Do you have "junk" food in your house on a regular basis?

[Ilfurfante]

Just had a debate with my teen DC who argue that we don't have enough variety of food in our house. When asked what they mean, they actually are just referring to what I perceive to be junk food - so crisps, biscuits, chocolate and sugary cereal.

I try to provide a healthy balanced diet but I don't buy these types of foods as routine because actually they just eat them and leave the stuff which is healthy. For instance, they have a choice of porridge, Weetabix or unsweetened muesli for breakfast or they can have eggs, toast, greek yoghurt, fruit etc (in fact the 12 year old made waffles from scratch and had them with blueberries and maple Syrup this morning). If I bought the sugary cereal, they would eat that - they would never choose any of the above options over that so I don't buy it.

I have just made a delicious home cooked lunch (lamb kofta kebabs, bean and tomato salad, homemade focaccia, green salad and tzastiki) which was full of flavour. They all enjoyed it and ate it but they just don't perceive that this as something of value.

We do have what I would consider "treats" but just not as a matter of course (fizzy drinks if it's a special meal, crisps with lunch sometimes, Greggs etc). I don't want them to think these are part of a normal diet on a daily basis. They think I am totally unreasonable.

Am I?

I wholeheartedly agree with you that you are undoubtably doing what is best for the children and their health. Like you say, they just wouldn’t eat the decent stuff if the sugary option was available for instance.

When I was younger we didn’t have any snacks really, there were kitkats and crisps because my Dad ate them. This was for penny pinching reason rather than our parents being health conscious. So we were allowed one now and again but not everyday as looking back there would have only been a 6 pack of each for the week for a family of 4 and my Dad would have been angry if he went and there were none left. So consequently we had a bag of crisps or a kitkat every few days. The upside of that is that we were very healthy weights until we were late teens. Looking back though we were actually quite hungry, I wonder if your children are hungry and want a ‘snack’ but not a meal but there’s nothing they could grab quickly? The downside of our restrictions was that as soon as we were out with friends and had any money we bought crisps and chocolate and a pizza from the takeaway and honestly I felt euphoric but also I put on about 2 stone.

Could there be a compromise? Could you sit down together and state how you feel but also ask what they would like the most and buy just enough of whatever it is to have once a day? Or on weekends (sugary cereal) and say that if they start to fall into bad habits too often you’ll just stop buying it? I’m not sure but I feel like maybe just enough stuff in the house that it still feels like a treat but not enough that it affects their health might stop them going to the shop for a belly buster sandwich like I did as soon as I could 🙈

Whilst a calorie is a standard unit of measurement, the body doesn’t process every calorie the same. So 1560 calories of high fibre, high protein whole foods won’t have the same amount of available calories as 1560 of upf foods. Our lives mean we use a lot fewer calories so there will be a big difference in deficit between 1560 calories decades ago and today.

They were all men. They did a combined 40 hours of lab ‘work’ and learning and had to walk 22 miles a week. So not massively active at that time.

No one is talking about eating lots of snacks. And snacks don’t have to be sugary. There is the oft quoted ‘sugar lights your brain up like cocaine’ as well. It’s true dopamine receptors light up, but they do when (some - those who like them) people cuddle puppies too.

They ate potatoes, bread, rutabagas, turnips and macaroni. I always though rutabagas were turnips to be honest.

Rutabaga is swede. Two meals a day of vegetables and bread for six months would drive anyone to despair.

This is how I managed my house too. My 16 year old is like your DD, she prefers the healthier stuff over any junk

Sounds delicious! I love tuna and salsa!

My teen was teetering on underweight. I dread to think how thin they'd have got if they hadn't had access to a box of junk food. It also saved them wasting money in the Corner Shop paying extortionate prices buying chocolate or a single packet of crisps or a can of drink. Permanently hungry.

As long as they eat dinner as well, I think there's no issue having access to junk food. It also teaches valuable skills about not restricting certain foods and that no food is a "guilty pleasure" but rather something you eat in moderation as part of a wider healthier diet.

We have a "junk food drawer"

In it at the minute we have mini poppadoms, pretzels, hula hoops, garlic bruschetta, kit kats and cereal bars.

They have always had free access to it (although I kept a closer eye when young) as they do the fruit bowl.

They make healthier choices than me.
One dc just came down and boiled 2 eggs and the youngest just made a bowl of fruit and yoghurt.
I had hula hoops haha

We have all that crap in the house all the time. Sometimes gets eaten and sometimes it doesn't.
I've always had biscuits/chocolate etc available just incase anyone wants any.
More often than not my son will go for the fruit given the chance, especially pomegranate seeds or mango etc.

However, my partners kids who don't have this stuff available at their own home will constantly ask what's for the next meal or when the next snack is etc at mine. They have also eaten that much they have physically been sick as they don't seem to be able to regulate how much of the 'crap food' they can eat. They have been known to sneak down in the night if they stay over and gorge on it given the chance.

My kid can take it or leave it. I once offered them all an icecream and the other kids couldn't get their heads around him saying no thanks.

I think because it is part of our everyday diet (if we feel like it or want it) then there is no fear of missing out. It's not 'treat' food. It's just food. Same as celery, pasta, fruit etc
No food is a 'reward' so he doesn't associate food with good or bad feelings or actions

We have chocolate but not biscuits and crisps. I only buy crisps for Christmas.

We have a treat cupboard and 4 kids. We’ve still got chocolate and sweets in there from Easter, and have only just polished off some of the stuff from Christmas. I think that’s. because they know that it’s always there and not restricted, they’re just not bothered by it.

We didn’t have any treats kept at home growing up. I remember nibbling the corner of the cooking chocolate and marzipan if I wanted something sweet. Then when I had access to my own money I would buy junk food and overeat.

I usually have crisps in, but not anything else. I’ll only buy chocolate and biscuits when I fancy them, which isn’t often, so I see no reason to have them in the house. It’s got nothing to do with me being ‘good’. 😂

We do have a snack cupboard at the moment it is full of jerky, haribos and nuts.
i make flapjacks and protein bars and date balls which are in the fridge.
if they want crisps or shop biscuits they have have to walk to the corner shop and buy them.

We don’t have chocolate/biscuits etc as I would eat the lot! 19yo DS isn’t too bothered by sweet stuff (I’m sure he was swapped at birth 🤣), but we do usually have lemonade and crisps in the house, although he only has a bag 3-4 times a week and I don’t really like them.

At the minute, we do have ice creams in (Solero type things) as it’s blooming warm and we’ve both fancied them, and usually have fruit yoghurts in the fridge for if we fancy something sweet. DS has always preferred savoury though and his go to snack is toast and marmite or crackers and cheese.

We always have snacks - junk like crisps and biscuits but once they are gone they are gone

when small it was one thing a day typically . Once they found the box they managed to keep to that ( but any gifts like Easter eggs they kept as additional to the snack box )

don’t what I would have done with someone who raided yhe junk box and ate everyone’s rations for the week but I suspect no pocket money and no snack box for the next week - just ( larger because individual items always are ) treats bought for others as and when

sugary cereal was a holiday treat

always had a home made cake on the go as well

ah - I did allow chocolate spread at breakfast …it’s amazing what your mind deducts !

edit - just making it freely available only works for some children , others will eat junk all the time given the choice and that’s not surprising because it is geared to making us want more and more - those with self restraint naturally are very rare. We have deliberate self restraint not natural. Families with junk always available and well controlled children probably have more going on disciple wise than they realise because craving junk is natural

We always have junk in the house - some of it has been sat in the same drawer for months, some gets eaten and replaced every week. We also have healthy snacks and they get eaten too.