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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:
GwendolineMaryLacey · 07/08/2011 18:39

Well firstly, I don't think that any one who gives dietary advice says it's easy. Secondly, just because you're overweight, does't mean you don't know what you should be doing. And thirdly, if you couldn't separate the advice from the person giving it, I'd think you were a little bit stupid. Several people on this thread have proved the point.

If you honestly go to a dr who gives you dietary advice and you choose not to believe them because they're not an ideal weight then you're really too stupid to leave the house on your own.

Chandon · 07/08/2011 18:44

ridiculous.

I always have to tell my poor brainwashed children ("NO mummy, pizza is BAD for you!!!" Hmm):
" you can eat as much as you like during meal times, and no, pizza is not a bad food. Food is about enjoyment as well as nourishment"

That way you learn to listen to your body, and know when you're full. You can eat fish and chips, and pizza, and pasta, and anything at all really as long as you're tuned into yourself, and stop eating when you're full.

My family all eat anything we like, nice piece of cake on a Sunday, nice meal out, homemade pizza etc. And as much as we like. We are all slim. We don't spend the day obsessing about food and portion sizes.

we eat at meal times and then forget about food.

I think this portion control is madness. Much better to say no to snacks in between meals. but I guess that's not the current fashion of eating.

LineRunner · 07/08/2011 18:44

Making it now, catgirl. Smile

catgirl1976 · 07/08/2011 18:47

[GRIN] Yaaay! Am starving :)

foreverondiet · 07/08/2011 18:56

One mini pizza is around 432 calories. And the calories requirements for an 8 year old would be 1400-1600, so it would be ok for a child to have one for dinner if that was all they were having.

Add in other calories from drink, pudding, etc etc then a 1/4 of a pizza might be more appropriate.

In terms of pizza being a "nutritious" meal - depends what the base is made from (white flour is low in nutrition) and what the topping is (cheese is basically fat rather than protein).

LineRunner · 07/08/2011 18:57

You know, Catgirl, if you lived near me I'd send you some round. I remember you cheering me up on a daft Friday night thread a few weeks ago. For which, thanks.

I know that a lot of our local schools encourage the kids to grow basil and tomatoes in the school garden or allotment, but the cookery lessons still seem to be a bit crap and unrealistic.

CareyHunt · 07/08/2011 19:03

I wouldn't let my children have processed bought pizza, but I regularily make pizza (wholemeal base, fresh tom. sauce, not masses of cheese, just mozzarella). They can easily eat 1 medium pizza each, with loads of salad (wouldn't usually do potatoes with pizza. It just seems like carbs with more carbs). Then we would have pudding. None of my children is over weight...in fact ds2 is skin and bone! They're really active kids, they get hungry.

Maybe Jo Frost is thinking that when you spend all bloody day on the naughty stair you don't work up much of an appetite?! Grin

MrsKravitz · 07/08/2011 19:04

I wish I knew how big a mini pizza is Hmm.

catgirl1976 · 07/08/2011 19:10

:) I remember that thread too LineRunner - it was brilliant. Made my week so thank you too :)

Soups · 07/08/2011 19:20

After reading this thread Dominoes was called. I should have substituted the pineapple for jalapeno, not onion on my Reggae Reggae. Oh well, we live and we learn sigh

booboobeedoo · 07/08/2011 19:28

imo quarter of a mini pizza is not asseptable

MrsKravitz · 07/08/2011 19:36

Well my 6 year old has had porridge, 3 apricots, 2 bananas (one with low fat squirt cream), 2 ham and salad rolls (small rolls), brioche, blackberries, 2 squares of chocolate, cheese and crackers and a fairly good size meal of ham roast, potatoes, carrotts, cauli and peas. The child is an eat machine at the moment. Im sure thats over the requirements but his weight is fine. Im sure that sized pizza would be insufficient for him.

howabout · 07/08/2011 19:41

Well said Chandon. I am extremely aware of the damage that can be caused by obsessive portion control and villifying food having struggled with an eating disorder in my youth. I am currently in a battle of wills over my mealtimes because my underweight 8 year old DD has been persuaded by her somewhat larger contemporaries that food at mealtimes is to be viewed with suspicion but the rules do not seem to apply when it comes to the sweet shop.

addressbook · 07/08/2011 19:44

No wonder so many grow up with food issues Hmm

I just want my kids to enjoy food, a wide variety of it and it is a big part of our family life.

Food should not become something to battle. But then I have read so many threads on here over the years where the food and fat phobia is revealed.

My kids don't get weighed.They are active and slim but eat a wide variety of foods (and yes treats as well).

Oblomov · 07/08/2011 19:44

chicago town pizza's ? My 7 yr old and 2 yr old can scoff 2 within minutes. Thats as a starter. before having a main meal and then pudding.
1/4 of a pizza ? are you kidding me ? what a joke. they would be hungry within 20 minutes. ds1 skinny as a rake.

catgirl1976 · 07/08/2011 19:48

Slim doesn't always equal healthy. I know someone who lives off junk food and is skinny as a rake. I bet he isn't healthy though.

Chandon · 07/08/2011 19:52

addressbook, that's 2 of us then.

This fat obsession is getting me down.

Don't even talk about school dinners, my DC are starving after them as it's so much salad now, and one measly slice of pizza at "pizza" day. I wait at the school gates at 3:30 with sandwiches!

addressbook · 07/08/2011 19:53

I can tell by looking at my kids and all their friends, that kids have a huge variety in natural body structure, build, appetite, height etc

So it really, really fucks me off all this BMI obsession and portion recommendation. The little girl that lives next door to us is very petite, eats like a bird. But she is energetic and just naturally small, as is her mum. My ds is 5, but the height of an average 7 year old. He is very slim but 'solid' - not a light build. He has a much bigger appetite.

Weight problems and food issues are very complex. They relate to cultural and individual factors. Individual psychology, childhood and many other reasons. To simplify it all down to a chart, figures etc is not going to solve a bloody thing. It is politics that is all.

catgirl1976 · 07/08/2011 19:55

Can they eat as much salad as they like Chandon or is it a restrited portion size?

LineRunner · 07/08/2011 19:57

I don't have scales in the house.

ledkr · 07/08/2011 19:58

Feeling all fat and unhealthy as we all had pizza pasta and salad for dinner. Small thin crust pizza divided by 3 and some tomato based pasta sauce on pasta. That seems a normal meal to me and i have 5 very unfat dc's 1 a soldier,one a kickboxing instructor and one a ballet dancer,they used to polish of a couple of pizzas and a jacket potato and beans Grin

Chandon · 07/08/2011 19:58

Howabout, one of my DC is 2nd percentile, so almost underweight, and he really can do without the "healthy food" nonsense. Kids don't need diet food, they need loads of carbs, protein and vitamins. And fat even.

missorinoco · 07/08/2011 19:59

Who eats potatoes with pizza?
Me.
Wedges and pizza. Yum.

LineRunner · 07/08/2011 20:00

Don't get me started on fecking BMI.

My son's solid, too. A sporty type. (But he does like his Mars Bars.)

Northernlurkerisgoingonholiday · 07/08/2011 20:00

Chandon and addressbook - I agree with you. We are seriously screwed up when it comes to food - at both ends of the spectrum.