UPF, poverty, obesity.... children’s healthy eating - an impossible challenge?

quite, and te marketing of UPF right form baby weaning is incredibly successful. Just look at the utter shite in the baby food aisles- crisps, biscuits, cakes...,all marketed as "baby" food. But you think it's what babies must eat, because it's int he baby food aisle ... you're conditioned to believe that crisps are essential food for babies, and convinced of your choices because instead of calling them "Cheese Wotsits" they're called "Organic cheesy puffs" or "veggie nibbles" or whatever. So you have the swathe of parents feeding their kids Wotsits happily, a swathe of parents merrily feeding them cheesy melt puffs with tomato powder (and feeling smug / superior to those Wotsit givers...) - so like the majority of parents happily giving their 8 month old baby some wierdly-formed corn based snack covered in favour powders ... both forms of which are UPF and utter junk. Babies are being weaned on fake/junk foods, of course they're then going to struggle to enjoy a stick of celery!

Reading Ultra Processed People really opened my eyes to how much we have been and are being manipulated by big companies. It's a complicated issue and I don't know what the answer is.

I don't know what the answer is either, but reading Ultra Processed People (or a government approved version thereof) should be part of the curriculum.

A real eye opener. Quite scary, actually.

^GalacticalFarce
"I don't know the exact make up of 1970's UPF but we would have a packet of angel delight between 4 of us, served with maybe a chocolate biscuit. Eaten as pudding after a home cooked meal of meat & 2 veg. We also only drank water with meals. "^

Wasn't it usual to have pudding every day? A small amount like you've described but after dinner daily?

It was usual to have a pudding, but a small one. We would have angel delight maybe once a week. We also had home made milk puddings, baked apples, milk jellies, stewed fruit etc. The puddings were smaller and not eaten in addition to multiple treats throughout the day.

But the point I wanted to get across is that the UPF elements - although present - were a fairly small proportion of the weekly menu overall. And were not particularly cheap options compared with real food.

They're also moving far less, driving far more, and eating far bigger portions. It's not as simple as laying all the blame at the feet of UPFs.

They're also moving far less, driving far more, and eating far bigger portions. It's not as simple as laying all the blame at the feet of UPFs.

People feed their kids crappie because it's easier abd they think 8ts what kids like. So few children in the UK are weaned to eat proper foods. They eat beige rubbish because parents think they wouldn't eat lentils, olives, spices

I was born in 80s and brought up by a single mum who was banging the anti-UPF drum back then. Home-cooked meals every night, taught me to cook and bake from being small. I was grateful that I could budget, meal plan and cook well for myself when I left home at 18 and naturally did the same for my daughter in her early years.

When we left my abusive husband, we were housed in social housing where we have to have to have PAYG energy, just as the prices rocketed. We have single glazing and live in one of the coldest parts of the UK, and for 2 winters I couldn't afford to put the heating on. I cut back on everything - no TV subscriptions, no car, furnished the whole flat off Facebook freebies. I work full time and still, after rent, bills and childcare there was no money left. So to feed and clothe her, I sold 2/3 of my wardrobe, my laptop, tablet and phone. That lasted a couple of months before we were reliant on food banks, community pantry (£3 a week for 12 items, almost all UPF) and £20 a month to play with if we were lucky. We also live in a food desert where the nearest supermarket is 45mins walk one way at adult speed.

Believe me, even with generational cooking skills and all the best will in the world, I could not source the diet I wanted for either of us. I put on 2 stone in the year this happened, through a combination of stress, depression and living on UPF. I felt awful and I knew why. We were both hungry constantly but none of the food seemed to satisfy us.

I got a new job a few months ago, with a big pay increase and flexible hours. I am extremely lucky that I had this opportunity. It means childcare costs have decreased massively, we have the budget to get a weekly Tesco delivery of real food, and I have the time to prepare it and start passing on the skills I was taught. She has fresh fruit in her lunchbox and mainlines the week's supply of blueberries and Greek yoghurt in a day. I've lost just over half the weight I put on while never feeling that disorienting dissatisfaction-hunger.

