Photo: rubyran/Flickr

I, Barack Obama, president of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the week of October 10 through October 16, 2010, as National School Lunch Week. I call upon all Americans to join the dedicated individuals who administer the National School Lunch Program in appropriate activities that support the health and well-being of our Nation's children. 

1. Switch out a healthy crunch for a not-so-healthy crunch. Ditch the potato chips or nacho chips and replace them with carrot sticks, celery sticks, nuts, or lightly salted air-popped popcorn.
2. Send water or 100 percent fruit juice as a beverage instead of a soft drink.
3. Switch out white bread with bread made with white whole wheat flour. White whole wheat flour is a different grain than white flour or whole wheat flour. It has a lighter texture and color and flavor than whole wheat, but it has more nutrition than white flour.
4. Ditch the sugar-laden jelly in your PB&J. Use a jelly or jam that’s sweetened with concentrated fruit juices instead of refined sugar.
5. Make your own cookies or granola bars as treats instead of sending pre-packaged processed ones.
6. Buy a good thermos, and send a hearty soup with vegetables as their lunch instead of a sandwich.
7. Roll something up in a whole wheat tortilla instead of making a traditional sandwich. Kids who wouldn’t want lettuce and tomato on a sandwich will often accept them when they are rolled up with other ingredients like a taco. My boys actually love to take cold soft tacos to school in their lunch. I put grass fed, all-natural ground beef seasoned with taco seasonings, shredded low-fat cheese, lettuce and tomato on a soft taco shell, and they don’t mind that it’s cold.

Full disclosure: I think my school system serves terrible lunches, but I do allow my boys to buy twice a month. When the monthly calendar comes out, they each get to circle two days that they want to buy, and I let them chose any lunch they want.