The simple lunch a nutrition researcher feeds his kids every day includes carrots, popcorn, and some ultra-processed foods

• Nutrition researcher Kevin Hall has studied how ultra-processed diets can lead to weight gain.
• But he’s not categorically banning UPFs at home.
• Instead, he aims to find healthy, simple ways to incorporate the right ones into his kids’ lunches.

Kevin Hall made a career out of figuring out what’s wrong with the way we eat. So, you may be surprised to discover that he isn’t one of those “clean” eating types who shun all packaged foods.

In fact, Hall feeds his kids some ultra-processed lunch foods every day. And he doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with that.

For 21 years, the nutrition researcher studied diet and metabolism at the National Institutes of Health, and he made the groundbreaking discovery that people eat 500 extra calories every day on ultra-processed diets.

“There are plenty of ultra-processed foods that are available to folks that are still reasonable in terms of their nutritional profile,” he told Business Insider.

As Hall and his coauthor Julia Belluz wrote in their new book, “Food Intelligence,” having a set lunch routine helps curb food waste and minimizes daily decision-making.

And Hall selects foods he knows his kids actually like. That means lunch is slightly different for each child, but it works.

“The evidence on optimal nutrition has been clear and consistent over decades,” Hall and Belluz write in the book. “It’s boring by this point. Eat more vegetables — along with fiber, legumes, whole grains, and fruits.”

Lunch is usually a mix of complex carbs, healthy fats, protein, and some homemade popcorn

Lunchbox No. 1 includes a sandwich on ultra-processed bread

Hall said it’s a basic PB&J on “one of those very expensive” whole-grain sandwich breads.

“For the vast majority of people, it’s really the processed and refined carbohydrates that they should avoid,” Hall said. (Think: Wonder Bread and doughnuts).

He buys Dave’s Killer Bread and adds “a pretty good quality” peanut butter plus some jelly, which he knows is a sugary item, but he ensures the jar he picks out doesn’t have “crazy amounts of sugar.”

Lunchbox No. 2 skips the sandwich and includes beans and rice instead

Both of these main courses consist of a balanced mix of satiating protein (nut butter or beans) plus some carbohydrates (rice, whole-grain bread, and jelly) for quick energy.

Then he adds a few sides to the lunch, which are all unprocessed, nutrient-rich foods. Usually, it’s:

• Almonds: A great source of plant-based protein and healthy fats;
• Whole-grain popcorn prepared at home,
• And some carrots, which are rich in vitamins.

These are all filling, high-fiber foods that will help keep the kids satisfied until the end of their school day. None is super calorie-dense, either.

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