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AIBU?

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Original poster

The change for life reduce sugar campaign is irritating me

162 replies

Hurr1cane · 19/01/2015 17:28

Fair enough change sugary cereals for less sugary ones like porridge, but it depends what type of porridge clearly.

Fair enough change chocolate bars for rice cakes... But again... It depends what type, some are full of salt and sugar.

But change cordial for sugar free cordial? Really? I make an effort to make sure I only buy cordial with sugar in and not asphartemine, horrible stuff that sends DS completely high. But to be honest I'd much rather replace with watered down fruit juice or even just water, the cordial is only used for a treat or when he's poorly and I need to get fluids down him, but I never ever use sugar free.

It just seems like pointless, vague, bad advice, and yes all children in DSs school were given the full packs.

I'm probably being unreasonable because of how badly DS reacts to that particular sweetner, but the pharmacist tells me that isn't a rare thing at all, and the sweetner is in all the calpol type medicines instead of sugar, which means DS is either poorly and having seizures, or completely high and giving himself seizures, so the advice for sugar free cordial really pissed me off.

I am being aren't I?

OP posts:
funnyossity · 19/01/2015 19:03

Yes to looking at the commercial partners.

YANBU

Namechangeyetagaintohide · 19/01/2015 19:04

The was one ages ago recommending replacing sugary sweets with fruit.

Nearly crashed the car in my Hmm

MadameJulienBaptiste · 19/01/2015 19:07

YANG
I see the ads and get all shouty about replacing one crapping junk food with another junk food that's just as crap but in a different way.

eddiemairswife · 19/01/2015 19:08

I NEVER have diet tonic in my gin!

Original poster
Hurr1cane · 19/01/2015 19:09

Oh I agree there are those that need educating and could do with swapping things.

Like the two parents, both with special needs, with two children, also with special needs, who are classed as obese, who get zero support from anyone, not even any respite, who think that putting salad on a kebab makes it healthy, but they won't understand the advert. Go and fucking support them!

Their situation makes me mad, they just get letters informing them that their children are obese, yeah because that helps them. They're a gorgeous couple, so lovely and love their children to pieces, all they need is some support and they would definitely do their best by their children to the best of their knowledge. But they get nothing, and change for life thinks an advert will help.

It's ineffective and complete bollocks to boot.

OP posts:
Tinks42 · 19/01/2015 19:10

All of these campaigns annoy the shit out of me Angry

JulesJules · 19/01/2015 19:11

Add my name to the list.

I find these adverts beyond irritating and patronising. And how much has it cost fgs, to produce and distribute all these full colour leaflets/adverts etc which are just so much CRAP

MangoBiscuit · 19/01/2015 19:12

Another one here who's DC react to aspartame. She gets hyper briefly, then usually vomits in spectacular fashion, then a few hours later she comes up in a rash. :( Horrid, horrid stuff.

JulesJules · 19/01/2015 19:12

eddiemairswife you are so wise. Diet tonic is the work of the devil

Gawjushun · 19/01/2015 19:16

I agree that there should be more sports clubs for kids. I wanted to send my son to football, as he's nearly 3 and I think he'd benefit from learning a bit of team work and sharing in addition to the exercise. £10 a session! Plus it's up front, and there's an £18 admin and uniform charge. So I'd have to find £78 for six weeks of kicking a ball around. Just not do-able right now.

Latara · 19/01/2015 19:17

I'm annoyed about how much hidden sugars are in our food.

I like microwave meals because they are convenient, however my diabetic friend has to have meals with less then 4g sugar per 100g - and it's nearly impossible to find them.

I want to cut down on sugar AND saturated fat but I can never find meals that are both low in sugar AND fat - it's one or the other.

Tw1nkle · 19/01/2015 19:19

Totally agree!

However - they make too much money from the companies that sponsor them (kellogs etc)

chocolatescones · 19/01/2015 19:20

YANBU I totally agree and I really dislike a lot of the diet industry advertising diets where you can eat as much as you want and still lose weight. Much more effective and healthier to reduce portion size, eat proper full-fat versions of food and low sugar goods but less of them- but that's not a diet most people want to do...

