Change for life campaign

[LovelyBath77]

I'm getting fed up with this, telling the children what to eat. They think it;s all about reducing sugar and fats, but fats are not unhealthy. For example on their website they encourage us to change from butter, cheese and milk to carbohydrates. I agree we need to reduce sugar and processed carbs just not with the advice they are giving for 'sugar swaps'

I have been told off at school for giving a small cheese as a snack and told they can only bring fruit. We are only allowed semi-skimmed milk which we pay for ourselves. Full fat is only allowed for special diets. When will they start to wake up to the idea that fats are not the baddies they once thought and stop promoting us swapping to cereals and starchy foods? When Public Health England stops working with big food companies, I suppose. As they say here, they "We work with major national retailers, household name brands and major organisations, including commercial brands as well as government departments and NGOs, providing them with all the support and materials they need to change health outcomes and to help influence people's behaviour across the country." Hmm.

www.nhs.uk/change4life/Pages/national-partners.aspx

Frightening. My little boy will be going to school in two years and he'll be getting good quality full fat butter, milk and cheese as well as good lean protein and veg and fruit (plus treats of course!) hate all this low fat crap - just means more chemicals!

I'm not sure if they get full fat in reception. They get semi skimmed after being 5 I think.

They have actually sent my son home with a leaflet about having skimmed milk! It isnt milk that causes it but processed takeaways and processed snacks between meals

It says here they have forced schools to give them low fat milk since 2014.

www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/10904044/School-milk-must-be-available-to-all-pupils-Department-for-Education-says.html

seems to be all children Jonty

We got a leaflet yesterday telling them to be food detectives and with a magnifying glass on it, to look our for sat fats etc with stickers if they did it. Is that the one you got too?

DS2 is 5 and had full fat milk at school in reception. It was only in y1 that they switch to semi skimmed, which is what we have at home anyway, I find full fat too sickly.

I agree. Young children shouldn't need reduced fat products when it comes to milk/cheese/yogurt etc

But they aren't actually wrong though. Just because parts of the general public and the media have incorrectly simplified some of the recent research into sat fats into fats aren't the enemy it doesn't mean national schemes should too.

Lowering a high sat fat intake as well as sugar intake is not bad advice.

Unless you are talking about children under 5, in which case advice is slightly different.

Rafael the problem is, they are telling us to replace sugars with starchy foods which are another form of sugar, as well as encouraging the reduction of fats. With this approach it still promotes lots of starchy carbohydrates.

This is what they recommend.

Snack smart
Cut back on sugary snacks by swapping cakes, biscuits, chocolate and sweets for fruit, plain rice cakes, toast with lower-fat spread, fruited teacakes or a bagel.

• just other forms of sugar and low fat spread would not be a good choice

Drink smart
A quarter of the sugar kids have every day comes from sugary drinks. Swap soft drinks, juice drinks and flavoured milks for water, lower-fat milks and diet, sugar-free, or no-added sugar drinks.

-Do children need diet drinks and low fat milk?

Kids get a lot of their sat fat from- milk, cheese.
Cut back on sat fat in dairy by changing for lower-fat options, such as swapping whole milk for lower-fat milks.

They also state high cholesterol and sat fats causing heart disease which has now been proven wrong, and say 'They may seem find on the outside, but it is causing diseases we can't see. This is scare-mongering. there is no mention of trans-fats or polyunsaturated fats, which are the problematic ones, just saturated fats such as milk and cheese.

There's no way on earth myself or my kids will eat 'lower fat spreads'

They mean margarine?

It just says low fat spread, so I suppose that means margarine yes.

I think the advice to swap chocolate, biscuits and sweets for fruit, rice cakes or toast is probably fair enough - yes it's still carbs but slower digested so going to prevent the spiking blood glucose that makes you over eat/feel crap. Plus there is nothing wrong with carbs anyway unless you are trying to lose weight.

I agree that switching to low fat is madness for children. Especially processed crap like 'low fat spread' - ick. There's hardly any fat in full fat milk as it is.

Better advice would be to avoid/limit processed food.

And the same applies to low sugar drinks. Still bad for your teeth, still full of processed chemicals. Better off with water, tea, milk and keep sweet drinks for an occasional treat.

Carbs aren't the enemy either though! They are an essential part of a healthy diet

I refuse to eat low fat stuff I just eat less full fat stuff and I eat complex carbs - carbs help me run and stay fit

Yanbu regarding cheese at all

Sugar free squash does no harm to teeth though - fizzy stuff does including fizzy water

Obviously it would be great if all parents fed their children a unprocessed wholesome diet but that for many would be unpalatable, alien and possibly unaffordable. It seems to me the emphasis is small achievable changes that are more likely to be acceptable to parents and children.

I think messages on what is healthy are so confused, fruit bars that contain more sugar than the equivalent sized biscuit being touted as healthy and part of your five a day. Clearly one or two of these a day may have a negative impact on a child's dental health and maybe weight.

The same with full fat milk, as part of a measured diet where fat intake is not regularly exceeding recommend levels will not be causing a problem. I think the advice to swop to lower fat is because research has indicated that the daily recommended level was being exceeded by many/most children, hence growing childhood obesity.

Swapping full fat milk and sugar containing drinks for those with lower fat and sugar free will reduce excess fat intake and reduce calorie intake.

Dietary recommendations are constantly being amended to reflect evidence based research. There is no conspiracy to give bad or unhelpful advice.

The NHS is being crippled by the financial burden or managing conditions which are caused by lifestyle issues such as obesity. Whilst you op may have a very health, knowledgeable understanding on how to provide your doc with a good diet many do not.

The thing is that some of the advise may be a adding to the NHS burden. Sat fats can keep us fuller for longer and studies have shown children having full fat milk are actually thinner- presumably as they are full and therefore in less need of sugary carbs. I agree in moderation carbs are not bad for children, however the advice given is to base meals on starchy carbs and also it seems, to add low fat / sugar drinks and spreads, which may cause problems down the road. It's all about habits as well, they should be encouraging real, unprocessed foods including butter and cheese, not making us fear them. Countries such as Sweden have now adopted these types of messages, not sure why we are so slow on the uptake in the UK. Children do pick up on these things, as well. Mine was told by the teacher cheese was 'not healthy' and fruit was, but high amounts of fruit in particular juice, is high in fructose which is one of the worst forms of sugar. If we want to change things for the future they need the right advice, and this and to avoid any 'low fat' type products would be a good start- being wary of processed foods basically.

LovelyBath77 Great to see you know your stuff, it's a shame to see so many people have been brainwashed by old and unreliable data. I think we'll still be seeing the effects of this for years. Do you have any opinions on salt?

I agree. My kids have butter, semi skimmed milk and full fat yoghurt. They are both quite thin though. My DS 1 is right on the bottom of the acceptable weight range, even though he eats well. He worries about days in his food now when it's a struggle enough to keep weight on him. There are a few overweight kids at his school, but I imagine the problem is with processed foods and fizzy drinks rather than full fat dairy and butter.

Absolutely agree with you - I am sick of the "low fat" message. My kids are fairly active and constantly hungry. A glass of full fat milk and seeded bread with peanut butter or cheese gives them energy and fills them up far more than fruit. Margarine is a loathsome invention - there is nothing wrong with butter if it is spread in moderation (not loaded on thickly). The messages should definitely be about being wary of processed food rather than banging on about "low fat"

A thick spread of grass fed butter for me please! Filled with fat soluble vitamins.