What DC ate yesterday

[Bemyclementine]

dons hard hat

I'm aware of some extreme views about food, overeating , competitive undereating etc on mumsnet. Just wondering what people thing of DCs diet yesterday. Keeping in mind this is 1 day.....

Breakfast
Dc1 (8) bowl frosties. Bowl porridge. Teaspoon sugar. Cup of milk.
Dc2 (6) 2 x bowls porridge, drizzle of honey. Cup of almond milk.

Snack
Dc1 , - school snack, flapjack.
Dc2 - brunch bar

Lunch
1 - ham salad sandwich, apple, sunbites, frube.
2 - ham salad sandwich, apple, frube, mini muffin.

Dinner
Grilled pork steak
Homemade mac cheese
Brocolli and carrots

Later
1 pear
2 apple and pnb.
Few sweets (5).

Water to drink all day.

Activity levels are quite high. Dc attend beavers/cubs. Swim once a week. Gymnastics once a week. Park/basketball/football/bike rides after school and weekends.

I'm sure it's certainly a lot better than many. In the ideal world I'd say exchange the frosties for something with more fibre and less sugar, ie malt wheats. If the bread is white, then exchange it for wholemeal/granary. Not sure whether you want these suggestions, but as you're asking about their diet thought I'd say. Also, I realise it depends what your DCs will eat. You've got a few sugary options in there, but I appreciate those options are providing nutrition.

It’s fine… and not to be too po-faced but pretty high in sugar. They don’t need another teaspoon of sugar on Frosties which are already so sugary. Sweets on a Monday isn’t really necessary.

Not many veggies in there. So it’s ok, but not the best it could be.

Could you find a way to add more protein in? There's lots of fibre and stuff but not a lot of protein. Maybe some greek yoghurt with breakfast instead of extra cereal? Or some eggs?

Seems fine to me.

Thanks - we did used to have granary break but the price compared to white is madness. 3 times as much. (For the one they like....)

The day before they had weetabix , today crumpets. The sugar was on the porridge not the frosties !!

They do have greek yogurt with either fruit abd honey or walnuts/almonds and honey.

They are hungry, and I'm on a budget. I'm also conscious that there is a lot of sweet stuff. They are both tall and slim currently.

Sounds like it's hard to keep them full at the moment! No doubt someone will be along in a minute to say salad, broccoli, carrots and 4 pieces of fruit is not enough fruit and veg.

Seems OK generally but I'd be wanting to reduce the sugar and ultra processed foods (frosties, ham, frube, brunch bar). I agree with PP, look to increase protein to help stay full - would they eat eggs for breakfast? or make frittata in little muffin cases so they're ready ahead of time.

They do eat scrambled eggs for breakfast, sometimes with toast, sometimes without.

The processed stuff - it's convenience really, for lunchboxes especially.

i think it's great. lots of fruit and veg. a bowl of frosties occasionally doesn't hurt anyone.

Looks fine to me, as someone whose 4 yo DC had
Breakfast: Cup of milk, a tiny spoonful of porridge and 2 pots of fromage frais
Lunch: large bowl of pasta with veg sauce, tangerine
Snack: scotch pancake and a tangerine
Dinner: two slices of toast and marmite and 2 fromage frais

My Ds (3) is pretty fussy atm. So he seats similar most days.

Breakfast: dried Cheerios, a banana, glass milk
nursery mid morning snack: cream cheese sandwich, tangerine, watermelon
Lunch: pasta with tomato veggie sauce (blitzed so he can’t see veg)
dinner: wrap, black beans, cheese, sour cream, cucumber. Greek yogurt and berries

That was a pretty good day for him tbh. Portions of each fairly small as he won’t eat large amounts at once

My 8 year old dd eats along the lines of
breakfast- 2x crumpets/2x toast/ one tea cake with butter and jam (one of those choices)

snack at school- whatever fruit school offer- usually apple

lunch- school provide so it’s either cheese sandwich and fruit or the hot meal which can be roast dinner, pizza and chips, stew etc. with a yoghurt flapjack or fruit for pudding -

home time- snack- malt loaf or chocolate bar

tea- this is where I fall down because we’re always in a rush for some kind of sport for her and her brother so it is sometimes something healthy like pasta in tomato sauce with peppers etc in or sometimes something shit like chicken burger. Pudding is usually yoghurt

i could definitely do better but just posted it for a comparison for you. My 8 yo is not overweight but has a little tummy and I’m aware of it and know I need to cut the processed stuff. She does a lot of sport.

