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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Jo Frost portion sizes.

176 replies

york0 · 07/08/2011 15:13

I am in shock that a quarter of a mini pizza is considered a portion size for a n 8 year old child. My 4 year could eat a whole one easily and is not overweight. Obv know pizza is a treat and doesn't have it all the time.

OP posts:
CheerfulYank · 07/08/2011 17:34

I love Jo Frost.

SardineQueen · 07/08/2011 17:38

I will try and find the thing on the NHS.

I think the problem is that while I for one would not doubt the technical and professional competance of the person delivering the information,and would believe the information to be accurate and important, I would find it hard not to look at them and think "well it's not as easy as that is it - the evidence is in front of my eyes" IYSWIM

Soupqueen · 07/08/2011 17:40

"processed" tomato is actually higher in lycopene than fresh. Pizza, preferably homemade, in moderation is fine. I wouldn't serve potatoes with it though, that just sounds odd to me.

Oblomov · 07/08/2011 17:43

Of course you shouldn't eat pizza every day. You shoudn't eat ANY food everyday. That doesn't make any food bad or naughty.
We eat a variety of meals. Don't you ?
Roasts, salads, pasta, stir fry, jacket pots, chicken and steamed veg.
I try for variety. We prob don't eat the same meal in a fortnight. apart from pasta or potatoes which are eaten regularly.
This 'pizza is not a healthy food' thing is rubbish.

SardineQueen · 07/08/2011 17:44

here is a piece about the NHS thing.

Choufleur · 07/08/2011 17:46

My homemade pizzas are made from half White half brown flour. The sauce is tomatoes with onions, garlic, peppers and usually courgette in it. With some ham and cheese

jenniec79 · 07/08/2011 17:47

Its definately possibly to make a healthy homemade pizza. You'd usually end up with less salt in the dough, thinner crust, your toppings could be however healthy or not you want. You wont have sugar spray on top as one of the takeaway chains do, and unlikely to have the fat-loaded stuffed crust bits if you're DIYing. Plus once I'm chopping I do tend to make a salad too.

One large homebrew or bought pizza (fairly rare occurrance tbh) will do me 3-4 meals that way(leftovers become packed lunchable), or if I'm feeding others I'd expect it to serve 2-3.

Pizza and potatoes is only odd in the same way as pie and spuds/potato pie/quiche and potatoes. I tend not to make both, but if they're both on a buffet they go pretty well!

Sidge · 07/08/2011 17:51

Most parents vastly overestimate portion sizes for young children.

Pizza in itself isn't the problem, it's how much of it is served, and what it's served with.

LineRunner · 07/08/2011 17:54

If you make your own pizza base, so you know what's in it (and more to the point what's not in it), and there's lots of tomato, olives, basil, peppers and garlic, with Nice Mozarella, that's great, and you could probably eat a fair bit without instant death or obesity.

Anyway Sardine do you remember what paper that article was in and about when (datewise)? I was a bit Shock recently to be quizzed about my diet during a routine check-up by a nurse who, shall we say, possibly didn't eat as many olives as me. I wanted to say, My cholestrol's fine but what about yours? But obviously didn't. She had her leaflets to give out. Busy busy.

LineRunner · 07/08/2011 17:59

Thanks Sardine was typing while you were posting! Will have a look.

catgirl1976 · 07/08/2011 18:01

LineRunner you are making me hungry. Please make me a nice pizza :(

activate · 07/08/2011 18:04

child-size portions make me laugh

can't remember my children ever eating less than an adult, many times much more, since they hit 5 or 6 and they are all slim and healthy

my children will eat an entire pizza express pizza on their own and I am extremely happy for them to do so - vegetables, carbs and calcium

voddiekeepsmesane · 07/08/2011 18:06

I really do not think that her message of a healthy balanced diet is aimed at the MN majority. But beleive or not there are some families (I know a few) that think nothing of having pizza and chips one night, sausages (not nice ones)and chips the next then oh nuggets (not homemade) and yep you guessed it chips the next and so on.

And the people who are commenting on her weight being an issue at to whether she can say anything about a childs healthy diet, does that mean because I am overweight I should not try to give my children or anyone elses child a healthy meal in my home?!

spiderpig8 · 07/08/2011 18:08

A child's calorie requirements are nearly the same as an adults about 1800 per day.I fail to see how quarter of a mini pizza and salad is going to be anywhere near 600 calories???

spiderpig8 · 07/08/2011 18:08

1800 for a 9 yr old

MissPenteuth · 07/08/2011 18:08

Shock not-nice sausages!
ShockShock not-homemade nuggets!!

Wink
catgirl1976 · 07/08/2011 18:09

Maybe it was the fat / salt content that was the concern rather than just the calories?

spiderpig8 · 07/08/2011 18:09

I have noticed a lot of her scientific information is a bot dodgy..and her so called 'experiments'? a 10 yr old could tell you weren't 'fair tests'

voddiekeepsmesane · 07/08/2011 18:10

I know MissPenteuth shocking Grin

Sidge · 07/08/2011 18:11

Too right voddie I have worked with families that think having baked beans with their deep-fat-fried sausages and chips makes a meal healthy.

And you can't win when trying to give healthy eating advice as a nurse - if you're overweight you are criticised and told to practice what you preach. If you're slim you're criticised as "you can't possibly understand what it's like to be overweight".

Riveninside · 07/08/2011 18:11

My teens have always eaten a whole pizza each. They are 6 foot and exteremely underweight. I manage less than a quarter but they happily eat an entire thing and have done from maybe ten or so

LineRunner · 07/08/2011 18:13

Ah, I am reminded, spiderpig8, of the indefatiguable 'Dr' Gillian McKeith's 'PhD thesis'. Smile

GraduallyGoingInsane · 07/08/2011 18:14

We have pizza once every couple of weeks, and all my children are still alive. Sometimes I home make it, with tomato puree, mozzarella, fresh basil and various toppings, sometimes we dig out a frozen pizza.

Between my 4 DDs and I, we will eat 2 average sized pizzas, plus salad. If DH is in, we have 3 pizzas. If I gave them 1/4 of a mini pizza each, I'd give it an hour at most before they were all scraping round the kitchen moaning that they were starving.

I agree with others though, I'd never serve potato with pizza, that's just WEIRD.

LineRunner · 07/08/2011 18:21

I was talking to my teens about this last week. Even they can see how the crappest food is the cheapest, and how some families don't have the luxury of Nice Ingredients.

Also if fuel prices are rocketing and you're on the breadline, and on an expensive key meter, then you're hardly going to want to be baking homemade pizzas and nuggets, are you? You'll want the shit that's cheap that you can microwave in a minute. Or that's in a tin that warms in a minute.

faverolles · 07/08/2011 18:21

MIL used to serve pasta with chips. Now thats weird. :o