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Show C i Doctor in the Kitchen A''---, - I by Laurence M. Hursh, M.D. l". ....:" ' Consu',an'' National Dairy Council TAKING LUNCH TO SCHOOL Almost a billion dollars worth of nutritious lunches are served in our schools each year. Our school lunch programs are a great assist in nutrition education educa-tion as well as public health. But with all this, there still are some 10 million children attending at-tending schools that do not have any food service at all. And millions mil-lions more children do not participate par-ticipate in school lunch programs where they exist. Obviously, many are carrying their lunches to school and so this column is addressed to such students and their mothers. You will do well, if you are carrying your lunch to school, to imitate the nutrition offered by the organized school lunch programs. pro-grams. What do I mean by that? Well, I mean you should be guided by the four food group plan. That's what guides the nutritionists who plan school lunches. tein food. Other ideas in this category include peanut butter, fish filets or tuna salad, chicken, turkey, ham; and even cold baked beans make a great sandwich. sand-wich. This takes care of the meat group. And since you've already put the filling between slices of bread, you've included the breads and cereals group. A Complete Meal All you need to complete this meal, then, is milk and some kind of fruit, lettuce in the sandwich, sand-wich, celery or carrot sticks, and so forth. If milk cannot be purchased pur-chased at school, take it along in a small thermos. Assuming milk can be purchased, use the thermos for soup, especially in the winter, as another means of giving your child a combination of milk and vegetable flavors, or vegetables and meat. We all love soup. That's all there is to it unless you wish to get fancier and add a salad. Girls, in particular, like this. Here you will be strong on fruits and vegetables, plus even bite-size meat items if you wish, and a plastic container will help in transporting the salad to school in that lunch bag. Tossed greens, canned fruit combinations, combina-tions, celery, kidney beans, tomatoes, toma-toes, cucumber slices, radishes all these offer variety and good nutrition. Plastic throw-away knives and forks will help both in putting the salad together and for immediate eating. Four Food Group Plan It means you try to have foods representing the meat group, the milk group, fruits and vegetables, vegeta-bles, and cereals and breads in every meal. Is it hard to do? Not really. In many instances, perhaps per-haps most instances, you are doing do-ing it already. But try to keep it in mind so that you will do it without fail. And this applies to other meals, too. r A packed lunch for a school k child most often contains a sand- i wich or two. So, with this you a probably have meat, or cheese, or egg salad or some such food that qualifies as primarily a pro- |