to not want to follow the change4life guidance on this leaflet?

[lookdeepintotheparka]

We got the change4life booklet home today in book bags which I read through as sometimes has good recipes.

The advice was to switch from full fat milk to skimmed or 1% milk and from butter to low fat spread. I had thought that recent studies show that full fat dairy is actually better for you - especially for children.

AIBU to think change4life information is out of date - does anyone know??

OK so I am supposed to send my 3 year old ds to nursery with packaging from a food which is healthy and a food which is not.... for show and tell. he has a very high calorie requirement due to a disability.

Any idea of what i can send him with to wind the nursery up as much as possible... I am already spitting feathers with them for their lack of inclusion on his disability for a previous topic about what the chldren can do (knowing full well that due to his disability he actually can't).

What are views on olive oil spread? Just interested really we use butter now but used to use olivio

I've been wondering this too, and worrying as butter is so expensive!

The problem with spreads based on oils is think about it - what on earth are they adding to it to make a liquid into a pretty much solid block? Yes it's spreadable so it is more liquid than some things but it's not right IMO.

Only got to page 2 of thread so far but just had to post in favour of the idea of a MN Campaign. Would gladly help with that if there's anything I can do as an amateur volunteer.

Advocating REAL FOOD and as little processed crap as possible. Reintroducing the joy of simple healthy meals.

I used to really like the C4L campaign, it's such a shame to see it get it so wrong. The tips for things like increasing activity and adding more vegetables are great but the low fat, high sugar/sweetener thing is just plain harmful.

Everysilverlining, would full fat cheese wrapper fit the bill as healthy and an additive laden low fat yogurt pot as unhealthy : but in my kid's school they would be swapped around!

Thing is with the idea of these swaps being fine for short term weightloss... I'm not sure, I guess they might help you lose weight (unless the increase of sweeteners increased your appetite as aspartame does, due to it tricking the brain into anticipating a glucose high) but maybe it would be less sustainable anyway?

If you lose weight that way maybe you would feel more deprived and hungry (ie more likely to cave), whereas if you were eating small amounts of real, full fat natural stuff you'd feel more satisfied and more likely to stick to the new way of life.

I'm annoyed that DD seems to have picked up the idea from school that 'fats and sugars' are one food group. Am trying to convince her that there are good fats etc.

I am using sweeteners at the moment as I lose weight.....I am planning to start polluting them with plain yoghurt to adjust to the less sweet taste.

So far I am not feeling hungry between meals....but that's because I plan to eat something between meals...an apple, a tangerine, some carrot sticks etc.

Not sure if that just keeps my blood sugar at a set level so no hunger pangs or if it's just filling me up.

I am eating carbs on Green days (SW) and making them things like whole grain rice etc. I am feeling so much better by doing this.....and it feels sustainable.

DS is doing the same.....he just doesn't know it. As he has no stop button (due to his autism) it is good to know that what he eats is all helping him maintain his weight until he grows into it.

It's a pile of potentially dangerous nonsense. I wonder how much this particular initiative cost; when they seem to have skipped doing the most basic research?

everysilverlining most healthy foods don't have wrappers - that's the whole point! So I'd already be

For the unhealthy I'd find something like a diet pasta sauce and look at all the artificial additives.

Agree we could definitely do with a campaign to help parents make informed choices about food based on the latest research. Like you, Floggingmolly, I wonder how much the government pay the individuals concerned to produce guidelines fir c4l??

Our school also showed us new parents how to put together the 'perfect' lunchbox with cheesestrings and low fat 'diet' yoghurts suggested!

everysilverlining, I don't suppose a butter wrapper (from a pat of proper butter, not an ersatz "spread") would work as a healthy choice?

I can certainly do a butter wrapper as healthy. We only have butter and olive oil in our house, as dh won't eat anything else... I was also thinking anout unsalted nuts but there's a boy with a peanut allergy so i'd have to be sure that was ok. so maybe butter given Ds loves it.

Now as for unhealthy I am sure I can find something but ds doesn't even like chocolate..... I wonder if I could find an empty vodka bottle, but maybe that's pushing it.

Ds language may not be up to additives unfortunately. I drink diet coke though so that might do.

yanbu but ff milk is gross. It also goes off quicker so if I buy it for the dds dh never notices if it has gone smelly. Have given it up

That said I about my in laws not having butter in the house. Cake's fine as long as you use marg .....

This is some British thing, right? The conformist thing about following official advice? And therefore getting het up at it?

Obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndromes are enormous threats. Most of us including children over 5 do eat too much fat. By all means apply your own common sense to your own situation, but I don't object to the C4L leaflet advice as a good rules for most people to at least consider.

