What is really stopping us from feeding our children healthy food?

[LilMissRe]

I saw an article today about obesity levels in little children and how it is increasing to dangerous levels. I'm intrigued as this is for a project I'm doing to graduate from university- hopefully this year!

The concern here is that, well, little ones (0-5 yrs) have the least say in what they can eat and drink, and as many don't start school officially till 4-5- schools can't really intervene and so a lot of experts place the blame entirely on us parents- especially mothers.

In my opinion I think time and marketing of unhealthy food is a big player here and is to blame, but I can't just use my opinion and would be very grateful for your opinions and experiences on this.

What is really stopping us from feeding our children healthy food?

Thank you!

Actually, I also blame the size of plates from places like Ikea marketed for children's use. They're huge. It creates the impression that's the space that needs 'filling',

Otterses
I completely agree with you. I needed to buy new plates about 2 years ago and they all seemed to be 28 inch!! They are massive.

What is really stopping us from feeding our children healthy food?
I read an article about this the other day, which said that even if healthy food was the same price as junk food, poor people wouldn’t eat it. Major factors were:

-A child needs to try a new food several times before they’ll reliably eat it. Poor parents can’t afford the wastage so they choose food that’s less likely to be rejected.

-Parents grew up poor themselves and failed to develop sophisticated palates, then they feed their kids the same stuff they eat.

-Poor people generally have less education and knowledge about healthy eating.

@notacooldad

I just went to the kitchen to compare. The ones we have for DS are essentially the same size as adult plates ... I was sure they were smaller until I looked properly.

You're right @Otterses !!!

Luckily DD is pretty fussy and doesn't ever finish her plate. Am thankful she is self regulating.

Otterses
😮
I believe that we, as a society, and I include my self in this have got used to big portions where ever we gi.
People make big meals at home. Carverys encourage ' to wat all we can for £10. Food is available all the time. Gregg's, McD's Subway and others unwittingly encourage the fact that you can ear anytime you want. We have a Gregg's drive through for god's sake!! You dont even have to walk to the counter!
Along with lifestyle changes such as gaming from home, fear of children playing out, green spaces shrinking, reliance on cars ( a big change from a couple if decades ago) a lot of people are physically moving less and snacking more.
As I said in an earlier post, I do believe there isnt one single reason why people aren't eating healthier but loads of many different ones!

#Youngandfree So instead of having their own meal, a child of 10 or so has to share a bit of Mummy or Daddy's dinner because restaurants refuse to put proper meals on the menu for children to choose from? And people who can't afford to shell out for adult meals at three times the price of children's portions? Presumably you assume they shouldn't go out at all.

I've had 20 years of going out with dc's to be faced with the same shit options for children time after time after time.

Kids should be able to choose their own options from a menu when they are taken out, and there should be healthy options for them to choose from. We as parents can feed them properly at home, and then every single time the kids look at a menu specifically aimed at them in a restaurant they are faced with a list of junk food.

Why do restaurants do this? Why does it always have to be '... and chips' with every meal?

For a better choice of kids’ food in restaurants, I suggest eating out at non chain places. They’ll often (in my experience) do a half portion of something on the adult menu (if it can be halved...we’re usually after pasta dishes) for a lower price.

We worship sweet stuff, especially cake, in this country. Cakes brought in for every birthday (30 per class), in addition to the cake at the party, chocolates handed out at Easter and Christmas, sweets given as prizes, sweetie tombolas at school fetes, pudding as standard after school lunch, sweet snacks (oaty bars are seen as healthy but they are full of sugar), sweetened cereal for breakfast. Even in books there are lyrical descriptions of marvellous feasts involving sweets, ice cream, jelly etc. Perhaps it’s a hangover from rationing, who knows. Sweet food is seen as a quick cheap never fail way to make children happy (in the short term).

Any suggestion of stopping any of these is seen as fun police and miserable - including on MN. “Oh a little bit is fine” we all say but everyone thinks the bit they give is the only little bit. It isn’t and it all adds up.

And the more sweet food children are given, the more their tastes and metabolisms will change to expect it and reject foods that are less instantly gratifying.

Money is very relevant. Sweet food and fast food is cheap. Other healthier treats like fresh fish or perfect ripe fruit are expensive. It’s easier to get your child to eat vegetables if you can afford the nicest seasonal fresh veg and have the time, kit and knowledge to cook them well.

Worraliberty You have to be motivated to learn. But being taught it as a child made it normal. All my friends could make a bechamel sauce for example because of school, so I saw it as normal as learning to add and subtract. I was shocked when I first met some adults that could not do this.
So I can look up internet tutorials on how to do plumbing, but I don't. I don't see it as an everyday skill.

Plates and wine glasses are bigger. We use now some inherited plates from the 60s along with wine glasses and they are smaller than standard ones today.

@Otterses I can't believe how big the sizes are! definitely changed since I was younger

@LilMissRe

You should really read up on the history of government recommended nutrition for your answer. This obesity trend started its precipitous climb in the 70s immediately after a change in US nutrition guidelines that demonised fat (the fat-heart hypothesis) unfortunately this guidance was based on highly suspect data and resulted in the recommendation that fat be replaced with cereals/starches/sugar. Sugar was even advertised as a healthy food at one point! Naturally America was THE leading power at the time and this guidance was exported worldwide. What happened was everyone changed their diet to follow the lower fat plan, increased their starch intake...and everyone got fatter.

