to be furious with the 'healthy eating' advice being given to primary age children?

[unlucky83]

DD2 (7) came home with a slip asking for permission to calculate their BMI and to contact the parents if there are any concerns. All part of a group coming into the school talking about healthy eating etc with them. In general I don't think it is a bad idea...

DD2 is 'normal to skinny', you can see her ribs - I have no concerns. She eats relatively well - I don't buy fizzy juice, biscuits, crisp etc -she gets them occasionally as treats. She gets junk food/take away at the most every 3 weeks or so. I don't buy ready meals etc. I do buy cereals but not the really high sugar ones (cocoa pops etc). The worst thing is she probably eats too much fruit (as in not enough veg) - she'll only eat carrots, peas and sweetcorn at the moment...
I don't buy anything that has been tampered with - so don't buy 'fat free' things, or no added sugar things. I don't buy yoghurt in tubes, cheese strings etc... We have real (block) butter but in moderation -I don't buy 'spreadable' and definitely not any 'healthy eating' spreads...I agree in principle with 'if your grandmother wouldn't recognise it don't eat it'

DP & I do have semi skimmed milk but I still give the DCs (eldest 13) mainly blue 'full fat' milk... over the years I have heard various bits of research that suggest that dairy fat may not be as bad for you as previously thought and may have some health benefits. Eg. a Harvard study basically found that people who didn't eat low fat dairy were less obese than those that did ...there was recent study linking the presence of diary fat to reduced risk of diabetes and of course all the stuff recently that fat may not be causing as many weight problems as sugar. It needs more research. If my DCs had were overweight I might rethink but at the moment I think they are fine with blue milk...
I had vaguely realised that the blue milk wasn't going down as fast as usual - DD2 makes her own cereal for breakfast and pours her own milk to drink. Then DD2 told me yesterday that I might as well stop buying it -she wasn't drinking it - it wasn't suitable for anyone over the age of 2! I was furious -it is one thing to get them to discuss things with their parents - and take some responsibility for themselves - but not to tell them what to do without parental input - especially if they DON'T have any weight issues.
Now I'm a bit - I had a bit of a rant and showed DD2 research online etc. This morning she said she can't wait for them to come into school - she is going to tell them they are wrong . (Partly I think because she was annoyed with them because apparently they wouldn't give her her number (BMI) - didn't tell any of them)
Just been talking with another parent in DDs class with an underweight child with food issues. Sees a paediatric dietician. (Refused to get them weighed - which is fair enough). At the moment they basically have to get calories in them anyway they can. That child has also told their parent they are not allowed to eat crisp and should only eat low fat food

In the whole of DD's school there are no obese children, maybe one or two slightly overweight - I do know that may not be the case everywhere .
So AIBU to think that they should not be telling a whole class - no matter what their weight - to eat 'healthily' ? And maybe encourage them to discuss their choices with their parent?

Ourvye, my post was in response to taxi's who stated that skimmed milk was lower in calcium than full fat. I was pointing out that actually that is not the case however minimal the difference might be.

I agree with schools healthy eating policies to a certain extent. I have 2 children with a 6 year age gap and I remember being particularly outraged about dd being weighed and measured in reception year, back then there were just 1 or 2 overweight children in the whole primary school and they were in years 5 or 6. There were several "well built" children in DD's reception class but none that I would consider overweight. As the years have passed the well built children grew and grew, and by year 6 there were 7 or 8 pretty overweight children, and I've definitely noticed that over a 6 year period the number of overweight children has risen and that's over a relatively short period of time. DS has just passed through reception and I can already recognise the children that are going to have problems with their weight.

I cook healthy, home cooked meals from scratch 90% of the time for my family and ignore the change4life healthy eating crap as it doesn't apply to us, my dc are both on the lighter end of the weight charts for their age despite having full fat milk, butter and double cream in their sauces and mashed potatoes. They do seem to be the exception to the rule though, so many parents feed their children on utter crap and a little instruction is necessary.

When DS2 (a skinny, to the point of emaciation, young boy) went through this crap at school a friend and I made up a rap. It was a few years ago now and I can only remember the chorus but the verses talked about the nutritional value of a wide range of foods.

"A little bit of everything does you good,
If you've eaten up your dinner you can have some pud."

And then I hoisted up my school-focussed judgy pants and got on with bringing up my boys.

I had a very long thread on here a while back when my DS's came home upset that they'd not qualified for the 'healthy lunch box' sticker that day because they'd had cheese in their sandwich.

I went in to clear things up, I figured it must be a mistake but no, apparently they'd all been given a lesson on "healthy eating" and the literature accompanying it had said that cheese, unless low fat cream cheese or cottage cheese should be discouraged!

They've reversed the policy now because a lot of parents came in to point out that this was in fact, bollocks.

Then again, only yesterday I enquired to a Tesco manager why I couldn't seem to buy a multi pack of yoghurt that wasn't low fat or sugar free? She looked at me like I was an idiot and slowly explained that people didn't want fat in their food and they certainly didn't want to feed it to their children!

So I'll either be buying a big tub or going back to making my own.

