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You can be low-carb or you can eat sandwiches. You can't do both. There are exceptions, I'll grant you. I'd stretch the concept of low-carb to embrace the occasional cheat with your favorite sandwich. Or pizza. Especially pizza. Or you can eat sandwiches and still be on the low-carb playing field if it's specifically low-carb bread.
But to my mind, you can't talk a low-carb story and pack school lunches with sandwiches, soda, chips and a jelly doughnut. Which, much to my bemusement, is something I'm seeing on the net.
I'd planned to write about low-carb school lunches, particularly for children with gluten sensitivity, celiac disease or type-2 diabetes. But as I read further, I was dismayed.
There were low-carb articles, alright. Some were excellent. But many suggested macaroni and cheese, the ever-present sandwich and your child's favorite processed, sugary, enriched flour time-bomb.
Sorry, unless packaging specifies that it's a low-carb product, none of those things qualify.
This by the way, also goes for low fat -- something else I saw repeatedly in an unholy union with low-carb. Eating fat is NOT detrimental to low-carb. It's fat combined with too many carbohydrates that causes problems. Then, the fat from low-fat may be replaced with starch or sugar. Hmm. They're both carbohydrates.
So low-fat food removes healthy fat (and low-carb considers saturated fats like butter to be healthy, with no apologies) replacing it with undesirable carbs. Where is the logic in this? I don't see it.
Here's what I do see. It can take a major mental overhaul to step away from the sandwich, especially when planning your child's school-lunch. But make the move, and possibilities begin to open up.
Send your child to school with sliced meat like chicken. Roll it in lettuce and you have a tidy chicken wrap.
Cheese is alright, conditionally. It should be full-fat, and not rubbery cheese slices. And not every day because cheese is somewhat carb-y.
Send cut-up vegetables, maybe with full-fat sour cream dip and herbs. Toss in some dill pickles.
Cut-up berries like blueberries or strawberries are lower on the glycemic index than other fruit. Dip them in cream cheese. Full-fat. Don't wimp out now!
If your school lets kids heat their food, any low-carb leftovers work nicely. Put stews or soups in a thermos.
Moral of the story -- Calling a diet "low-carb" doesn't make it so. If you're sneaking in low fat and carbohydrates, it just isn't low-carb.
Visit Jody's website and blog at http://www.ncubator.ca and http://ncubator.ca/blogger
Add a Comment2 Comments
Oh my goodness Jody! I wish I had had the info back when my children were small; what a difference I could have made in their future food choices, as well as mine. Parents need to be enlightened to the horrors of school lunches as well as to what the media tells us is healthy; parents aren't informed about truly healthy eating habits. Thanks for putting out the information people need to see to make better choices.
September 6, 2010 - 9:20pmThis Comment
Hi Barbara
I think it's important for those who are unhealthy on high-carb, to have the chance to make informed decisions.
I think about the people who are feeling ill and don't know why, and it's all there on their plate -- but they have never heard for instance that whole grain just isn't good for everybody.
They may not know they have food sensitivities or celiac disease. They may not know they're on the road to type-2 diabetes and they have a choice in the matter.
Just trying to get some information out there to a segment of our society that is largely ignored, nutritionally speaking.
Thanks for writing.
September 7, 2010 - 7:45amThis Comment