All this to say, in my experience it's been poverty - both of money and time - and the unavailability of anything but UPF, that have had the most catastrophic effects on my family and on the families I've met in similar circumstances. I'm so, so lucky things are better now but I'll never forget the shame of not being able to feed her, and not being able to feed her properly, when the shame should lie squarely at the doors of the food companies, their shareholders, and the horrorshow governments that allow it.

"I don't know the exact make up of 1970's UPF but we would have a packet of angel delight between 4 of us, served with maybe a chocolate biscuit. Eaten as pudding after a home cooked meal of meat & 2 veg. We also only drank water with meals. "

Wasn't it usual to have pudding every day? A small amount like you've described but after dinner daily?

Yes, people born in the 70s and fed UPFs as DC are the obese adults of today.

Actually the 70s (when UPFs were introduced) is when obesity levels started to rise exponentially. People were slim
in the 70s because they were born before the age of UPFs, but each generation subsequently has been getting fatter.

Imo it’s not the fact of snacking that is the issue - if people were snacking all
day long on apples and carrots they wouldn’t be obese - but they’re not, they’re eating UPFs, often mistakenly believing they are healthy (eg protein bars).

Same here.

I don’t know if forbidden fruit theory is true for some. I do know though that I have seen an awful lot of people on here using it as a reason to not restrict their child’s diet at all. I don’t know whether they genuinely believe it or not, maybe there really are parents out there who think they’re doing the right thing by not limiting their child’s junk consumption.

It's both. If there are things the government can do, then they should. It's a problem that affects all of us even if our own families are healthy. The assumption is that parents with overweight children are just not trying, or don't care. On the whole, that is inaccurate and unfair.

Poverty and the cost of food is obviously a contributing factor, but so many parents do not have the time, energy, or skills necessary to provide healthy, home cooked meals every day. Some parents work multiple jobs to make ends meet and grew up in households where their own parents were also short on time, money, and skills. They didn't have the opportunity to learn how to cook and sure as hell don't have the time now.

I was incredibly lucky to grow up with a SAHM who was very knowledgeable in the kitchen. 99% of our meals were cooked from scratch, often using vegetables from the garden. She was teaching us how to do it while we were still very young, and we also had fairly decent cookery classes at school. I am very aware of how rare this is now. Being able to choose that life as a parent in 2024 is a luxury, and that is so wrong.

I also think there needs to be a radical shift in the way children are taught at school. Sitting at a desk all day does you no good at all; learning shouldn't have to be a sedentary activity. You don't need sports facilities (or even PE lessons) to get up and move around. Think of how many office workers put on weight when working from home over lockdown, when they only real reduction in their physical activity was their daily commute and a bit of socialising. Just walking - being on your feet, moving your body - can make the world of difference to both physical and mental health.

Unfortunately I think this is all going to get worse before it gets better. There needs to be a real crisis before everyone properly pays attention and tries to do something about it.

Whilst this seems to have worked for your neighbors, it's also really common for that attitude to backfire and go the complete opposite way. It's the forbidden fruit theory, theore you say they absolutely can't have it, the more they want it. To a degree everything in moderation will foster a healthy relation with food, and if you're having a largely healthy diet with whole, non processed foods, the odd 'treat' won't cause any lasting damage.

You may not like it but advertising and indeed the government have an enormous influence both subconsciously and not on what you get at the supermarket.

No, I can assure you they don't...
Neither for that matter does anything I see on social media.

While some may need the Government to do their thinking for them it, equally, needs to be accepted that others can and do think for themselves.

Exactly. It is very easy to simmer some meat, and veg, once cooked, get a stick blender, and whizz. This can then be kept in small containers in the fridge for a couple of days, and the rest frozen, and defrosted in the morning for use later on in the day. it is cheaper, and can be made using whatever meat, or vegetables on offer in the supermarket.