Feeding children in just about any situation can be tricky. Kids are notorious for being picky. If your child has diabetes, that pickiness can start to make meal times even more difficult. Especially in the middle of the day, when your child needs a good meal to fill them up and keep them energized for the remainder of the day, you want to have healthy meal choices.
To make you both happy, here are ten ideas for great healthy lunches that even your picky diabetic child could appreciate:
Lunch Wraps
Cut down on carbohydrates by making a wrap instead of a sandwich. Simply fold some lean lunch meat, lettuce, tomato, and shredded carrot into a whole wheat tortilla. Provide some mustard or other low-fat dressing.
Use left overs from your dinner the night before as ingredients for your wraps. For example, dice up or shred leftover chicken and add veggies for a super simple wrap idea.
Does your kid love hummus? Spread some in a spinach tortilla and add all of his favorite fresh veggies.
PB&B Sandwiches
Kids love a good peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but this tasty favorite is packed full of sugar and not so good for diabetics. Put a twist on this old standby by making it more diabetic friendly. Switch to natural, no sugar peanut butter and use a sliced banana instead of jelly on whole wheat bread.
Pizza Bites
This lunch idea is fun and delicious: pack some crispy baked slices of zucchini or eggplant, some tomato sauce, cheese, and mini pepperonis. Your child can use these items to make mini pizza bites that they will love.
Make it bigger: You can also use half of an English muffin as your base for a lunch-friendly pizza. Most English muffins have a lower carbohydrate count than many other options.
Little Dippers
Make lunch fun by filling your child’s lunchbox with an assortment of different dip able foods. Provide veggies, cubes of meat and cheese, and pretzels along with different fat-free dipping sauces, hummus, and natural nut butters.
Picky-Eaters Go-To
For days that you are super busy, or dealing with a particularly finicky child, keep it simple. A cheese sandwich on whole wheat bread with some sliced apples and baby carrots will keep most kids happy and full.
Lettuce Wraps
For a fresh take on salads, lettuce wraps are an easy, healthy, diabetic friendly lunch idea that kids will love. Pack pieces of lettuce along with lunch meats, cheese, veggies, and include a small amount of sauce for dipping such as dressing or hummus.
Super versatile: You can use lettuce wraps form just about anything, including dinner leftovers. For example, leftover turkey with cheese and a little dollop of mashed potatoes. Making the wraps will be fun for your child as well.
Parents everywhere know that sending your child off to school and trusting that they will be safe is sometimes a scary thought. Parents of diabetic children know this better than most, especially because you cannot be there to monitor their every movement. With these delicious and diabetic-friendly lunch ideas for kids, you can at least have one less thing to worry about.
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