Mary Constantine|Knoxville
Adding cutvegetables to a child's school lunch is a no-brainer. The veggiesarea great option to replace high calorie chips and give parents peace of mind that their child has a healthy lunch option.
Broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, and celerysticksare four vegetables commonly served, either with dip,peanut butter or alone.
While variety is important when preparing a school lunch, Shanthi Appelo, registered dietitian for the Knox County Health Department, said broccoli and carrots are the two vegetables with the best nutritional value.
According to www.livestrong.com,one cup of carrot sticks has50 calories and12 grams of carbohydrates (6 gramsfrom natural sugars, and 3.4 gramsfrom dietary fiber).
Appelo said one should consider all nutritional properties to fully understand what it has to offer.
"When youcompare100 grams of carrots to 100 grams of broccoli the carrots will have 10-12 grams of carbs and broccoli might have around 7 grams. That's not a lot of difference.
"I would never pinpoint a vegetable's carbohydrate contentas a reason to not eata vegetable," she said.
Alot of the carbs in carrots are fiber and fiber is beneficial for all kinds of things, includingreducing LDLcholesterol and the risk of heart disease. Broccoli is rich in vitamins including a highamount of Vitamin K, a number ofB-vitamins and Vitamin C. An added bonus for the broccoli is howitstiny branches are greatfor collectingdip.
"If you eat just 3 1/2 ounces of broccoli, you have received enough Vitamin C for a whole day," Appelo said.
The raw vegetable contains31 calories per cup, is high in fiber.
"It's crazy how manymore vitamins and fiber broccoli has over cauliflower," she said.
Branching out with broccoli, cauliflower
Like broccoli, cauliflower has the perfect branches in which to hold a lot of dip but the mineral content is not as good as broccoli or carrots.It's low in calories at 25 per cup, and has 3 grams of fiber. Nonetheless, if it's a vegetable your child will eat then by all means serve it.
"Vegetables are something that this country doesn't get enough of so if we can incorporate into snacks or atpartieswe are in good business," Appelosaid
Another commonly served lunch item is celery. Although it provides a satisfying crunch, the green ribbed vegetable is nutritionally inferior to broccoli, carrots and cauliflower.
"Celeryis high in water, has a moderate amount of Vitamin K,and only 1.6 grams of fiber. I would never say a vegetable is a bad choice but broccoli and carrot stand out because of the nutrients," she said.
Being mindful of the calorie and mineral content of a vegetable is important. So is what it's served with.
For instance one 7-inch stalk of celery is6 calories and less than 1 gram of fiber. Adding 2tablespoon of peanut butter to the stalk increases the calorie countby 188 and approximately 2 grams of fiber.
"Yogurt-based dips, in particular Greek yogurt, is a good source of protein, calcium and probioticswhich are three great things for your body. They are almost guilt free if it's the main component of the dip," she said.
If a dip recipe instructs to blend the yogurt with mayonnaise its important to remember that the more mayo added meansa higher fat content.
"Some people think Greek yogurt is too thick for a dip. If that's the case I would add a little nonfat milk or almond milk to thin it a little. If you have to use mayonnaise to the dip then consider a low-fat version," Appelo said.
She shares the following recipe.
Greek Yogurt Ranch Dip
INGREDIENTS
18-ounce container Greek Yogurt (non-fat preferred)
1/4 cup low fat buttermilk (if needed for thinning the dip)
2 cloves fresh pressed garlic
3 tablespoons finely choppedshallot, chives or green onion
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried dill
1/4 teaspoon salt
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS
Press garlic and finely chop shallot, chives or green onion. Combine garlic, onion, parsley, dill and salt with Greek yogurt. Add just enough buttermilk to make it the texture that you desire. Pepper to taste.
