Back to School

Here are some of my favorite Plan Z Diet ideas to breakfast, lunch and after-school snacks that your kids will love.

By: Zola
Chief Dieter
Plan Z Diet




I am going to give you a few Plan Z Diet ideas for breakfast, lunch and after-school snacks that your kids will love. Keep the carbohydrates down (just like we teach you on the Plan Z Diet) and your kids will be able to concentrate better and won’t fidget as much. Try it. Your kids deserve tasty, healthy food and their teachers will certainly appreciate the change.

Breakfast

First off, don’t give your kid a glass of juice (read one of my other Plan Z Diet blogs here to find out why). There’s enough fructose in it to cause real problems. The nation’s preeminent childhood obesity expert, Dr. Robert Lustig of UC San Francisco, calls fructose poison and he backs up his claims with science. Mother Nature gave us the antidote to fructose: the fiber found in fruit. So instead of a glass of juice to drink, give your kids an orange. They are small and peel easily. It will take a kid a lot longer to peel and eat an orange than it will to down a glass of juice. It’s sweet, delicious, and has plenty of vitamin C in one dose.

EGGS Hard boiled eggs are easily transportable and are perfect if you have to rush your kids onto the school bus. If they have time to sit and eat at the table, any kind of eggs are good. Cook them any way they like. You can even make breakfast quiche casseroles, so you have more than one day of breakfast. They keep in the fridge easily.

BREAKFAST MEATS No cereal is going to keep a child as full and focused as a solid meal with good protein and some healthy fat. So instead of cereal, cook up some healthy breakfast meats instead. Don’t limit yourself to traditional breakfast meats like sausage, bacon and ham. If your kid wants the leftover chicken from last night's famous Plan Z Diet Italian Crock Pot Chicken, give it to them. Avoid sausages packed with preservatives and sugar. Quality control is important here. Buy from your butcher and stay away from processed food as much as possible.

PANCAKES Yep, there are healthy pancakes. When pancakes are made with almond flour they are healthy. You can smash berries and mix them with a bit of Plan Z Diet approved Truvia instead of using syrup or spread your pancakes with unsweetened peanut butter. Stay away from peanut butter with sugar or high fructose corn syrup in it. Read your labels.

APPLES WITH PEANUT BUTTER Slice up an apple and hand your kid the peanut butter jar. They can take out a big scoop and then dip their apple in it or spread it on the slices. Plenty of protein to get them through the morning. It’s filling too.

SMOOTHIES Have a teenager who has to run out the door? Hand them a fresh smoothie in one of those ‘go cups’ usually reserved for coffee. It will stay cold. The secret is to use fresh fruit and full fat Greek yogurt. Steer clear of the huge aisle of yogurt that is full of sugar. You can sweeten the shake with frozen fruit and Plan Z Diet approved Truvia. Little kids love these too. They think they are getting an ice cream treat. Play that up!

Lunch

All of the ideas listed above can work for lunch. They all travel well. Here are some more ideas.

MEAT ROLL UPS Ask your butcher for lunch meat that has been roasted in house. Be wary of the packages hanging on the wall. You want fresh, unprocessed lunch meat. Choose your kid’s favorite lunch meat. Then add a slice of cheese and their preferred spread (mayo, mustard, etc) and roll it up. They look like little meat cigars. You can add lettuce too. Kids have fun eating them. A bunch of these will transport well in sealable sandwich bags. Who says they need bread? Skip it. Your kids can eat their meat rolls with their fingers and have fun.

SALADS A scoop of chicken salad packed in a Tupperware-style container makes for a healthy and satisfying lunch. Kids like the crunch of celery. You can add nuts too. Put it in an insulated bag to make sure it stays cool. More protein and fat for an afternoon of focus.

DRINKS NO SODA Not even diet soda. That is a huge no-no on the Plan Z Diet. Find healthy options. La Croix, for example has come out with a whole line of naturally flavored sparkling waters. They have a ton of flavors. If you get your kid hooked on this stuff they won’t get a sugar buzz. They won’t get a caffeine buzz. They just get a sparkling water experience that’s still fizzy like regular soda.

After-School Snacks

When children eat more protein at lunch they are less likely to be ravenous when they get home. Carbohydrate laden meals don’t do much to nourish you, so once the meal wears off it leaves you feeling hungry and unsatisfied. That being said, most children will still need a snack when they get home from school. Use these snack ideas to give your child an energy boost in the afternoon.

MIXED NUTS & NUT MIXES Nuts are a great snack idea to replace chips of any kind. If you feel the need to add something sweet you can use some dried fruit bits. Just don’t go overboard. The ratio can be more like 10:1 (10 nuts to one raisin or dried apricot bit).

FRUIT When you get your kids off of sugar they’ll be amazed at how sweet fruit tastes. Plums, peaches and nectarines…any kind of fruit can be a sweet treat. Just give them real fruit and nix the canned stuff. Mixed berries are delicious and are very easy to eat. Save fruit with a high glycemic index (like grapes, watermelon, pineapple and bananas) for special occasions. If you give your kids grapes, just give them a few. They don’t need a whole bunch. Once your kid gets used to less sugar, a few grapes will taste like gumdrops.

CHEESE Kids can snack on cheese cubes. It won’t take a lot of them to fill them up.

COOKIES Yes, there are healthy cookies out there. Just serve them in moderation. I’m giving you one of my favorite recipes I created on The Plan Z Diet--Almond Snickerdoodles. They are delicious!

LOW CARB BAKING The regular white flour we are accustomed to is full of carbohydrates. However, there are other options. My favorites on The Plan Z Diet are coconut flour and almond flour but there are even more options if you decide to be adventurous.

SMOOSH If your kids want something cold you can always whip up a batch of what I call Plan Z Diet Smoosh. All you need is a food processor. It’s just like a frozen snow cone without the paper cone. My husband, Chris, and I make it all the time on The Plan Z Diet. People have told me they are never going back to ice cream after eating this stuff. They get the same satisfaction and no sugar.

I hope this sets you up for the school year. My goal is to help our kids develop healthy habits when they’re young so they can avoid food-related health problems when they are older. Let’s set the example for our kids and make healthy habits part of our happy home life.

Cheers,


To read more of Zola's blogs CLICK HERE or head over to https://www.planzdiet.com/blog/