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 :(

pink Thank you for the feedback. we are vegetarian so no fish or meat.

The soup often contains lentils as a source of protein as well.

As for vegetables, she is picky as to what she will eat. She loves tomatoes, but will only eat most other veg in soup or sauce form, so I have to get them in by stealth. When I make soup I make it very thick (like a sauce almost) to get as much veg in as possible.

carrie I think I am doing fairly well but then come onto threads like this and discover I'm giving too much fruit/too many carbs/cooking with the wrong type of fats etc. I find the whole thing a minefield. I tend to aim for a good balance but I suspect there is too much fruit in what the DCs have had/are having today (and I have also just let them have a shortbread biscuit)

Atticus - their diet sounds lovely. Ignore the 'mine never touch white pasta and giving them fruit is as bad a cocaine' messages. They are allowed their view, but it isn't what most registered dieticians would tell you.

The real message is along the lines of: eat a varied diet, as many plants as possible, as close to natural state as possible. Teach them that shortbread, for example, is a small amount because you like the taste, not a 'go to' food for hunger, or boredom.

Pedantic to wanky. This thread though innit. I think it's hilarious.

atticus that all sounds good really!
I don't go along with the 'no treats ever'- more an 80/20 split of mostly good healthy stuff and the occasional treat. What IS wrong is if people feed their DCs sugary foods at every meal and as snacks.
I think I'd cut out the smoothies. We gave them up as a family ages ago after reading the 'evidence' . If you want to get the fruit into her, make it real whole fruit.

hibble I think it's potentially very hard to bring up a young child as a vegetarian because how do they get enough iron? Main sources of iron are animal protein and green vegetables. (Pulses do have some as do fortified cereals.) TBH if a child that age is a vegetarian, I'd be asking the GP for a referral to an NHS dietitian to make sure I was doing the right things.

I'll maybe start with watering them down and then gradually cut out the smoothies (or hide them from the DCs....).

I think it's potentially very hard to bring up a young child as a vegetarian because how do they get enough iron? Main sources of iron are animal protein and green vegetables. (Pulses do have some as do fortified cereals.) TBH if a child that age is a vegetarian, I'd be asking the GP for a referral to an NHS dietitian to make sure I was doing the right things.

Provided they're eating a varied, balanced diet, many vegetarians get more iron than their meat eating counterparts.

Thank you Regina

pink Vegetarians being aneamic is largely a misnomer. I grew up vegetarian, as did the rest of my family, and we have never been aneamic. In fact as children we were very rarely sick (less than 5 days each off school in our entire time at primary). Dd is also very healthy and very rarely sick. Apart from chickenpox she has not had a single day off nursery sick for the past 2 years (and no signs of aneamia). I also very much doubt a gp would refer to a dietician simply on the basis of a child being vegetarian.

hibble unless your child or you has regular blood tests then you won't know if anyone is anaemic.

It's easier for adults perhaps as they eat a wide range of foods, but a child would have to eat a large amount of pulses, green veg, apricots etc to ensure they have enough.

pink I have had regular blood tests during pregnancies, which were all fine. (In fact better than fine)

If someone is aneamic they would also be asymptomatic, which dd most definitely is not.

Pink- although not veggie my meat consumption is low enough that my iron intake from it is negligible. During my pregnancy I was hardly munching on loads of green veg or pulses either. My iron levels were fine. As was the consultant with my diet. Dd has the same low meat intake and as a toddler didn't eat green veg at all. Wouldn't even eat the breakfast cereals that are iron fortified. Every hcp thought she and her diet was fine, same for me.
Also, I'd assume hibble would have the sense to notice the pretty common and easy to spot symptoms and go to the gps to get tested. That's the usual way of it. GPs or any other hcp aren't in the habit of randomly testing people for anaemia purely because they're veggie. Because as hibble says, it's a bit of a myth nowadays.