British kids and eating habits - IABU ?

[lovemycoffee2]

I have two young kids and we live in the UK but we are not originally from here.

At home we cook everyday from scratch our food and we take that food at a lunch box at our workplace. We have a light dinner again made from scratch.

The issue is our kids which are of course going to school/nursery and they love to copy their friends!

In the UK it's healthy if a kid eats sausages (god knows what the meat has inside), or for example Heinz baked beans which have 10% sugar and 20% salt (leaving 70% being actual beans) or if they eat fish fingers which are pre-fried (even if you bake them they were already fried before got frozen) or chicken nuggets (again pre-fried which god knows what was the oil quality).

It's also acceptable to drink juices which have no sugar but plenty sweeteners.

Also, it's perfectly fine to have a ham sandwich for lunch which has ready made processed bread full of emulsifiers and ham which (like sausage) god knows what ingredients has.

It's ok that primary schools offer desserts, even if they are small portions and low sugar on a daily basis - not on a weekly or as special occasion! I don't have a dessert everyday, why my kid is offered one?

Honestly, are all these things ok? Am I paranoid?

I am very worried that the kids will either end up obsessed. with diabetes or with other health issues given all the processed food and the fact that we are what we eat.

YABU - are you crazy?

YANBU - unfortunately this is a "balanced healthy diet" in the UK!

Haha, round here it's all competitive organic vegetables and whose little trooper loves olives and broccoli 😁. Might depend where you live though.

I've never met anyone in the UK who thinks sausage, beans, nuggets and fish fingers is healthy. Poor people have little choice often as fresh good quality food is very expensive.
I work with low income parents and all want the same things we all want for our children.
Perhaps try and be a bit more tolerant and kind, of other parents and also your ow children's personal preferences. Lots of adults love junk food too, all over the world. It is not a UK problem.

Send your kids in with packed lunch so they are not offered dessert. At our school there is always a healthy option of a salad or wrap and chips are only on once a week. Out of interest, what do you think children should be offered at school?

🙄

I cook healthy from scratch meals the majority of the time, DD also has a smoothie for breakfast. I tend to not worry about lunch and snacks as her over all diet is really good. This isn't a UK issue though.

I don’t think any of the “healthy” things you have written about are healthy or that anyone thinks this.

The main unhealthy concern that stands out to me is your attitude to food and that’s often the cause of an eating disorder in children in itself.

Where on earth did you get 10% sugar and 20% salt for Heinz baked beans from??

God alone knows. The salt content of Heinz beans is actually 0.6%, and the sugar 4.3% (or 0.6g and 4.3g per 100g respectively), so I think someone's got a bit confused

It’s the % of the reference daily intake for an adult in half of a can - not the actual proportions of the product.

I hear you OP. I'm also from the continent and British kids (as adults too) have atrocious diets. I did not know what chocolate was until 7 years of age, and was only allowed fruit for the sweet tooth. To this day, I do not want chocolate, because I am not addicted to it like to an opioid.

Kids menu's on the continent are also significantly better - there are no chicken nuggets and pizza's; kids eat what adults eat, just smaller portions!

We also don't have a problem with children and tantrums. Somehow european kids palates are well developed and they simply don't want unhealthy stuff.

Also there is something to be said regarding the fact that we introduce babies to solids at 4 months old, in the UK they all look at me like I'm an alien. 😅And we get them potty trained as soon as they can sit!

I would say, for the sake of your kids try to explain to them the back of the ingredients list on packaging and definitely show them pictures of obese people so they know what can be the result of sugar/aspartame overdose and processed food eating. Definitely going to do that to my DD when she is old enough to read.

Last week's menu was:
Monday - beef with rice and nachos . A reception kid needs to eat nachos?
Tuesday - sausage . Honestly?
Wednesday - BBQ pulled pork in a bun - Sugar & emulsifiers
Thursday - Chicken , noodles - Ok, that's ok
Friday - Fish fingers

Of course they could have the veggie, or pasta or potato. Most veggies are not healthy too like crusts, spring rolls, sausages etc. Not excessively unhealthy but not super healthy and appropriate for a 4 year old.

