hat's on the back-to-school menu for your family? Breakfast, lunch, and snacks are of the utmost importance because, as with adults, what children eat affects their well-being. Choosing healthy foods is crucial for children's long-term vigor as well as their immediate health and development. Food choices also affect a child's memory, grades, learning ability, school attendance and overall behavior.

The following are six important principles to keep in mind when feeding children healthfully.

1. Make sure your child eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with snacks in between.

2. Make healthy foods a priority by offering children a variety of fruits and vegetables to choose from. Don't make a big fuss over it, but be sure to enjoy them yourself, too, since you are your child's role model.

3. Get children involved with their food by starting a small garden and/or having children older than three help out in the kitchen, especially with vegetable and fruit preparation.

4. Be patient and persistent when feeding vegetables to kids since it takes an average of ten exposures to a new food before it becomes incorporated into a child's diet. You may even have to prepare the same vegetable different ways before it appeals to kids. You can also try reading children's books with positive produce themes to help build excitement about vegetables and fruit.

5. Physical activity is crucial for keeping children healthy and for balancing out calories. Make sure your child is active each day. The more hours a child spends watching television, playing video games or playing on the computer, the more they tend to weigh.

6. Perhaps most importantly, have fun with eating and preparing healthy foods to help promote a healthy attitude about healthful eating.

Both children and adults need to start the day off right by eating breakfast. Kids who eat breakfast perform better in school than their hungry counterparts. Breakfast is not optional-it's a requirement for learning. Offer kids whole-grain carbohydrates to give them the energy they need to get through the day. Pair the high-fiber carbohydrate with some protein to help the energy last until lunch. Their favorite sugary cereal (even if it now claims to be whole grain), muffin, or breakfast bar is not going to get them through the morning. If a cereal lists sugar before the whole grains in the ingredient list, then it's not a healthy choice. At the very least, mix a whole-grain cereal in with their usual cereal. Since research shows that when kids are involved in the preparation of food, they're more likely to eat it, buy three new whole-grain cereals, like Kashi Heart to Heart, Go Lean Crunch!, and Cinna-Raisin Crunch, and put them in canisters when you get home. Put all three canisters out on the table in the morning and allow your kids to "make their own" cereal. I recommend fat-free organic milk as a protein-rich accompaniment for children over two years old.

Children eat about 1/3 of their daily nutrients and calories while they're at school. Lunch is an important meal that parents should be involved in to ensure that kids are not eating empty calories. It's great if kids want to brown bag their lunches, and you should include them in the planning and preparation of these meals. Use the following guidelines for packing healthy lunches:

• Make sure their lunch bags contain carbohydrates, like whole-grain breads, vegetables, and fruit for energy, protein like peanut butter, chicken, tuna and beans for growth, and a calcium-rich item such as milk or yogurt for building strong bones.
• Choose lunch meats that are made without nitrates, such as those from Applegate Farms, Charlie's Pride, and Boar's Head.
• Avoid processed foods that contain partially hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, and artificial ingredients and colors.
• Pack lunches in an insulated lunch box or bag that can be washed out each night. Include a reusable ice pack or freeze a bottle of water, a box of Horizon Organic milk, or a box of Hansen's Junior Juice to keep food cold and prevent spoilage.
• Remind kids to wash their hands before eating lunch to cut their risk of getting sick.

Morning and afternoon snacks are an essential part of a healthy diet for kids because they are a great way to supplement meals with healthy foods and essential nutrients. Make sure to keep handy a variety of healthy snacks. If they must have a crunchy food, like chips, look for items that do not contain partially hydrogenated oil. I like the Guiltless Gourmet baked blue corn tortilla chips, Kashi TLC 7-grain crackers, and Newman's Own Organics spelt pretzels.

I have many kid-friendly recipes at www.gelsons.com that kids can make on their own for snacks and meals. Check out my Back to School Menu on the following page for fresh breakfast, lunch, and snack ideas, then visit our website for some of the recipes. This month, kids can join me in making their own Banana Dogs at select Gelson's stores.

Back to School Menu

Breakfast

Breakfast Muffin with lightly sweetened farmer cheese*

Van's gourmet 97% fat free, organic soy flaxseed, or 7-grain Belgian waffles with Altadena organic lowfat cottage cheese and sliced nectarines

McCann's steel cut or Silver Palate thick and rough cut oats with walnuts, dried blueberries, and Soy Dream original enriched soy milk*

Fresh Wholegrain Blueberry Pancakes topped with sliced banana and cottage cheese*

Banana Dogs made with banana, almond butter, and dried fruit on a whole-wheat hot dog bun*

Lunch

Turkey Roll-ups made with Applegate Farms organic turkey, Laughing Cow Cheese, tomato, lettuce, and avocado on Milton's Healthy Whole-Grain bread*

Charlie's Pride organic roast beef on Milton's 100% whole wheat bread with avocado and cucumber slices

Egg Salad made with light mayonnaise and yogurt on Millbrook 100% whole wheat bread with tomato and lettuce*

Arrowhead Mills Organic peanut butter with sliced strawberries and Sarabeth's mixed berry spreadable fruit on Milton's Healthy Whole Grain bread*

Healthy Hummus on Sahara Whole Wheat Pita with sliced tomato, shredded carrots, and avocado slices*

Turkey Salad wrap on whole-wheat tortilla with avocado and Horizon Organic American Cheese*

Tuna salad made with light mayonnaise and plain yogurt with diced apples and dried cranberries on Millbrook 100% whole wheat bread*

Snacks

Healthy Hummus with Ak-Mak 100% whole-wheat crackers and broccoli florets*

Kavli hearty thick or Wasa crispbread with Kettle almond or cashew butter

Nabisco triscuits with Jarlsberg Light Swiss cheese

Guiltless Gourmet baked blue corn or yellow corn tortilla chips with Gelson's Finest salsa and Peasy Guacamole*

Edamame

Organic Valley String cheese with a piece of fruit

Horizon Organic nonfat yogurt with Kashi 7 Whole-Grain Nuggets cereal

Trail Mix made with Flanigan Farms natural nuts and dried fruit*

Kashi TLC original 7-grain crackers with an Eggland's Best hardboiled egg

Any type of fruit or vegetable with a slice of turkey or roast beef or other protein-rich food

*Recipes available - follow red link.