The Lunchbox Upgrade Nobody Told You About: A Back to School PB&J That Actually Fights Parasites

This week my kids, like so many around the valley, went back to school. This year we have kids spanning the ages from a teenager who doesn’t slow down and never fills up, to a pre-schooler whose catch phrase is “I hungry”, and a middle schooler who chronically forgets to eat. like every parent I know, I found myself standing in the kitchen wondering how to prep something they will actually eat that is not completely devoid of nutrition. The classic PB&J has been a lunchbox staple for generations — and honestly? With a couple of intentional swaps it can be so much more than just comfort food. This month at Health and Healing Studios we have been deep in our parasite awareness focus, and it got me thinking about how some of the most powerful antiparasitic ingredients are already sitting in kitchens across America — they just need a little upgrade.

So here is what I put together for my own kids this week, and I think your family is going to love it too.

The Upgrade: Super Powered Pumpkin Seed Butter + Triple Berry Chia Jam

Instead of reaching for conventional peanut butter and store-bought jam loaded with refined sugar, we are swapping in two recipes straight from our Health and Healing Studios recipe spotlight board — and the antiparasitic power packed into both of them is genuinely remarkable.

Super Powered Pumpkin Seed Butter

Pumpkin seeds have been used as a natural antiparasitic remedy for centuries, and modern research backs up what traditional medicine has long known — the compound cucurbitacin found in pumpkin seeds has been shown to paralyze and eliminate intestinal parasites naturally. Paired with pumpkin pie spice — cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger — which are all both antiparasitic and anti-inflammatory, this butter is doing serious work disguised as something delicious.

Meanwhile, check out that color! It might seem like a minor detail but if we’re talking about helping our kids eat healthy a little bit of whimsy helps.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Pumpkin Seeds/Pepitas

• 1 teaspoon Salt

• 1-2 teaspoons neutral oil (walnut, pumpkin, sunflower, flax, or coconut)

• 1 teaspoon Local Honey

• 1 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice

Directions:

1. Toast seeds for about 15 minutes on a baking sheet in the oven at 300 degrees

2. Add all ingredients to a food processor

3. Pulse a few times then start running continuously, stopping to scrape the sides and bottom every once in a while

4. At around the 5 minute mark the seeds will go from crumbly to a paste — at 15 to 20 minutes it should be smooth and butter-like

Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Cloves & Ginger are all antiparasitic and anti-inflammatory — that pumpkin pie spice is pulling serious double duty.

Triple Berry Chia Jam

Store-bought jam is one of the sneakiest sources of refined sugar in a child's diet — and refined sugar is one of the things parasites thrive on most. This jam swaps all of that out for frozen mixed berries sweetened with a touch of local honey and thickened naturally with chia seeds, which add fiber, omega-3s, and gut-supporting properties of their own. Berries are rich in antioxidants that support immune function, and local honey carries its own antimicrobial benefits. This is jam that is actually working for your child's body.

The best part? It’s super easy to customize & get them in the kitchen.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Frozen Mixed Berries (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries)

• 2 Tablespoons Chia Seeds

• 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

• 1 Tablespoon Local Honey

• Zest of 1 Lemon

• Pinch of Salt

Directions:

1. Heat and mash half your berries with the lemon juice, zest, honey, and salt

2. Sprinkle in the remaining berries and chia seeds, stir and bring to bubbly

3. Take off heat and jar

Use within one week or freeze. Makes about 1 cup.

Put It Together

Spread your pumpkin seed butter generously on your bread of choice — a whole grain sourdough is my personal favorite for the added gut benefits — my kids have named our sourdough starter Betty & like to sing “Betty & the Jets” every time they feed her (excellent science project). Then top that with a good spoonful of triple berry chia jam and you have a lunchbox staple that is genuinely doing something. That is a parenting win I will take every single time.

The Bigger Picture

Back to school season means more exposure to other kids, shared spaces, and all the things that come with that — including a higher likelihood of parasitic exposure among all the other bad bugs out there. Building antiparasitic foods into your family's everyday meals is one of the simplest and most sustainable things you can do to support everyone's gut health through the school year. Small swaps, consistently made, add up to something really meaningful over time.

If you want to go deeper into what parasites are, how they show up in the body, and what you can do about them, we have a lot coming your way this month at Health and Healing Studios — including our Parasite Education Workshop at the end of August with Tiffney and Dr. Cindy. Details are on our website and you will not want to miss it.