Processed food that was based on carbs was cheap to make and could now advertise themselves as 'healthy' low fat etc, people bought them following what they thought was good advice (fat makes you fat right, it seems to make sense!!!)

Unfortunately for the world, not only is natural fat very good for you and not connected to heart disease (studies have looked into this, (full of essential nutrients plus filling and satisfying) but processed carbs which replaced are really bad for you, addicting (look up insulin spikes), inflammatory and possibly contribute to our raising levels of cancer, alzheimers and diabetes (definitely)

All the causes listed above can be explained in this context.

Fussy eating - addicted to sugary processed food why would they want something else

snacking - because of the sugar spike and crash

lack of exercise - a high sugar diet can make you lethargic

Cheaper - processed cereals/carbs are cheaper to make than good protein and fat so more available.

Bad food in schools - government approved nutrition guidelines duh

plate sizes - carbs make you hungry so we can eat bigger portions!

Fuckedoffat48b very few people want to be carers, most do it due to not having many other option, food prep skills would give them other options. Yes pay is an issue but care agencies aren't hugely profitable (most profit made from private clients) so they can't increase the wage massively.

But my point was that it show huge swathes of the parenting age population can't cook.

Ignorance I think is the biggest issue. Ignorance in not recognising their child is overweight because chubby is becoming the norm, ignorance to what a normal healthy diet should consist of and dare I say it lack of concern generally?

There are more overweight parents meaning there will be more overweight children.

I feel its down to laziness not to cook a meal at dinner time, it not rocket science to make tuna/chicken pasta, put chicken in the oven, cook veg and potatoes, fish takes minutes, spag bol can be cooked the night before, homemade soup cooked in batches, cottage pie in batches, i worked full time alway's had a meal at dinner time for the family, it's organisation to, some school lunches aren't very healthy, i did packed lunches healthier and cheaper, veg and potatoes aren't very expesive, fast food has become the norm now

And I disagree with those blaming working parents, when I think of the children who I know are overweight in my children's classes there is not a consensus of it being to children of working parents (or SAHPs) it's a mix. Though I appreciate that's anecdotal, but I assume those blaming working parents are also basing it anecdotally. I work full time and am very mindful of diet.

Here are the things I consider to hinder children getting healthy food:-

1. Lack of education - all children should have basic cookery/healthy eating lessons, not just those doing GCSE Cookery.
2. More choice and opportunity to eat out as a family
3. More takeaways (again more choice)
4. Poor parenting, lack of time and also perceived lack of time.
5. Both parents working, less time to cook
6. Children constantly being taken to birthday parties with party food week in week out, much more than in years gone by.

If the study is only focusing on the food issue as the cause though then it's not great, another huge cause is lack of exercise as children very rarely play outside and if they do only briefly. Years ago children would be outside for most if not all of the day.

Worraliberty but you need to know you need to learn. Which people don't. I'm astounded at the number of people I know who use a jar or packet mix to make a Bolognese sauce and have no idea it can be made from scratch. A friend (not usually stupid) asked my why the chicken breast I was grilling was pink in some areas. When I explained it wasn't properly cooked yet it turned out she had never cooked chicken that wasn't a kiev or frozen and battered. These people genuinely didn't know that they didn't know how to cook, do why would they feel the need to teach themselves?

My dd’s nursery would give them pudding regardless of whether they’d eaten any main. She was so stuffed when she came home she never wanted much for dinner. I could not get them to not offer a pudding if no main had been eaten.

Imo those children I know who are overweight eat everything and anything, including vegetables, it's just that they never stop eating. My kids friends eat portions as big as I do...

@rollingpine well it clearly depends on their appetites (and every parent knows there own child) I know some 10 year olds that eat like birds and some that would eat an adult portion. And stop assuming my thoughts it’s not a nice thing to do. You do what’s right for you family as such, if the menu doesn’t suit your needs then go somewhere else or opt for an adult portion. I know PLENTY of restaurants and cafes that do healthier kids options or half portions of adult meals (sometimes all you need to do is ask) all I’m saying is there are ways around it. Just because it says kids menu doesn’t mean they HAVE to order from it.

I read an article years ago that talked about our food environment. It really shifted my thinking. We live in an incredibly unhealthy food environment. Non-nutritious, very calorific food is cheaply (even freely) available everywhere. Humans have done well because we feast when we can. So biologically, we're just doing what our genes tell us to do. Unfortunately, instead of fixing our environment, we put blame on obese people, mothers, etc., etc.

I'm not saying that we have no personal responsibility, but if your entire environment conspires against you, it's hard to make good food choices for yourself and your family.
I think there are many ways we can help ourselves to eat better, but without a community/national/global effort it won't make any difference.

The resistance I've come up against when I started campaigning against birthday sweets at my local primary truly astounded me. I thought everyone would immediately agree that handing out packs of Haribo 30 times a year (plus Christmas, Easter, end of term treats) was a no brainer. God, was I naive! Many people are not open to discussing policies based on evidence, when the issue in question 'never did them any harm'.

I think the rise in convenience food and the price of it is a major factor. I'm sure everyone would love to feed their kids a healthier diet but lack of time causes problems. Getting in from work tired, kids need to be fed asap and a whole host of jobs to be done doesn't leave much time or energy for cooking. Compare that to a frozen pizza for £1.50 or a ready meal its easy to see why unhealthier food wins.