beans mash and sausages is a healthy meal

[madhurjazz]

Mother in law thinks its junk food. But the beans contain 1 of your 5 a day, mashed potatoes are just veg and a good source of carbs and the sausages are full of essential protein.

We often have ketchup, this has been shown to reduce many cancers like prostate, and a glass of juice.

Seems healthy to me and not junky.

It's hardly a doner kebab and fries is it?! I think it's perfectly acceptable as a meal. I would defintely serve this on a day when I couldnt be all that bothered, and if my husband ever cooked, which he hasnt in at least two years, I'd be over the flipping moon to be presented with this at teatime.
Sure, it's not the healthiest meal in the world, but unless you follow a loopy celebrity 'knit your own yoghurt' type diet, who gives a fig?!

Beans - sugar and salt. Sausages - preservatives and salt (even most of the good ones). Ketchup - sugar again. Mash is fine, although far better to get your kids into the habit of eating the potato skins for fibre and the nutrient rich layer that lies just under the skin. I'm with your MIL and I'm shocked you think it's healthy.
However, that said it doesn't mean it's a meal you should never feed your kids. I'm a food Nazi but I have no problem with an occasional McDonalds. What people have to bear in mind is that it isn't the single meal that counts it's the overall diet and also how we consume it. Yes, it's yummy and comforting, but only in the context of knowing that it's unnecessarily sweet and contains processed meat. In a decent diet processed meat should be limited to once a week, so if they don't have ham, bacon, salami etc during the week and if they don't have puddings or eat sweets and biscuits and sugar filled cereal then while not a healthy meal it can still be part of a healthy diet.
People have talked about the starch in potatoes but eating protein/fat at the same time slows down the speed at which it gets converted into blood glucose.
The studies showing the benefits of ketchup as a cancer preventative are about the benefits of lycopene in cooked tomato. There are plenty of forms of tomato sauce that are not packed with sugar.
I don't understand why anyone gives their kids ketchup at home though? It's like letting them put sugar on cereal - it's something they don't miss if you don't give it to them. I know kids love it but it's because it's got so much sugar. By all means let them have it in restaurants or in other people's houses, but why would you buy unnecessary sources of sugar that they just don't need?

Ego I'm trying to understand about gut bacteria but it's so so complex! And the old chestnut of stress 'causing' IBS prevents decent medical treatment. I'd love an analysis of why my gut bacteria became so screwed up and how it relates to Fibromyalgia and B12 deficiency and what I need to do to build it back up again but it's not going to happen.

I spoke to a consultant about it and he said he was still trying to get his head round the complexity of it!

No, but again t's back to what else they are eating. Kids are only supposed to have 4-5 teaspoons of added sugar a day. If they aren't eating anything else sweet then in the overall diet then sure, it's fine, but if you add a biscuit or a bowl of cereal, an ice lolly, jam/nutella, some breads, a fromage frais etc etc then you very quickly go past the guideline amounts.
My other issue is also that when kids have ketchup with everything they get used to the sweetness and are inclined to turn up their noses at less sweet foods, therefore making it harder for them to enjoy healthy foods. Why not start them with good habits? It's like tea or coffee with sugar...you get used to the sugar and it can be hard to give up. That tastes nice too, but it's not healthy, so why go down that road?

Not at home. We don't buy them (partly because of my inability to walk past an open packet of choice digestives without devouring the lot). If eating out they will have a scoop of ice cream and all bets are off at a party or at grandma's house. I'm relaxed about that because they eat really well 90% of the time.

choice? *choc

My ds won't eat any food not covered in ketchup and mayonnaise, both at the same time so everything turns pink - bleurch. That's why we give it to him at home.

Personally I'm more of a brown sauce woman.

Ego I read a fascinating article recently about a woman receiving a fecal transplant from her daughter as her bowl flora was in s bad way and causing her serious health issues.

Good news is it was a success and she was cured. Bad news is her daughter was overweight and then the mum became overweight after the transplant.

So they are now studying the effect of gut bacteria on obesity.

Fascinating.

I think it's a healthy meal.

I don't buy any of them. That's my point. Why give them sweetened yoghurt when they can have plain from the start? Why give them a biscuit when they can gnaw on a carrot? I mentioned ketchup because OP was lauding its value for cancer prevention. And don't get me started on juice which OP also mentioned....Milk (if needed, ideally with meals) and water. Why would you give kids anything else? When people tell me their kids don't like water I despair.

But MrsKola, surely if you had never given him the choice to have ketchup and mayo with all his food in the first place he would never have decided he needed pink splurge all over everything.

It is fascinating - Ego I treat people with long term health conditions including IBS (ironic given the amount of LT conditions I have) and the gut tends to be referred to as the Second Brain - but several studies suggest a direct causal link between stress and IBS is very hard to establish except in extreme stress situations (fight/flight) when bowels move pretty rapidly. It's a much more complex relationship but I get patients referred to me as a first line treatment for IBS without any other tests being done.

Now a good, peer-reviewed evidence-based book would be really handy if only someone would write one!

They DO have junk in moderation - by the time Grandma has stuffed them with biscuits, endless friends' birthday parties, a weekend lunch at Strada with ice cream, -a happy meal when Dad is hungover and needs a stomach settling big mac- I'm pretty sure they won't have much need to rebel later because we don't give them ketchup or sweetened yoghurt or jam on their toast at home!

We had never had it at home before he was 3, then we went to the seasons and he tasted fish and chips for the first time and had it then. He's refused all food without it ever since.

I suppose we could never let him eat out of the house or with friends, then he would never know these things exist. But that's a bit unrealistic.

Of course we never thought this would happen and curse the day at camber sands. But we thought it was a nice thing to do at the time.

And the why give them it in the first place point, my dc were given fruit and veg from the start. Ds1 ate it happily till 2 but ds2 will not have any in his mouth. We tried baby led weaning and anything that wasn't s potato he wouldn't eat. He wouldn't even touch it and if you put it in his mouth would spit it out. He only eats it if it's puréed even now and he's 2.