There’s been a decent amount of publications lately that are highlighting the correlation between good food and children’s test scores in standardized testing.  The recent program Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution highlighted that point when the area he focused on in Britain saw test scores jump significantly once school lunches were switched to real, whole foods and made-from-scratch cooking.

While we can do small things for our schools like sign petitions and call our local school board representative to ask for systematic change, the simplest thing we can do now is send our kids to school with a lunch box.  That’s what my wife and I recently started doing now that our oldest son is in school… and it is not as time-intensive as you might think.  Our oldest is too young to see test score results but we’ve noticed smaller mood swings in the afternoon now that we’ve dropped school lunch from our family’s menu! 

Here’s our template we invite you to try with your kids:

• A  sandwich, made on Honey Whole Wheat, Challah, or Dakota
• A piece of fruit cut up the night before
• A small salad with his favorite dressing
• A small bag of chips or crackers (they’ll eat it first every time)
• 100% fruit juice or water

It takes five minutes to put this meal together and it’s got enough staying power to keep our six year-old going throughout the day without bogging him down with tons of refined carbohydrates and simple sugars.  Obviously we’ve got some self-promotion in that menu… it’s got Great Harvest bread!  However, we stand by our products – simple, made-from-scratch, breads with ingredients you can read and understand without a dictionary.  Great for getting adults through the day, too!