By Peggy O'Farrell
Enquirer staff writer

Olivia Davis tries to eat healthy.

"I like bananas and apples and I like carrots a lot," says the Reiley Elementary School fifth-grader. She even likes broccoli, but prefers it with a side of ranch dressing. Once in a while, Olivia, 10, likes to find a salami sandwich tucked in there with the bananas and carrots, along with a few pretzels.

Olivia's mom, Lori Davis, does her best to help her daughter eat healthy. They live in California, Ky.

"When I pack lunch, I try to make sure she has fruits and vegetables in there," Davis says. "I don't always have a lot of control over whether she eats them. Sometimes they come back home."

Hope Dischar, an eighth-grader at Campbell County Middle School in Alexandria, usually buys her lunch, but does like to snack on grapes, wheat crackers, carrots, bananas and pretzels.

She even passes up the Twinkies in the lunch line, though she admits to a weakness for chips and Doritos. "I really like Doritos," the 13-year-old adds.

Children are the latest casualties in America's obesity onslaught: Too many calories and too little exercise add up to too many overweight children, experts say.

But parents can pack healthy lunches to help counter the effects of chips, pop and fast food as kids head back to class.

Mary M. Tholking, a registered dietitian with UC Physicians Weight Management Program, offers these tips:

• Choose higher-fiber carbohydrates, including whole-grain breads, pitas and crackers.

• Give your kids lean proteins, including turkey, lean ham, string cheese or low-fat cottage cheese.

• Remember the veggies: Carrots, broccoli or cauliflower with lower-fat dip add crunch and flavor.

• Keep snacks low in fat and sodium.

• Add fruit for dessert.

Tholking likes the old standby, peanut butter. Reduced-fat formulations tend to be higher in sugar and trans fats, but read the labels and find a regular peanut butter without the trans fats. If the label includes the words "partially hydrogenated" anything, find another brand, she says.

Lauren Niemes, a registered dietitian and executive director of the Greater Cincinnati Nutrition Council, warns parents to watch out for high sodium content in packaged snacks and foods.

"We're seeing hypertension in kids, so parents do need to be aware of how much sodium is being contributed by snacks in their child's diet," she says. The council recommends snacks contain no more than 250 milligrams of sodium per serving.

Lunchbox-friendly snacks include homemade muffins that are high in fiber, fig bars, carrots and celery sticks, peanuts (unless they're allergic) and fruit.

E-mail pofarrell@enquirer.com