School Lunches
I don’t know what it is about packing school lunches, but there’s something about them that I just dread. I don’t know what it is about packing them——we literally cook and bake daily in our house. But having to put them into little individual servings in baggies and figure out what everyone is going to eat just makes it feel painful. As a dietitian, I don’t love school lunches. I know there are some loose guidelines that they have to meet, some products are subsidized so of course you’re going to use more of those items to keep costs down——not to mention the fact they can’t always predict what will be in stock due to supply issues, etc. So I do appreciate the effort that goes into planning a school lunch menu. I actually did a rotation while studying nutrition in college with a registered dietitian who works for a large local school district. She was amazing, and the schools really do get creative to work with what they have. So this is in no way bashing a school lunch. In fact, my kids actually buy lunch at school all the time. I encourage it——I know that if I were to pack them what I want them to eat they will pick at it. Each of my kids have such different eating habits——I have the fruit and vegetable queen, the carb lover, the meat and potatoes girl and the one who is busy socializing and changes her mind on what she likes to eat like I breathe air. There is something to be said though for eating the same foods as your friends. I realized that in daycare, I could meal at home and no one would touch it. But if it’s the same food and all of their friends are eating it? They will absolutely try it. One time a little peer pressure isn’t such a bad thing. And if it's waffles for lunch? Well then you can bet they will down that whole thing. So I know that if their bellies are full, they pay attention better in school, can focus, regulate their emotions better, etc. Full belly=happy kid.
So I don’t like packing lunches AND my kids will often eat more if they buy the school lunch. Seemed pretty obvious to me that buying lunch was what worked best for everyone. Clearly a win-win. I still let them pack their lunches when they want to, but often times they end up choosing to buy lunch and I’m fine with that. Makes life so much less stressful when you aren’t staying up late packing lunches, or God forbid forget to do it the night before and scramble to get them packed before the bus or when you have to leave for work. All was well…
* Here comes diabetes and celiac disease crashing through my good intentions like the Kool-Aid Man *
Well…crap. How do you buy lunch at school for a kid with diabetes and celiac? Well the answer is you definitely can. The food service program can provide the carbohydrate counts on all of the foods, and I could certainly look at labels if necessary and work with the team to find a menu that suits my daughter. But remember I mentioned supply issues? It’s not unique to school, but I can’t chance having products substituted last minute and not know how many carbohydrates or if something has gluten. The best solution for us was to pack her lunch. Every. Single.Day.
I still dread it. Actually I dread it more than just packing a regular lunch, but I do it because it’s a system that works well for me, my daughter, and her school. Each night I’ll pack her lunch. Once she decides on everything that she wants to have packed, we get a piece of paper and divide it into 3 sections (2 snacks, and lunch). I then list out every item——line by line—-- and put the carbohydrate count. She’s 8 and still learning, so at this point we still have her go to the nurse about 20 minutes before lunch every day so that she gets a decent prebolus. She shows the nurse her paper and what she plans on eating that day—then they add up the carbohydrates together and bolus for it.
Simple, right? You’d think so—-but no. It actually took some quite a bit of trial and error. I have trouble with her eating too fast sometimes at home, so I really have to make sure she has a good prebolus because once she starts eating it’s like watching Kirby from Nintendo. The part that I didn’t realize is that for her, eating at home is SUPER boring…but eating at school? That’s social time with friends! In the beginning of the school year we actually struggled quite a bit because her habits at home, when applied at school, were putting her blood sugars into the 40’s (with double arrows down on the Dexcom app). And that was during the middle of lunch! I’d call the nurse almost daily to go treat her which he always did, but it’s just a scary situation for everyone. Luckily, she was okay—-but I’m pretty sure I lost about 10 years off my life for every time I saw her blood sugar dropping that low and that quickly. Eventually though, we came up with a great system that works for us. She still goes to the nurse about 20 minutes prior to lunch. But now she extends her bolus over an hour, and will bolus for 50% of the carbohydrates up front, and 50% of the carbohydrates and hour later. Worked like a charm, and hopefully I’m not jinxing things by saying we haven’t had a scary numbers like we did in the beginning of the school year since.
The goal is to eventually not need her to go to the nurse at all. But while she’s learning it’s just how it has to be. She boluses for her snacks on her own—-she knows how to read the label and I have them in single portion sizes. But adding up the carbohydrates is a little tough still and I also need the comfort level of knowing that an adult is double checking what she is putting into the pump, since I can’t see that part on my phone from home.
I’d love to hear ideas from you on how you handle school lunches and what has worked best for your kids!