British kids and eating habits - IABU ?

@SeeSeeRider it's fine. It's literally fine.

I teach in secondary and the food seems to be better - felafel wraps and salad, pasta with tomato sauce, no desserts, only fruit. However, that won't suit the OP's narrative.

DONT BRING UP GRAPES!

Didnt someone on here once describe them as literal bombs of sugar 🤣🤣🤣

Too much salt and sugar.

It’s worth pointing out that that's only about 1/4 of the sugar content of the same weight of grapes.

Maybe put in their favourite fruit for dessert? You can cut it into fun shapes too.

I was brought up on healthy food in the 70s/80s! We had fresh fruit and veg .Honestly unless you are going to a food bank ,This sort of menu just doesnt add up! I was a Nursery School Teacher ,and one of my charges favourite meals were Jacket Potatoes ,cheese and baked beans.Healthy and tasty. Fish fingers or chicken breast frozen are well balanced and widely liked by children everywhere . Pizza and salad some garlic bread or chips occasionally .fresh fruit for snacks or carrot sticks/cucumber too

So, why I see sausages in most places that have kid menus and I have also friends that offer sausage with potato mash and gravy to their kids and it's meant to be healthy and appropriate?

I'm not saying people don't feed it to their children, but no one gives sausages thinking "what a lovely healthy option".

It's on kids' menus because children like them - there's plenty of unhealthy things on adult menus as well.

Agreed!

@Maddy70 - Spain with all the processed and cured meats, and supermarkets full of convenience food?.

I did BLW with my kids - they were eating homemade food and veggies from their first bites. I’ve always tried to make as much as possible at home, I eat very well myself and not only model good eating habits, I explain the reasons why I make certain choices. Their
rural primary school has delicious, balanced meals made on the premises, sometimes using food grown by the kids. We have an allotment and spend much of the year eating homegrown vegetables and using things like chard and pak Choi in interesting recipes.

I am currently on an all-inclusive holiday with them. So far they have had pancakes and croissants with Nutella for breakfast, blue slush and Pringles mid-morning and nuggets and chips followed by cake for lunch. All accompanied by ice cream and fizzy drinks. Do they make reasoned, intelligent choices of their own accord? No they fucking don’t. I couldn’t have tried harder. They are drawn to eating the worst type of shit like iron filings to a magnet. I am insisting on at least two fruits and vegetables a day (there’s delicious vegetable dishes, a salad bar and bowls and bowls of lovely ripe fresh fruit!) and that’s painful. Peer pressure, the “norm” and marketing win out. I don’t know how to change that.

What isn't healthy exactly though? Beans, tomatoes and water? Small amount of seasoning..?

There are clearly a lot of parents who feel personally attacked by your post, @lovemycoffee2, but I agree with you. I went to school here but was born elsewhere and the British diet is vastly different and inferior to anything I have encountered abroad (bar the American diet). So much processed food everywhere. For everyone feeling so offended, most kids menus do revolve around chicken nuggets, sausages and processed pizzas. I should know because that’s generally all my child likes to eat! The fact that I allow my DD to eat that crap doesn’t mean I can’t also acknowledge that it’s shite food.

Tomatoes are about 3.1% sugars.
https://www.britishtomatoes.co.uk/tomato-nutrition

Some of the sugars in a tin of baked beans will come from the tomatoes and beans. Yes, there's probably more added sugar than is ideal, but it's not all added.

Schools are advised not to serve beans more than once a week, and to use low sugar/salt varieties. I looked to see how much it varies - some baked beans have only 2.4g sugars per 100g, and 1.4g of that will be from the beans/tomatoes themselves.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-food-standards-resources-for-schools/school-food-standards-practical-guide

Same here, my autistic daughter only eats pizzas sometimes! Fortunately she makes them herself so it's less processed.

@lovemycoffee2

Heinz baked beans which have 10% sugar and 20% salt (leaving 70% being actual beans)

Heinz baked beans have 4.3% sugar and 0.6% salt. They are mostly beans 50% and tomatoes 36% and water about 8%. But I agree they are not very healthy.

Hmmm. All toddlers are wannabe psychopaths.

Not all of them grow out of it (I blame his father).

I live on a street with 5 new builds and a bunch of old cottages. Right now, all 13 children living in the street are out playing in those houses in the garden. Some of the kids are running back and forth between my garden and some of the neighbours (we are all fine with this). My eldest has also just had 2 friends walk from their house down to ours to play in the street. there are literally kids everywhere in my village.

*beans - obviously beans 🤦🏻‍♀️

Not the point, but Malta has a huge obesity problem - more so than the UK.

I find this whole thread depressing. I weaned my babies on healthy food but standards have slipped a long way. I hate shopping, cooking and have little time / interest / patience for food prep. It’s another stress on top of working and trying to balance every other element of life. Increasingly we eat bits and pieces (hummous, veggie sticks, pitta, olives etc). My husband is useless and doesn’t have the best idea of nutrition. But I try my best. What would be more useful than bashing us over the head with how terrible we are is offering some quick and easy recipes you use and that your DC will eat. My go to easy and healthy meals are pan fried salmon with veggies and rice and chickpea dahl with rice and naan.

To be honest I work with the elderly and it’s pretty grim once you get past 80. I wouldn’t worry too much. I want out by then.

Apparently not 🙄

I really want bangers, mash and bens now........ misses point of thread

YANBU but in the UK the quality of food is terrible and I think people are absolutely used to processed food in the supermarkets. Also it’s a culture where ‘being busy’ is seen as a good thing and cooking from scratch requires a slower lifestyle to a point which I think in the UK is not peoples’ priority. Even things like bread which are massive staples in the UK for most people - and would consider brown bread ‘healthy’ is full of processing and additives as you say. In the UK it’s about industry and pricing - so supermarkets reign and keep costs low as they can which means less good food as they won’t pay the suppliers decent money. And in turn people want cheap food so it’s a vicious circle which I expect will get worse and worse. The book ‘Ultra Processed People’ is very informative on this exact issue!

Funny. I go to Spanish supermarkets all the time and I’m pretty sure there’s a varied selection of packet and junk food, especially in the freezer section. The kids love going because of the different kinds of ice lollies and plastic cheese we get there.