YES to 'most healthy foods don't have wrappers' :o unless you count kiwi peel or something.

On the whole "eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants" thing I really liked this quote from www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

And you’re much better off eating whole fresh foods than processed food products. That’s what I mean by the recommendation to eat “food.” Once, food was all you could eat, but today there are lots of other edible foodlike substances in the supermarket.

I agree we need to stop thinking of processed shite as 'food' - because it isn't really. Maybe if we tell ourselves THAT'S NOT FOOD! it'll help us not to buy it. This is helping me lately as we've agreed to cut down on processed foods for the sake of the DCs. I am already finding my tastes change and there's a lot of things I don't miss, and just find myself rolling my eyes at it thinking "ugh" and walking (or scrolling in the case of tesco online!) right past without feeling the pangs I used to.

There will always be exceptions, I honestly can't imagine ever not loving chocolate! But I'm sticking to much less and only buying a bit that I really love rather than lots of any old crap.

Cheestrings FFS?

regarding butter - lots of people will spread it onnvread or toast then put jam or whatever on too.
years and years ago, I stopped using butter on my bread/toast and just put the spread on (or whatever other filling).
the only time I have butter is if I have no other topping/filling.
it tastes fine. I don't understand using low fat spreads when using no spread is better for you.

feesh SW recommends wholegrain pasta/rice etc, and if you use the original plan it is low-GI, if that's best for you. Not everyone needs a low-GI diet though, and speaking personally I can't have wholegrains because of my IBS. I am not on SW or any other weight-loss programme btw, just that SW has worked for a lot of people I know.

jake agree re the hifi bars but you don't have to have them. Not all the B choices are cereal based either, if I did SW I'd go for 1tbsp of olive oil as my B option as I have to avoid wholegrains thanks to IBS.

I was pretty shocked at the nestle/danone links to change4life, did a bit of googling and found this petition to end their involvement.
The NHS appears to be advertising Nestle's bottled water for them on one website about C4L!

Mrs Mook - another one here with a CMPA DC. Have you tried roasting baby new potatoes in the oven - for fats, use half olive oil and half Trex.

Basically, I was advised to use lots more olive oil, as salad dressings, in cooking, just lots of olive oil.

And yes, the change4life info is crap. It is easy yo eat a healthier diet - just read the food labels. The less ingredients something has, the better it is likely to be for you. If it contains things that look scientific or unpronounceable, try to eat them in moderation only.

And the info about artificial sweeteners. No thank you, it's a neurotoxin.

Water? Milk? My DC's have full fat until 7yo, then switch to Semi skimmed. If they drank a bit less than 2 pints a bloody day each, then they would still be having full fat.

Eat what you want, but in moderation. If your granny cooked it, it's probably better for you than if it goes in the microwave...

Everysilverlining - send in a bottle of olive oil as his 'healthy' food, and a bottle of no-added sugar fizzy pop as his 'unhealthy' food...

I'm certainty avoiding processed food but there's a marked difference in trying to avoid day (ie poster avoiding butter) and the advice to list cans and actively easy fay (on one thread with advice for snacks I was avised yo avoid sugar but actively add doubLie cream/butter and other natural fats.

Either sugar is wrong and we actively add fat or fat is wrong and people substitute sugar or we avoid both....

I get confused when people say the sugar in low fat yogurts is wrong but also say full sugar drinks etc are better...

I'm certainty avoiding processed food but there's a marked difference in trying to avoid day (ie poster avoiding butter) and the advice to list cans and actively easy fay (on one thread with advice for snacks I was avised yo avoid sugar but actively add doubLie cream/butter and other natural fats.

Either sugar is wrong and we actively add fat or fat is wrong and people substitute sugar or we avoid both....

I get confused when people say the sugar in low fat yogurts is wrong but also say full sugar drinks etc are better...

goodness here's my take on it:

Artificial sweeteners are positively bad for your health and I would completely avoid them (unless you are very obese and hooked on sugary drinks, in which case may be ok to help wean you off, but not long term)

Sugar is not actively 'bad' as such, but refined sugar is just empty calories (devoid of nutritional value) and will make you fat if eaten to excess. Moderation is key. Try to get sugar intake from fruit rather than refined sugar as fruit will give you vitamins and fibre - this will also mean less blood sugar crash which leads to hunger pangs.

Fat from natural sources (meat, dairy, nuts) is not bad, but can make you fat if eaten to excess. If you avoid fat completely you would miss out on important nutrition and likely to feel hungry and have food cravings. Fats you should avoid completely IMHO are trans fats, hydrogenated fats etc. I believe these are actively unhealthy and can make you more overweight.

Eat natural foods as much as possible is the best advice from this thread.