Tinks42 · 19/01/2015 19:22

Exactly.... totally hypocritical too when suppliers are allowed to put whatever they like into food and nothing is done about it at source. If suppliers weren't allowed to do it in the first place there would be no need for these stupid condescending campaigns where the government pretends to give a shit Angry

Frikadellen · 19/01/2015 19:26

Don't even get me started on the school teaching the children that there is "bad food and good food"

SunnyBaudelaire · 19/01/2015 19:28

oh yes Frik and then serving up 'low sugar drinks laced with aspartame ' at school do's!
Well our infant school did that anyway.

Hatespiders · 19/01/2015 19:28

Just after the war, sugar was still on ration, as were sweets. (So was butter) Children never had chemicals in their drinks as aspartane wasn't used. Food was mostly fresh stuff and not too much of it. Stodgy steamed puddings with custard were eaten, but tiny portions. Vegetables were our saviour; there seemed to be oodles of those. And brown bread. I remember we had honey on a slice of toast. There was no such thing as ready-made meals or take-aways, except fish-and-chips. As a previous poster has said, allergies, eczema and asthma were so rare I can't remember anyone among my school-mates suffering from these. We children walked, cycled or ran everywhere, as no-one had a car. We played outside all evening and all day in the school holidays. No-one thought of paedophiles (I expect they were around, but still we were allowed out at all times) No-one I ever saw was obese. We drank milk or tap water by the gallon. I don't remember Coca Cola, but there was Tizer.

I just wonder how this diet and lifestyle differed in healthiness from today's eating habits. And how much children now are being harmed by what 'they' try to persuade us to give them.

ChickenMe · 19/01/2015 19:32

Mmm Tizer

What's wrong with a little bit of chocolate anyway? Like good quality stuff not something sickly with Willy Wonka written on it?

expatinscotland · 19/01/2015 19:34

'I'm annoyed about how much hidden sugars are in our food.'

Not if you are not eating a bunch of processed, ready made crap.

Kirk1 · 19/01/2015 19:39

Yes, another here who hates it. I can't bear the taste of artificial sweetener so I can't drink the squash with the rest of the family with our meal because I can't find any that doesn't have artificial sweeteners in :( Mind you, we don't drink fizzy pop in our family anyway and I make fruit tea in large quantities in summer and store it in the fridge. No added sugar - or sweeteners.

MinesAPintOfTea · 19/01/2015 19:39

Eddie :-)

Diet tip: have gin without tonic

GotToBeInItToWinIt · 19/01/2015 19:40

I despise the taste of artificial sweetener. I would rather have 3 mouthfuls of full fat/full sugar yoghurt that a 'light' one. And sugar free squash is vile. Also hate low fat margarine/spreads; it's real butter in this house, in moderation. I don't know how any of these low fat/low sugar options can be peddled as a healthy alternative.

taxi4ballet · 19/01/2015 19:42

One of the TV adverts suggests replacing a muffin with a teacake... er...what?

Liberally spread with butter and jam?

How about replacing it with a piece of fruit, or better still with:
"No, you aren't having a snack - you can wait till dinner time!"

SunnyBaudelaire · 19/01/2015 19:42

"I can't find any that doesn't have artificial sweeteners in "
Ribena, Roses Lime Cordial and Rocks

expatinscotland · 19/01/2015 19:43

There is really no point in harking back to a time 70 years ago. My dad is nearly 80, and also remembers a number of children in his age cohort who died of diseases which are preventable today, from lack of money to pay for a doctor, from conditions in damp and soot ridden excuses for housing, several more who died in accidents after being not just let out to play all day, but shooed out of their homes and locked out all day 'to play', systematic abuse of many children by the church and other authority, societal acceptance of domestic violence and rape, women forced to give up much wanted babies or who killed themselves from shame for becoming pregnant out of wedlock or from botched illegal abortions, and state-sanctioned approval of the likes of golliwogs, books like Little Black Sambo and racial discrimination in housing.

A lot of people were thin, too, because they were half-starving and, having few to no employment rights, forced to work incredibly long hours 6 days a week for very, very low wages.

That was then. This is now.