Are they fit healthy and a sensible weight ( ie look skinny ) ?

If yes all is fine

@Ivebeentogeorgia it's hard with the after school rush isn't it? We have several nights where we need something quick. I'm thinking of batch cooking at the weekend much to my dismay.

@midgemadgemodge yes, they are both slim, dc1 is very slender, and is developing a 6 pack !! Dc2 is broader in the chest but also very slim. Both boys.

Sounds normal in my house, mine eat lots of cereal, wrapped snacks, shop bought pizzas etc. It's not ideal but it is interspersed with home made spag bols, curries, fruit, chopped carrots and cucumber etc.

It's a balancing act - health, time, money, convenience, enjoyment of food. We do what we can 🤷🏻‍♀️

Ps mine are tall, slim, healthy and active. They've got a sweet tooth but so do most people!

It's fine. Don't get hung up on this, asking Mumsnet is a bad idea.

I am a really healthy eater, hardly any UPF, cook from scratch and my DC still eat way more processed stuff than I’d like because it’s really bloody hard not to - lunchboxes, breakfasts, snacks…so it’s home cooked healthy dinners but brioche or cereal for breakfast more than I’d like. Even Chris van Tulleken basically said the same in his AMA. So overall I’d say - could be better, but in all honesty and in the real world probably still better than the majority.

It's fine.

It's obviously not the absolute best, quite high in sugar, bit low in veg, but fine.

As you say, it's just one day...totally depends on what they eat the rest of the time.

Sounds fine to me! DD7 eats fairly similar, like PP said it’s a trying to balance of cost, convenience, health + stuff they’ll actually eat!

It's fine. It really is.

If I was being picky, here are the changes I would make:

• Remove the sugary cereal breakfast options like frosties.
• Up protein in the morning - peanut butter toast/scrambled eggs/cheese on toast?
• Give an extra vegetable with lunch instead of one of the frube/crisps/mini muffin. Carrot sticks would be the obvious one. You could add a little pot of dip/houmous if they'd eat it.
• Swap out the ham sandwich for tuna/egg/chicken some days so they're not eating processed meat everyday.

If they're only drinking water and no juice/fizzy drinks, that's clearly a good thing.

Children can have a fairly awful diet and still do OK. I'm part of the generation that grew up on smash, Turkey twizzlers, ice cream roll and treacle pudding for school dinners. Ham or cheese sandwich, penguin and a bag of crisps for a packed lunch. An apple or banana (usually discarded).

What I would say is that I managed to get to 18 fairly unscathed on that diet, and then was fit and healthy all through my 20s, but now I'm in my 30s with kids, a stressful life and not that much time, I reach for sugary and processed foods more often than is ideal. I do wonder if that comes from growing up on them?

I think it's a pretty standard diet. For comparison, mine had:

Breakfast - ready brek, pear, milk

Lunch - tuna sandwich, apple, protein yoghurt, Kit Kat

Dinner - tacos (steak mince & soffrito mixed veg, tinned toms in the shells), cheese, raw carrots, cucumber, guacamole & various dips, garlic bread

Snacks - brunch bar at school. Oat cakes with philadelphia & grapes after school (before swimming). Then 1 had a donut after dinner.

@Goldbar I don't know, I wasn't allowed any "treats" growing up. No easter eggs. As soon as I was old enough I was shovelling chocolate in like it was going out of fashion. I got very tubby as a young teen, then very skinny for many years.

Normal to me... somewhat like my two..

daily breakfast is either weetabix and fruit/ choc cereal/ yogurt/ marmite toast sometimes dd will just ask for cucumber - and that's fine if she wants to start her day that way!
Lunch at school always hot food
Dinners consist of pasta/potato/rice with meat and veg/ burgers in buns etc
I don't give them dessert but they do eat a lollipop after school and a few squares of choc after dinner or some crisps/ nuts/ fruit
Today after dinner ds asked for an apple and peaches but dd asked for pickled onions... I mean who am I to judge 🤣🤷‍♀️

It's difficult to know, isn't it? I try not to forbid foods here but go for an "everything in moderation" approach rather than the processed free-for-all of my 80s/90s childhood.