If it was me lunch boxes should have some lean protein freshly cooked without sugars, bad oils etc. , some carbs on the side like rice/boiled potatoes without saturated fats and some fresh/steamed veggies and then fruit and/or yoghurt.

baked beans are much healthier than you suggest. Same with fish fingers, the quality ones are not that bad. Feed your family what you want, but unfortunately for a lot of families, time and money due to cost of living mean that cheaper more processed foods are all that is feasible. not saying that's right but it's true. I mostly do cook from scratch, but equally I don't worry about my kids having dessert or some treats. I know at home their diet is pretty healthy.

A bit of junk food doesn't hurt as long as the child has a good, wholesome and healthy meal at home. It sounds as though yours does. In any case, school meals are small and the children don't eat all of it. It's difficult catering for kids with varied tastes so things are chosen that most like or at least will eat some of.

When I was at school we had school dinners' cooked from scratch and they were revolting. Think beef casseroles with no seasoning, complete with fat and gristle, everything brown; swede, cabbage, mashed potatoes with lumps. It all smelled dreadful too. I'd have been delighted to have been served a pizza at lunch time :-). The only good 'dinner' at school was fish and chips on Fridays. I loved my mother's cooking at home, she knew how to make things taste nice.

Don't worry, your child will survive.

nice to see the phrase -sink estate' 🤢 appear in this thread

hope the poster was being ironic

If I send them with this lunch box then I get complaints that the friends eat the brownies, biscuits, muffins and jelly that the school offers.

You seem to not realise what limited budgets these school gets for lunches. They are limited by that, and trying to make food that most kids will actually eat.

I grew up on this diet in the seventies. Have always been slim, not diabetic and am healthy.
It’s not the best but it also is not as bad as you are making out.

https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/heinz-baked-beans-in-tomato-sauce-415g

I think you've misunderstood. No one thinks sausages and chicken nuggets are healthy.

And juices with sweetener? Like Capri sun do you mean? I would consider that an occasional drink. My DC drink water mainly and sometimes some fresh juice or a milkshake.

I agree lots of people do seem to eat cheap bread and ham. Our bread comes from the bakery and we don't eat ham.

And I agree school lunches are dreadful including the dessert every day. But just wait til high school - it gets 10x worse! I wouldn't mind just fruit and yogurt offered, though. That's what mine have after dinner if they are still hungry. Occasionally I will make a dessert like a crumble or cheesecake.

I think you need to stop worrying about what other people are doing and feed your kids how you prefer. Most parents are trying their best.

I don't think your DC will be obsessed with diabetes?!

Plenty of us are into nutrition and feeding our DC healthy food. It's not that unusual!

What kind of things do you give your DC for lunch at school? Always looking for new ideas!

Bullion/seasonal salad for starters, fish/meat fillet for main with fibre rich vegetables as garnish, and any fruit for dessert. Would like to know if there are ANY schools which do this, as this is very standard school meal ration in all Scandi countries + France and Netherlands.

children from other European countries do not have temper tantrums??? Who knew.

It is 10 and 20 % respectively an adults daily recommended sugar and salt intake.

I think baked bean eaters would be dying of a salt overdose if they were really that salty!

Well spotted! 20% salt would be inedible.

She’s got it, I think, from the product information, which says sugar is 10% RI, and salt 21%. RI is “reference intake”, ie the average daily intake across all sources. So if you eat an average amount of salt, your helping of baked beans would give you 21% of your daily salt intake.

There’s actually 0.6g salt in every 100*, so less than 1% of the tin is salt, and 4.3% is sugar. Beans account for 50% and tomatoes for 36%.

www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/heinz-baked-beans-in-tomato-sauce-415g www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/heinz-baked-beans-in-tomato-sauce-415g]]]]