy greens like spinach; Swiss chad and kale have a ton of folic acid in them that help with your brain health and memory. Fatty fish like salmon or the plant based alternative, ground flax seed; both offer tons of Omega 3, which boosts your brain. Doubtful your kid will love some salmon at noon, but flax seed is easy to hide. Just sprinkle some on just about anything from a sandwich to a soup to a salad.

C is for colorful: Kids love color, so why not make their lunch a colorful surprise? Red peppers (more Vitamin C than an orange), green apple slices (packed with rich phyto-nutrients, yellow chicken soup (protein and renowned healing powers) and some brown rice (all that great fiber) make for a fun, festive and healthy lunch.

Lunch is an important meal in your day – giving you the energy you need to stay awake and keep going. If you’re looking for some helpful printouts on meal plans and grocery shopping lists, check out First lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move website at http://www.letsmove.gov/eat-healthy which offers a host of tools and ideas to help.

Bon Appetite!

Paula Sirois is a holistic health coach and writer who tries to find the wit and humor in all that stuff that make up our daily lives; the ups and downs, the good and the bad - and all that messy, gooey mess in the middle. She can be found at RockZebra@hotmail.com or www.rockzebracompany.com where the simple (rock) and unexpected (zebra) things are all you need.

Nutrition Month Kick Off

This month is all about nutrition!

We always look forward to the added emphasis and awareness brought to nutrition in the month of March through the celebration of National Nutrition Month.

One of the key goals that led to the development of our products was to help parents pack nutritious meals for their children to enjoy at school. We are so pleased that our Bento Sets have now become a tool that both adults and children are using to create balanced, portion-controlled meals to enjoy on the go.

Click here for detailed information on how our Bento Sets make creating balanced meals a breeze.

While we love to talk about nutrition and different ways of enjoying wholesome foods, we decided to  broaden our scope and add some variety to this year's National Nutrition Month through a series of nutrition-related guest blogs.

We're looking forward to hearing from Paula Sirois, Andrea Metcalf, Marissa Vicario, and Randy Rabney on subjects including lunches, snacking, and managing high cholesterol in kids. We'd love to hear from you as well, so please join in on the conversation either here or on our Facebook page!

Making Spinach Fun

This Week's Bento Lunch


If you're looking for a way to get more spinach into your diet, look no further. This week we're having spinach pancakes for lunch. Spinach pancakes are easy to make and fun to enjoy on the go which makes them one of our lunchtime favorites. Enjoy! 


Click here to view this week's full menu. 

Green Drinks in March

March Highlights

Date: Thursday, March 1^st

Time: 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Place: Café Mare – 740 Front Street, Suite 100, Downtown Santa Cruz

Featured Presentation:

 UCSC is a national leader in campus sustainability and student leadership development. Come hear success stories from student sustainability leaders, learn about UCSC's sustainability progress, and engage in a lively discussion on campus/community relations and opportunities for collaboration. 

                                                                                  

Please let us know if you have questions or suggestions for presentations in Santa Cruz. 

If you'll be promoting or attending a Green Drinks event outside of Santa Cruz in March, please let us know a little bit about your group and what you'll be discussing. 

Heart Health Bento Lunch

This Week's Bento Lunch


With the spotlight on heart health this month, we decided to fill our bento box with some delicious heart healthy foods. Combined with a suitable exercise regimen, eating nutritious meals both at home and on the go is a great leap toward overall long term health. 


Click here to view this week's full menu.

6 Reasons to Start Brown Bagging Your Lunch to Work

This week we're lucky enough to have a blog contribution from David Bakke of Money Crashers. We hope you'll enjoy his insight and advice on saving money by taking your lunch with you to work. 


David Bakke writes about different ways to save money and live a frugal & green lifestyle on the Money Crashers personal finance blog. 


Like the morning coffee run to your favorite shop, one of the high points of the working day is to take a nice, leisurely lunch break - if you're lucky. 


Perhaps you head to your favorite local café each day with coworkers or clients, or maybe you rush down to a fast food joint for some cheap, quick bites. Regardless of where you go and how much you spend, one thing is sure: Eating out each day hurts your finances. Surely, you think, spending only $6 or $12 each day isn't really causing any damage to my budget, right? Well, not necessarily - at least not compared to larger, more extravagant purchases and expenses. Besides, you've got to eat, so food is a "need" not a "want," like a new flat-screen TV. But all those small expenditures add up, and you may save yourself hundreds of dollars every month - and thousands per year - just by taking a healthy brown bag lunch to work. 


There are a number of benefits to opting to bring lunch instead of buying:


1. Save Money The most obvious reason to bring your own lunch to work is to save money - lots of money. For example, let's say you spend $6 per day eating out, which is a very conservative estimate - chances are you spend nearly twice as much. But even at only $6 per meal, you will spend approximately $1,500 per year. However, if you bring a sandwich, some fruit, and a drink from home, you'll only spend around $3 per meal. You'll cut your expenses at least in half, and have an extra $750 or more in your pocket at the end of the year. 


2. Save Time I have been brown bagging my lunch for years now, and it has saved me a great deal of time, allowing me to enjoy my lunch at a leisurely pace. Traveling even short distances to a restaurant can make you feel rushed. For instance, if it takes 15 minutes to get to your destination, then half of your lunch break could be wasted in a car. And if you are a small business owner, time is money - you can get a few extra things done each day during lunch instead of spending time in a car. 


3. Save Gas In addition to the $750 or more you'll save on food, you'll also spend less on gas. If the restaurant you frequent is only five miles from your workplace, you will drive a whopping 2,400 miles per year. If your car averages 25 miles per gallon, and a gallon of gas costs $3.50, you'll save an additional $335 per year, just by not driving during lunch. Not to mention, 2,400 miles adds a bit of wear and tear to your vehicle. 


4. Reduce Stress Racing out to lunch each day and rushing to finish your meal before the hour is up can be a stressful routine - especially if the wait for your food or your table is particularly long. Don't you have enough stress in your day? By simply strolling back to the break room, you can eat your meal in peace and clear your head before the second half of your workday begins. 


5. Eat Healthier Eating a lunch that you prepare at home can be beneficial to your health, especially if you focus bringing healthy portions of fresh fruits and vegetables, and avoiding prepackaged foods. Many restaurants serve food that is sugary, high in calories and fat, and heavily processed. If you prep your own meals, you'll have a better idea of what you consume and be able to eat healthy on a budget.

6. Be Environmentally Friendly You don't have to put your lunch in a brown bag every day. Instead of spending money on paper bags, plastic baggies and wrap, and plasticware, purchase a few reusable lunch containers. Laptop Lunches provides a wide array of attractive and environmentally friendly lunch kits, cutlery, carriers, and drink bottles. You'll save money and create less waste. 


Final Thoughts Once you've cut down on what you spend at lunch each day, consider identifying other ways to reduce daily costs. For example, you can clip coupons, create weekly menus, buy generic food items, purchase in-season produce, and find other ways to save money on groceries. Brown bagging your lunch instead of buying it at a restaurant is only one of many things you can do to save thousands of dollars per year. It may seem like a small expense, but trimming minor expenditures from your budget will add up at the end of the year. 


What do you think about brown bagging it to work?