Centre for Health Protection

Healthy Lunch 321

Department of Health

EatSmart@school.hk

We change For health

A balanced diet is essential for children’s growth. Overeating or excessive energy intake may lead to obesity, which increases the risks of chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. On the contrary, malnutrition will hamper body growth and development. In order to help school children form good eating habits, it is important that we should give them a balanced and well-portioned lunch and also provide them with guidance on making healthy food choices.

3 steps to a healthy lunch
1 An appropriate portion
2 Smart food choices
3 Healthy cooking methods

An appropriate portion
A well-portioned meal provides all nutrients needed without excess energy. In general,
grains are the main staple; and
the rest should be comprised of mainly vegetables and some meat.
If a lunch box/plate is divided into six parts, then grains should take up three; two of the rest should be vegetables and one should go to meat. As such, the ratio among grains (e.g. rice and noodles), vegetables and meat, fish, egg and alternatives is 3:2:1.

Smart food choices As a general rule, healthy lunch should be high in dietary fibre, low in oil (fat), salt (sodium) and sugar. It is easy to achieve this goal by making healthy food choices.

Use a great variety of fresh foods.

Grains
Whole grains or grains with added vegetables
Example: brown rice, rice with added corn kernels, and wholemeal bread
Vegetables
Fresh (not preserved) vegetables, gourds and mushroom
Example: flowering Chinese cabbage, carrot, pumpkin, tomato and shiitake mushroom
Meat, fish, egg and alternatives
Low-fat meat (lean meat)
Example: lean pork chop, beef tenderloin, skinned chicken, fish and eggs
Non-deep fried soya products
Example: fresh soybean stick and beancurd

Meanwhile, consumption of food items high in fat, salt or sugar should be reduced.
Limited Food Items
Lunch of primary and secondary schools should not include "Limited Food Items" on more than 2 school days per week
Fatty meat such as spare ribs, beef brisket and chicken wing
Processed or preserved food such as BBQ pork, sausage, preserved mustard green and textured vegetables protein
Fried noodles or rice such as stir-fried rice and stir-fried noodles
Sauce or gravy high in salt, sugar or fat such as lo sui marinade, fermented soybean curd, sweet and sour sauce, white sauce/curry (made with full cream milk or evaporated milk)
Strongly Discouraged Food Items
School lunch should not include "Strongly Discouraged Food Items" at all
Deep-fried foods such as deep-fried pork chop, fried bean curd puff and e-fu noodles
Sauce or gravy with added cream or coconut cream such as white sauce made with cream, and curry made with coconut cream
Highly salty foods such as salted fish, salted egg and preserved Chinese sausage

Dessert should not be provided with main meals as children may either choose to give up part of their meal for the dessert, resulting in undernourishment, or experience an excess intake of energy when the dessert is consumed. In addition, the ideal beverage is always water.

Healthy cooking methods
Cooking method affects the nutritional value (including the content of sugar, salt, fat and energy) of meals. Here below are some tips about healthy cooking:
Choose low-fat cooking methods, such as steaming, boiling, baking and stir-frying with just a little oil.
Consider natural seasonings such as ginger, garlic, aniseed and other herbs as flavour enhancers.
Choose dishes with less sauce, or replace ready-to-use sauces with homemade ones of fresh ingredients such as tomato or pumpkin.

Sample menu
Chinese style
Fish fillet with sweet corn sauce (served with rice with added vegetables) + Mushrooms and snap peas
Steamed pork patty with dried shiitake mushroom and water chestnuts (served with white and brown rice) + Cabbage
Stir-fried vegetables and pork (served with rice) + Hairy gourd

Western style
Fusilli tricolore bolognaise + Broccoli
Capellini ("angel hair") with clams and herbs + Cucumber and eggplant
Sandwich: lettuce and tuna on wholemeal bread + Sweet corn

Healthy Lunch 321 Suitable for all
The recommendations for healthy lunch, in terms of quantity and quality, are also applicable to other main meals
. The most effective way to develop children’s habit of healthy eating is to be their role model. Since adults and children share the same principles of healthy eating, they should follow the above recommendations together and eat healthy always.

Department of Health EatSmart Website: www.eatsmart.gov.hk
24-hour Health Education Hotline: 2833 0111

Revised 2017