No wonder we have so many issues with food in this country!

Well the not eating crisps is actually pretty good advice, but the low fat thing is just silly, especially as so many low fat options are high in sugar.

If they just concentrated on getting kids to reduce their sugar intake (and understand all the different forms that might come in) then they'd be doing everyone a favour.

tits I think if I didn't get a sticker in my lunch box, I would be pleased! The school knows far less about nutrition than you because they are fed the crap from the healthy eating to government lot, who receive grants from the food industry.

They can all sod off as far as I'm concerned.

I no longer shop in Tescos for the reason you just mentioned. I couldn't find any full fat natural yoghurt.

I think it will be another 10 years before the high carb, low fat message really goes and meantime the government will continue to scratch it's head in confusion at type 2 diabetes cases soaring and permitting shite like glucose-fructose syrup in mainstream foods like jam. Even sainsburies and waitrose has it in their own brand foods now.

The lack of full fat natural yoghurt options is really starting to annoy me. As is the fact that the yoghurt dd2 eats at school for pudding (fruit flavoured, full of sugar and/or sweeteners, low fat) is seen as healthy.

Alongside the school actually getting the right message across for healthy eating (oooh, there goes a flying pig) I would like to see something being done to address healthy eating habits. My children had long grown out of actually needing a snack ( you know, those toddler days when they refuse a meal so you know they will need something mid-times to tide them over) - they ate meals, at meal times, and were actually hungry at those times - by the time they went to school.

And then, over time, I realised that they were barely going longer than 90 minutes without eating something. Snacks are essential, according to school. And sadly, this is typically biscuits (there is one fruit break). So dd2's day goes something like this:

8am breakfast (porridge)
10am fruit break
12noon lunch (including pudding, see point about yoghurt above)
2pm snack - biscuit
3.30pm after school late room- snack (biscuits and fruit available on a free for all basis)
4pm after school club (dd2 usually does something) another snack available (why?!) usually biscuit and a carton of juice.
5-5.30pm tea at home (something cooked from scratch using real food, plus fruit and/or natural yoghurt)

How on earth does anything g the school provide the in with their own healthy eating policies? Having one fruit break a day does not give you licence to eat biscuits every 2 hours for the rest of the day. And that's before adding in someone's birthday, with associated sweets and cake, or the investigating properties week tie in which meant making biscuits (to see how different added ingredients react when heated) - why did that have to be more biscuits?!

Can't the school see that they are setting up seriously dangerous eating habits for head children's lifetimes? It is actually ok to feel hungry leading up to a mealtime (especially if you have been running around/doing sport), and training the chdren into eating snacks at such regular intervals is madness, imo.

I despair, I really do. And then, when we do have pudding at home (we have eg a crumble at weekends) dd2 queries whether it is healthy! The school puddings are ok, because she has been told the school balance the meals. But home? No, any puddings or treats are unhealthy. They must be, she was taught that.

And that's without even starting on the low fat nonsense.

I agree re snacks. I just don't do them unless we are at play dates.

After school club keep reminding me to provide one. So I make it tiny, like raisins.

My kids don't eat their dinner if snacks have been anything other than fruit.

I don't do snacks either. I do have an emergency one in my bag for ds (he's 2) - for after swimming if he gets too tired etc, but can't actually remember the last time I gave him a snack either.

But I have had lectures from my 7 year old about how having frequent snacks is part of healthy living

When my older son was 12 they did a healthy eating module and were going to be talking about BMI and diet. I went in and had a word with his teacher and let him know that he needed to be careful with DS because his BMI was high because he was very muscular (he was doing a lot of high intensity sport at the time) and it was really important he didn't eat low fat foods because we were trying hard to put weight on him as he kept loosing body fat and he needed plenty of high fat foods such as nuts and avocados. I wanted to make sure that he didn't get any messages about changing or improving his diet because we worked quite hard to get it right. Teacher appreciated the heads up and said he would be very careful.

Must say though, had it out with a community nutrionalist who was trying to offer my kid cereal bars, clear apple juice and sugar-free yogurt as healthy choices. I said that we didn't have those things and that I didn't consider them healthy when my kids will eat sugar-free yogurt (i.e. plain ordinary yogurt) with fruit. She said that for most kids they see those are an improvement on their diet that has no fruit, no whole grains and little dairy or other calcium laden food in it and that for them getting them to eat something like that is better than what they are getting.

YANBU

I often bring hot food in at lunch for Ds because he struggles with sandwiches and he's quite underweight. I recently bought some chicken and chips in as a treat - we had just heard he'd been awarded a scholarship.

Stopped by the receptionist with the words 'you can't bring that in here, we're a healthy eating school'. My response was a bit snippy suggested they needed to explain what that means to parents a bit more clearly as it's confusing, particularly given that they serve coco pops at breakfast club, ice cream and cake several times a week at school dinners, and have no problem with artificial sweeteners, high sugar yogurts, and regular handing out of haribos for birthday treats. She said 'but those things are ok as occasional treats and as part of a healthy diet' to which my response was 'so is chicken and chips'. I also pointed out that they serve fish and chips at school, to which the answer was 'the fries are baked'. I said that I wasn't worried about ds's fat intake - he is actually quite significantly underweight.

