To have thought my dcs diet was ok until I joined mumsnet?

[Meandmygirls2009]

I have always thought my dc ate ok, but since joining mumsnet and reading lots of posts I am worried that I do not feed my dc a healthy diet! Typical day consists of:
Breakfast: bagel and orange juice
Snack: grapes
Lunch: cheese sandwich, mini cheddars, raisons
Snack: 2 chocolate digestives
Dinner: home made spag Bol, strawberries

Does this sound ok? I am worried the daily mini cheddars and digestives are too much after reading what other children eat :(

coming late to this and expect it's all been said before but-
OP if that is a typical day's food there are some glaring bad points.

1 very little calcium ( try milk to drink for breakfast or porridge made with milk.)

2 too much sugar- way too much. The sugar in the orange juice, grapes, raisins and choc biscuits is likely to exceed the total for a child for the day ( ie 5-6 teaspoons.)

3 too little fibre in the form of fresh fruit and veg. You have NO veg there at all except for the tomatoes I expect in the spag bol.

4 no vegetables

You also have lots of refined carbs- bagels, biscuits, white pasta (assuming) which are not terrible but wholewheat would be better.

I think that sounds fine, but personally since I have read more on the issues associated with sugar intake I avoid biscuits and other sugary snacks in favour of toast with peanut butter, cheese and crackers, crumpets croissants etc. I used to give either fruit or veg with a meal but now I insist on veg and I don't buy fruit juice any more,its water, milk or nothing....

You also need to think about tooth decay with the juice, grapes, all dried fruit and the biscuits.
Your child is overloaded with sugar and not getting nearly enough calcium for bones and teeth. What about plain Greek yoghurt with fresh fruit, whole wheat cereals with milk, lump of cheese and not biscuits or something like humuus and carrot sticks?

I think that sounds fine and fairly typical of what I see my friends kids eating and indeed what my own dd eats.

Today my dd has eaten (for comparisons sake )

A bowl of sugary cereal - breakfast
An apple -snack
A sweetie type lolly (its the holidays after all!)
Tuna roll (wholemeal bread) bag of crisps - lunch
Grapes - snack

Tea tonight will be salmon with rice and veg.

There will be other snacks I suspect of the biscuit/treat variety!

Dd is very active, a healthy weight and she will have had her 5 a day so meh if mn think its not good enough

How on earth do we know ops kids are 'overloaded with sugar'. Did I miss another post where she mentioned they are chubby, or running round on a high smashing the house up? Or have fillings/ dental issues?

passme mine actually steal my corn cakes.

they've just had a packet of chewits each on the walk home from town.

pinkfrocks wholewheat would be better

Doesn't this depend on the age of the child (not sure we know op's kids ages?). I though to read somewhere that middle class kids are actually getting fed too much whole grains and under a certain age struggle to digest them properly. Can't remember details though.

Chewits! *drools with envy.

monkeymamma You are right. They advise against introducing whole wheat to toddlers, whatever you decide that is because it can make them feel full before they have eaten a good amount of calories.

Op here. Forgot to say my dcs are 2 and 5 and on the skinny side. Both used to be dairy intolerant but can now tolerate a small amount of dairy per day. I give calcium enriched orange juice and bread.

You have NO veg there at all except for the tomatoes I expect in the spag bol.

Tomatoes are a fruit.

I knew someone would say that! Come on, so's a butternut squash. Or a pepper

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/may/14/five-a-day-fruit-vegetables-portion-supermarket

There is lots of veg there isn't there? The bolognese is made with onions, garlic, celery, carrots, mushrooms, and tomatoes.

Or do some people just make it with a tin of tomatoes and no onion, garlic etc? (And no wine ) yuk!

Lurked are you being deliberately awkward or just not aware of dietary guidelines?

Based on this 'typical' day's food, her child has too much sugar.

The total sugar in a child's diet should not exceed 5 teaspoons (same for adults.) 1tsp = 5gms.

This is how much is in 1 biscuit.

www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=254924595 just under 5gms per choc digestive.

If you add in the juice, the raisins, grapes, and strawberries ( they have natural sugar but it still counts) then it's too much.

This is not so much to do with weight now but long term health. Sugar is addictive. You can also develop diabetes if you are thin but your body is having too much sugar. Sugar and refined carbs give highs and lows over the day. this is not good for children's learning in school because they have a slump a few hours after eating sugar and they find it harder to focus on work due to low energy levels. Many schools are now banning biscuits and other sugary foods as part of packed lunches.

Surely you don't want to wait until this happens or for a child to have tooth decay before you try to eat healthily?

Good job meglet love a wee chewit.

I am sure my dd would body swerve their juicy deliciousness in favour of a corn thin.

The argument about what is in the pasta sauce is just pathetic. sorry- but a portion of veg is one fistful. I doubt very much if each person is having a handful of celery, carrot, onion etc. More likely they are getting a quarter of each of those otherwise for a family you'd need 4 sticks of celery, 4 carrots, 4 onions etc.

The picking apart each micro-nutrient in the children's diet is equally pathetic. The level of obsession some people have about food screams "massive eating disorder risk factor to me". Far more harmful than biscuits or juice. Equally, I wonder if these people have young children or are just naive as to what happens when children grow up and choose their own food. If you teach them to moderate their diet from a young age, they will be able to do this themselves. If you perpetuate anxiety and histrionics, you're asking for trouble.

My Bolognese sauce is mostly veg. I use one small packet of meat, 5 carrots, 2 eggplant, 2-3 packets of mushrooms, 2 peppers, tomato passata, leeks, sometimes a parsnip, etc. That's loads of veg. I do the same when I make Chilli, last time I even left out the meat. So you can't really assume what other people are adding to their food.

The picking apart each micro-nutrient in the children's diet is equally pathetic. The level of obsession some people have about food

YY. Some people are far too obsessed about sticking to the guidelines. I have better things to do with my time. Live and let live.

Do some research pink and educate yourself on scientific research about how the human body uses carbs for energy. To give you a hint this won't be written with praise of Atkins included, nor by some usually untoned individual calling themselves a dietician.
Sugar way in excess of your needs can be a factor in diabetes, but insufficient sugar can be too.
I won't be following 'dietary guidelines' unless they also coincide with valid scientific facts. Not some halfwit self proclaimed gurus interpretation of them as many are.

I honestly wouldn't worry about what some people SAY their children eat, half the time they're not being truthful. I have 10 year old twin dds and an almost 5 year old ds who's got ADHD. Now from day one all my kids have been offered a balanced diet, and that does include chocolate and "treats" shock horror.

My twins like most kids love crisps and other junk however they love healthy foods too. For instance they'll snack on tomatoes, pieces of cucumber, houmas, cheese and crackers etc, and their favourite meals are spag bol were I pack in loads of veg, Turkey stir fry, sausages (97% meat) with carrot and swede mash. Then there's my son, his diet is terrible, due to him not tolerating certain textures. We are under a dietician and nutritionist and although he loves his fruit, his porridge, and spen vegetables the rest of his diet consists of tinned ravioli, tomato soup and peanut butter on toast. It upsets me that he refuses to eat the same as his sisters but there's not much else I can do, he's on vitamins, has omega 3 oil and he's not overweight so that's something. So all i can suggest to you is maybe pack in a few more veggies into your meals, you can be quite inventive with little ones hiding them in sauces if they're not too keen.