To believe we've forgotten how to eat healthily

[Yoruba]

I'm so completely fed up of the school serving up so much rubbish, with seemingly no understanding that its unhealthy. It is really really hard to find good evidenced advice about healthy eating for children. There seem to be contradictory reports coming out all the time, and I say that as someone who is really interested in this subject so it must be harder if you don't.

The school meals are utter rubbish. They have a sugary rubbishy pudding every day, sweets at every possible occasion and now they have seen fit to start selling ice creams after school to raise money.
Im not even THAT strict I don't think, I'm happy for her to have these foods but evidence shows that eating them regularly alters your taste buds and makes you crave them more. I think they should be occasional foods we eat as PART of a healthy diet, not every day.

But at the moment I'm feeling like a lone voice and I hate dd feeling like she's missing out in not having what her friends are. I don't want these things to be "forbidden" objects of desire.

It just seems as though there is very little knowledge now of what is actually healthy for children.

No I just remembered there's a recipe for ghee in Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian book.

Iam bothered I like natural organic or unsprayed food if I can get it. Apparently human bodies are lasting for an unnaturally long time due to the preservatives Mine won't!

But people's motivators for complaining about food is normally not lasting until the sell by date.

So you make the whole supply chain about shelf life, not about health and taste.

Yup very true pommedeterre

A few days ago I harvested a couple of pounds of strawberries from the garden. They are already beginning to spoil (the few that haven't been scoffed). It makes you wonder what the bought ones are sprayed with.

They do seem to ripen a bit, left in the bowl. We currently have strawberry fatigue here; can barely be arsed to pick the bloody things.

And the DCs are moaning about some being a "funny shape".

Good to hear chat about real food and from people who seem to understand the difference. I have frequently been shocked at the lack of understanding about food and what people are actually eating. Packets of flavour thrown on every item on a plate. Veg destroyed with unhealthy things put on it (like packet stock and manufactured honey) because people don't find pure food interesting enough. A lot of people know the 5 a day thing and that you need protein, carbs, vit's and minerals (and fats but people tend not to realise that one) but no idea about the reality of their processed versions of all those things they are eating.

I was most puzzled at your mention of manufactured honey! A bit of googling suggests it's another of those American fakeries, which aren't allowed under EU law. Honey-flavoured corn syrup, right?

GarlicJune Honey bees are often (usually?) fed sugar in the winter so a lot of honeys are just sugar really. We pay a LOT of money for REAL organic honey it's worth it for the amazing taste.

Droflove If you watch any TV adverts they're always pushing packets and ready made sauces. I never under estimate the power of adverts. There are MNers who really think there's nothing wrong with Coxx Cxxx for example.

Also the traditional 'plate' of carbs and veg and protein is not nec. a very healthy one: I've followed the Hay diet for many years and its much better for my digestion.

Cous cous? Maybe?

Yep, Corus, it's "food combining". Hay had a serious kidney disease. He improved his health by cutting out junk food, then decided he'd invented a magical system of eating which has failed every scientific evaluation over the century it's been in use. Not to say it's a 'bad' diet - it isn't, but the rules are pointless.

I fell for all that scare stuff about High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) for about five minutes, before I realised it's just invert sugar. Honey's invert sugar (it reverts if it gets cold & crystallises). So is jam. Apparently in America & Australia, corn syrup with 'honey' flavouring is sold as honey, but you can't do that in Europe. The EU has strict quotas on production, and wide-scale replacement of sugar with HFCS has not occurred here. Not that it's a particularly bad thing on its own; the main problem is that it's sweeter than ordinary sugar & gets into your system faster, perhaps leading people to develop a very sweet tooth and/or suffer uneven blood sugar.

Bee keepers feed them sugar syrup in the Spring if the hive has used up its honey store over the winter. They've always done this. While the bee disease was going on a few years ago, they had to be given sugar all year as they were so weak. DEFRA says you should use white sugar, not honey, as honey can pass infection to the hive being fed.

Told you I was boring. Sorry!

Hay is about carbs, predecessor of Atkins.

The honey thing is a bit rubbish though. Presumably the bees have only used up all their honey store because it has been over harvested. Feeding them sugar must surely affect the flavour of the honey; proper honey has such a gorgeous floral taste.

I must admit I have a bit of a thing about bees; my bee friendly garden seems to be home to the lost bumblebee population of Britain. And so many different species, there's not much information about to identify the different types either. And different species favour different plants and they methodically harvest each flower in a certain way....... I'll shut up now; I could bee bore for England.

No, you only feed the hive to keep the bees going until they can get out to do some harvesting! In nature, they just die if it's a long winter. If you find a bee in trouble, feed it with a bit of sugar water on a teaspoon :)

There was a nice bee graphic on my facebook yesterday. I'm having a look for it, but mine's a very busy feed so no promises.

Anyone see the swarm programme on yesterday? Man deliberately covers himself in bees wanders into a cafe.

Tinkly - this wasn't the graphic I saw, but thought you might like it (PDF) www.bto.org/sites/default/files/u23/downloads/pdfs/bbees-645kb.pdf

I actually think it's really simple - if it looks like food and isn't processed then it's healthy.

I'm not overweight because I don't eat healthy - I eat the lovely veg/salad/simple meats and fish

And then I eat a chocolate bar. or drink a couple of glasses of extra wine calories

Processed food tastes lovely - it's engineered by evil capitalists who want you to buy their product - so they blend it just so that it has the perfect balance of fat and sugar.

If food looks like an ingredient then it's healthy.

So berries/veg/meat/cream/fish/spices/butter/cheese - all healthy food

Doughnuts/crisps/a lot of ready meals - not so much

Your diet needs to look like food - and the rest, the stuff that looks like a machine made it? In moderation.

And then you take account of what works for your own internal body - so you don't eat breakfast/you do eat breakfast/you count calories/you observe religious foods - whatever works for you.