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.

Schools often mislead parents into thinking that school meals are healthy when they're not at all. It's not a deliberate act of deception, more that they don't dispel the common belief. I think a lot of parents believe that Jamie Oliver's initiative has changed school meals nationwide but this is not the case.

Most new build schools are under a contract with then owner of the building. I'm my area it's a huge company that have built schools, hospitals and other public service builds. They have their own catering section which is the compulsory catering 'choice' that is used in their buildings. The food is terrible and even the healthy options are calorific and unhealthy.

I am a teacher and I struggle with my weight. If I eat the sandwiches available from the school canteen I put weight on, they are full of sugar as well as fat. When I bring a pre packed sandwich I don't put in weight and when I bring fresh food I lose weight.

They also serve chips and gravy as a meal, clearly that's fine once in a while but I don't think it should be a school meal option when a school meal is sometimes the only hot meal
a child might have. There is also a daily choice of cakes and custard.

The fruit pots available are usually warm and the fruit tastes fizzy which indicates that it is not fresh. A lot of improvement needs to be made to school dinners.

I have a problem with the 'everything in moderation' mantra... So a cake a day, a biscuit a day, an ice cream a day..... Moderation? No. Add that to the after school 'treat' at home. The school pudding and the mornings cereal, then you have a day of eating rubbish.

It's not moderation really

I am a teacher and I struggle with my weight. If I eat the sandwiches available from the school canteen I put weight on, they are full of sugar as well as fat. When I bring a pre packed sandwich I don't put in weight and when I bring fresh food I lose weight.

Yes but surely that's because you 'struggle with your weight' anyway?

If you ate an everyday healthy diet with suitable portion sizes and the correct amount of exercise, five sandwiches a week couldn't possibly cause you to gain weight.

Schools provide a light midday lunch for both pupils and staff. If they are getting the correct amount of food and exercise away from school at all other times, that light lunch should not make any difference to their weight at all.

I think more responsibility for what people eat at home (and definitely the amount they eat) should be taken, rather than blaming schools or anything/anyone else.

School meals are shit, treat culture bonkers but lollipops at weddings are the best:)

I don't consider anything which contains bread to be a 'light' lunch.

I don't consider anything which contains bread to be a 'light' lunch.

See and I consider that totally bonkers

Two thin slices of bread with (for example) a slice of ham and some salad between them...plus a piece of fruit/yoghurt is a light lunch.

After you've eaten that, you can run around the playground/do PE or if you're a teacher, go about your normal working day.

But that's mostly sugar.....bread tends to leave people bloated, feeling anything other than light, but realistically, prepared sandwiches are never really 2 thin slices of bread are they? More like a sub roll/half a baguette etc

But the bloating or bread belly is an individual thing.

Five sandwiches a week will only make a difference to someone who is already struggling with their weight.

If you don't struggle with your weight then 'maintaining it' doesn't really enter your head.

So if someone is already struggling with their weight before visiting the school canteen, how on earth can they 'blame' the sandwiches for a noticeable weight gain?

Anyone 'sub rolls' and 'baguettes' are not sandwiches.

I was talking specifically (as I believed the PP was) about sandwiches

I totally agree with you, op.

I can't really comment on school dinners as I'm in a different country. What I find most egregious is when people go to extremes: "ALL carbs are unhealthy, this processed diet bar is only 100 calories" etc, instead of understanding and focusing on whole, fresh foods. Or recognizing that we don't actually need much meat in our weekly diet, especially red meat and pork. Or thinking about added sugars and fats, like a "healthy salad" with an oily, sugary dressing that turns it into one of the worst choices on the menu.

I could ramble on about the subject, but yes, people are so confused about what is healthy and what isn't.

They also serve chips and gravy as a meal

I'm normally ever so 'meh' about these threads - I'm a nutrition geek, and most people who think they know about healthy eating don't. But THAT has properly shocked me! How in the name of Gove do they get away with calling chips & gravy a staple diet?

garlic as a nutrition geek, what would you say are the most nutritious foods out there?

I think bread gets a bad wrap
Lol

Yes but if she wasn't already 'struggling' with her own weight, the sandwiches wouldn't make any difference would they?

I mean if for example you eat healthily every day at home, you take the correct amount of exercise and you are well away from any kind of 'overweight' or 'obese' category, then why would you even notice?

The fact is if you put those sandwiches into your body and your exercise regime/home diet is correct for you, those sandwiches will not cause you to gain any kind of noticeable weight.

This is how many of us managed to grow up in the 70s with heavy/stodgey diets and no obesity epidemic.

You simply ate 3 meals per day, very rarely snacked and almost everyone was way more active than they are today.

Kids really did play in the streets all day and most families only owned one car (if they owned one at all)...so no I don't accept that 5 sandwiches per week (excluding the 12 weeks per year holidays) causing weight gain is the fault of the school.

An all rounder kate

Would you mean coconut oil? Versatile I guess, read all about it on a thread this week.

Tennis - There is no perfect diet :) People have varying dietary needs, by individual and by circumstance. Animal fat is underrated. Coffee is the best antioxidant. Variety is a great rule of thumb; vary the colours, too. Bread's healthy and, although home-made is best, our supermarket bread in the UK isn't adulterated like American bread. In fact, this is not America and, as long as we stay in the EU, you can delete 90% of those foodscare stories you see. That's enough geekery for now

Not on this site. Never have I ever encountered so much obsessive analysis and boasting about healthy eating. I am not sure that these people are really so obsessed in real life though, they would have self combusted into a righteous explosion otherwise. I think those knobs are far far worse than normal people who allow some crisps etc and they are certainly much more annoying. Especially the people who boast about home made granola. Yeah right love, I bet you do.

I can't comment on society, but for us personally and considering how I observe what people at work eat, yabvu.

Housemate tried to freak me out in 1992 by eating a raw carrot. Being from California I didn't get the big deal.

Read what Elizabethans ate, it isn't pretty. I read Angela's Ashes & gasp at how they ate, not just the poor people, everybody ate mediocre quality. The 1950s American diet my dad grew up on was bulk starches, plenty additives & processed low fibre; no awareness of the value of low calorie foods. My 1970s-80s diet was constant snacking on high salt & sugar foods. I marvel at how much more healthily people eat nowadays. The whole 5-a-day thing is marvellous & a revelation for many. In our household we are complete and utter health food freaks compared to how we grew up (but still woefully inadequate compared to the claims of many MNers ).