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!

The problem to me is how do I make my kid want to take the lunch box which has no fancy pudding and not to have a drama about it in the morning , while knowing that the X,Y,Z best friend will have school lunch because 1. it's free 2. it's the easiest for the parents of the X,Y,Z kid?

Again, I am talking about 4 year olds!

There are plenty of other things in there with the beans. 😂

Think thats saying plenty about the type of place you shop. Not everywhere is like that.

No this is not a UK problem. Really. You seem like you’re looking for bad examples. Not all kids are given fruit shoots, nuggets and pizza all the time! Lots of children eat very healthily in many households - salad, lean meat, whole-foods and water with their main meals.

And I honestly never knew that children on the continent never had temper tantrums. Similarly, the last time I looked, when I went to France for example, there were kids being stuffed with BN biscuits, hot dogs, ice-creams and yes, pizza. When we went to Germany I saw kids sitting down with plates loaded high with chips.

Oh, and our most recent trip to Spain - more chips! And I swear I saw a kid eating spaghetti out of a tin. But the very worst - a kid eating microwaved meatballs in sauce as a ready meal.

So…………not sure you’ve got the evidence base right for a sustained argument that kids in the UK eat any worse than kids on the continent.

Discipline.

Or move back to your utopian country where absolutely no one is obese at all ever

They don’t have tantrums … except the tantrums they have if OP sends them with a packed lunch 😂
So she takes the lazy parenting option of school dinners to avoid said tantrums I guess?

other countries may have problems too, but the UK definitely has a problem. The OP was not judging lower income parents who may struggle to afford healthier, pricier options.

But that’s not possible!

Howling at there being no pizza on “the continent”

Just make your own food if you don’t like other peoples. I, like dozens of other people, are from a culture where food, and the enjoyment of eating, is huge. I couldn’t cope with “why do you need a nacho”. We eat good quality, home cooked food 95% of the time but I dgaf if my dc eat a nacho or a slice of birthday cake or a packet of haribo every so often. Food is pleasure as well as basic fuel.

Where do you live that people are eatimg like this?

My kids eat normal food. Vegetable curries, spaghetti bolognese, fish, loads of choices of veg, roast dinners etc, tuna sandwiches on home made bread, yoghurts without added sugar. They don't drink squash and only have juice on weekends.

Its cold and damp in winter so ime people don't eat "light" dinners as much because the weather really can sap your energy.

I dislike the anti dessert campaign. Traditional homemade desserts like rice puddings, custards and crumbles don't have to have a lot of sugar in or are sweetened by fruit. They are a good way to get things like eggs, milk and fruit into growing kids. Life doesn't have to be joyless, some low sugar desserts are really not a huge issue in moderation if you are doing plenty of exercise amd generally eating a broad and varied diet.

So you say something about your body and brains needing lots of energy for a busy day at school, and we don’t need to have pudding today 🙄

You’re the parent

You are coming across as having food issues in your posts.

namely your reaction to the beef chilli, rice and nachos which would have been meat, loads of hidden veg, beans, rice and about 3 corn chips for crunch. Nothing to fret about.

If your son is picking up on this than that is probably why your son is obsessed with pudding.

Nout to do with a joyless flapjack at 12:30 on a Tuesday

I agree that comparatively speaking British children are very overweight and have a horrendous diet 🤷‍♀️

mugboat · Today 16:34
children from other European countries do not have temper tantrums??? Who knew.

Having recently experienced families from other European countries at close quarters OP I can categorically state that you're deluded!

Thats an estimate, not a fact.

You parent them, the same as we all parent our kids.

It's tough but it's called being a parent 🤷‍♀️

Did your midwife promise you an easy ride, is that why you're surprised you need to tell your child what you expect of them and stick to it?

You parent them. Hope this helps.
Do they not say “no” in Malta?
You don’t have to give in to every request.

So you won't give your children a packed lunch because they whine and moan their friends get the school puddings but you can't say no.....I'm glad they don't have temper tantrums then.

Autistic adult here. Only started eating meat in last year after thirty five without, in attempt to improve nutrition.
Genuinely gutted to find out a ham sandwich isn't healthy.

Having raised DC between the UK and Italy, for me this is an interesting thread. I can kind of see where OP is coming from, but in my experience neither country has a particularly good balance when it comes to children's diets and from what other posters are saying, it sounds like other European countries have similar problems.

A key difference I noticed is that British school dinners are indeed dreadful. (At dd's secondary I get the feeling they give the kids whatever they want just to get them into school. Giving them sugary junk as rewards for good behaviour etc). On the Continent most kids finish by lunchtime and so depending on the family they'll eat "proper" food twice a day. But their breakfasts are dire, UPFs and dairy no fruit or low sugar cereals. My DC used to get teased for having fruit at snack time instead of those crappy Kinder cake things in packets.

OP just send them in with healthy lunches and either ignore the "why can't I have that too" or explain what sugary junk does to their teeth and insides.

Because, as advised several times above, you parent them and say no when necessary.

If its common for people in Malta to feed their on the VERY restrictive diet you're attempting to raise your children on then maybe it's time for a rethink because it's clearly not working when Malta is higher up than the UK for obesity levels.

Where is a back-patting emoji when you need one?

I see threads like this and just assume that the OP is in need of a lot of validation for some reason?

We have Maltese connections and the food is delicious, but don't try and kid yourself it's all super healthy.

You come from the land of Kinnie, Pastizzi, Ftira, Timpana and Wudy sausage rolls 😂

I think the OP is getting a lot of stick here, some of it deservedly so, however, I do agree with the sentiment that the food an awful lot of our children eat is shit. School meals are particularly bad and do nothing to instil healthy eating habits - I personally love the French model where it's a big social part of the day - they all sit down together around a table use cutlery & linens and minimum 30 minutes (but often much longer) so time for everyone to chat and learn table manners. French primary school meals are meant to include
starter (salad/soup) or dairy based dessert (cheese, yogurt)
protein heavy main course (meat, fish)
vegetable or grain side dish
Fresh Fruit

Only water no other drinks allowed & bread seems to be freely given.

There was a massive reform of school meals in france about 5 years ago to include local & organic produce which I believe now accounts for over 50% of the food and whilst it won't suit everyone, this is the sort of more radical reform I think we need to look at if we want to seriously start tackling childhood obesity & the shocking levels of diabetes in this country.

I often add balsamic vinegar to my tomato-based sauces.