Ironically I'm going to have to stop school dinners for my other Ds as they are making him fat. A full cooked meal (they let the children have seconds) with cake or ice cream for pudding at lunch? Poor Ds is bursting out of his trousers. And that's after half a term of daily school lunches. It's the only change in his eating in the last three months so it's got to be that.

Minifingers, I am having the same problem with my dd. Put her onto school dinners this year as it is free and in the first seven weeks I have seen such a difference! We really really need to save that money but she is going back to a packed lunch after half term as I don't see how they are getting away with calling themselves a healthy eating school!

I've spoken to several mums at school who feel the same about school meals.

Should add that Ds1 won't eat school dinners because they only have a 3 star hygiene rating. He's a bit odd about things like that....

I was annoyed about this too.

dS was 5 and upset with me fir giving him "unhealthy" food like home made pizza and cheese/butter...

I also refused to have him weighed, and ripped up the "healthy eating questionnaire".

He has always been borderline underweight and I could have wept at the food issues they were creating in his mind!

Snacks (as I said) make my blood boil - as do school meals....here they seem to get a lot of rubbish - doughnuts for pudding? (And they are offered fruit juice to drink - which in moderation I am not against - (my favourite comment from a scientist (name has slipped my brain ) is fruit juice is obesity in a bottle) - but then they have just been told they should only drink water or milk!
MrsJon - I agree about the crisp in principle but my problem is this is blanket advice - not targeted - purely aimed at preventing obesity. This advice to a child who is seriously underweight, not from bad parenting but a health issue. A specialist has told them they need to get this child eating - anything they can - the higher calorie the better. (I know of someone else who was in a similar situation with their DC who was told the same). It is the same as telling an anorexic they can't eat a biscuit...

Splat - you should have seen them, I've never seen anything like it before, the entire family was barely able to walk they were so... er... how do I put this without offending anyone... nope, can't think of any other way... fat.

Titsalina - Yeo Valley do yoghurts that are full fat, sugary and taste slightly sour and farmyardy, like yoghurt's supposed to taste. They do come in multipacks, as well as big pots. Our smaller Sainsburys doesn't always have the multipacks in stock, mind.

My 4 year old came back from school the other day and told me you should only eat bread once a day. Assuming this had any relation to what they actually told him, I can see a grain of sense in this, in the sense that you shouldn't base all your meals around bread, but why then do they offer the kids crusty rolls and fruit juice at break time ("healthy" tuck apparently ).

Also, the patronising healthy eating leaflets combined with the fact that they get a pudding with their school dinners every single day give me the rage. DS has grown to expect pudding every day as the norm now, rather than as an occasional treat .

I understand your frustration OP.

I think it's a really good opportunity for you to explain to your DC the importance of two things, firstly that just because someone is in authority it doesn't mean that they are right. Secondly that it's really important to be an advocate for you own health and do your own research.

I've been doing a lot of research on my health lately, and the latest stuff seems to prove that healthy fats drawn from natural sources, such as meat and yoghurt are perfectly fine. Its sugar that seems to be the problem, and lots of artificially low fat foods often have extra sugar in them so they are not exactly healthy either.

There are also a lot of people who question the role of grains in our diet, and most of the NHS food pyramids I see feature grains quiet heavily.

Good for you OP for standing up for your family!

I was disgusted at the change 4 life leaflet as well! I too shun no sugar and low fat stuff. I think there's far too much 'bad food' 'good food' education. There's not the nutritional lessons, what we need, how much of it, what our bodies do with the excess and how to create a balanced meal.

There's very few 'bad' foods, just bad quantities of a food.

There isn't anything wrong with puddings, we all had pudding every day at prep school and I can only remember two overweight children in the whole school. We also had a glass of milk and two biscuits every morning at milk break. We also had good sports facilities, lots of games and pe lessons, as well as after school sports. Our parents were from a socio-economic group likely to be educated and aware of health advice, and able to afford health based food choices. In contrast, the local high school my child attends has lots of overweight children in years 7, 8, 9 but they're not allowed puddings or 'junk' snacks until sixth form. This observation demonstrates that health and weight is not as simple as serving puddings and snacks or not.

I don't disagree decaff but I bet your puddings were home made and you were very active, in and out of school.

I make fruit crumbles and the odd cake as treats, but I control the amount of sugar that goes in. I find most commercial food is horribly sweet.

Anyone also up against their DH in all this? My DH's family has huge issues with food - obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure. Totally messed up attitudes including constant yo to dieting. I cringe - and we regularly fight - when he offers the kids sweets after tea, as treats, especially when they don't bother to eat their main course because they know daddy will give sweets.

And of course DH quotes the low fat message at me (which of course sweets are) saying he follows NHS advice instead of mine.

I was all geared up for a yes yabu but I am 100% totally in agreement you are NOT bu !

& now I have to make cakes for Halloween party tonight !