The Heart Foundation is urging parents to watch out for misleading marketing tactics as they prepare to pack healthy lunchboxes when the school year begins.
With students returning to classrooms across the state in the coming weeks, Australia’s leading heart health charity, the Heart Foundation, is advising parents to read nutrition information on food labels and not be fooled by misleading marketing tactics which take advantage of their healthy intentions.
It comes as the Heart Foundation calls for action to make it easier for people in Australia to choose healthy options, with the recommendation of the Health Star Rating system to be mandatory on all food products.
Heart Foundation senior food and nutrition advisor Jemma O’Hanlon said many parents have good intentions when it comes to packing a nutritious lunchbox for their kids, but with products labelled as ‘lunchbox friendly’, a lack of regulation means the products aren’t necessarily heart smart.
“Parents no doubt read ‘lunchbox friendly’ food options as being healthy, allergy friendly or good options for children, yet there’s no clear definition of what lunchbox friendly means,” she said.
“What does ‘lunchbox friendly’ mean? Who knows what it is referring to—it could just be the size of the food that will fit into a lunchbox.
“The trap is that many parents think these marketable terms such as ‘lunchbox friendly’ means the product has been vetted to meet a strict health criteria, but the truth is they don’t.”
The Heart Foundation recommends parents looking to create healthy lunches for their children should aim to pack a lunchbox filled with wholefoods for optimal heart health.
“Try to make food a fun experience for your kids. You could consider different ways to cut and serve food. Kids are more likely to eat fruit when it’s chopped up, so little bite-sized pieces that they can pick up with their fingers and put in their mouths are more likely to be eaten,” Ms O’Hanlon said.
“Don’t be too disheartened if the food comes home in the lunchbox. It’s normal and part of the journey of exposing your child to different foods. Kids naturally go through different stages in their lives including fussy eating.
“Studies have shown it can take over 10 times of offering a food before a child may accept it, so keep offering gently, without pressuring.”
Heart healthy lunchbox additions Ms O’Hanlon recommends are: fresh sandwiches made with wholemeal bread, lean protein fillings such as chicken, fish, egg or falafel, ‘pick me platter’ style lunches with finger foods such as avocado, tomatoes, cucumber, carrot or celery sticks with cheese cubes, a tub of yoghurt as a source of calcium, fruit salad, and a frozen water bottle.
