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?

Well my eldest DC is now at uni. His flatmates eat utter shite by all accounts. He batch cooks from scratch. His diet is far from perfect (he's 20 and I wouldn't expect it to be) but he has some understanding of what a healthy diet is, eats a variety of foods and is slim and fit.

We have loads of it. Currently got homemade choc chip muffins, choc bars, a cupboard full of different crisps, lollies, fizzy (no sugar) drinks etc.

We don't actually eat huge amounts of any of it but I buy what I fancy, when I fancy it, as does my husband so we end up with quite a selection.

I've had half a muffin from it all today, husband had a whole muffin. My 4 year old had a watermelon ice lolly. He's spectacularly unbothered by it all and seems to have the knack of listening to his appetite and stopping when full, even if its a cake or biscuit.

I struggled with food for pretty much my whole life but something has shifted in the last year and I'm at peace. I really didn't want my son to have any hang ups around food and I'm so pleased he is calm and balanced with nothing off limits.

My sister is totally different with her children and has been militant about healthy eating and treats for occasions only. She suffers from disordered eating and I worry her children will be the same. They talk about food constantly, ask for food constantly and snacks etc are hidden as they have no control. It's quite sad and stressful to be around.

This!

@IlfurfanteNo, we don’t generally , but we too are more of an ingredients household.
As yours, my kids are free to buy crisps/ sweets and the like when out and about, as do I occasionally, I just don’t think they are part of the food shop that needs to be replenished.

We have a variety of foods in our house. So, Greek yoghurt, fruit, cheese, muffins, peanut butter, chicken, rice, noodles etc. However, my two are young adults ( DD home from uni) and they pretty much eat and what they want. DS loves steak and high protein foods. DD loves a pizza or a good plate of fried chicken and rice with potatoes. I’m on chemo, so I’m eating all sorts of shit. Tonight it’s fried chicken wings and chips from a dodgy takeaway!

Of course, but that doesn’t have to happen with free access to a cupboard of UPF at home.

Mine is the same and we have a far more military style. The whole family have read ultra processed people and none of us eat upf, Ds is 21 at University but home now for the vac, DD is 18. I did not allow unrestricted acsess to anything as children expect probably fruit. 3 meals a day and a snack ( usually hm) after school.

How is this restricting their choices? @Ilfurfante has listed multiple choices.
Do you mean UPFs rather than choices?

There’s so many extremes on this thread- op, there’s a huge jump between nothing sugary at all and non stop healthy options to no healthy options at all. Most of us are trying to find the correct ratio!

I think there is something to be said for explaining to kids what upf are and why some foods are hyper palatable. Not to demonise but to explain that it isn’t their fault that they want certain foods and that as a treat, that’s fine. But also explaining and demonstrating what a healthy balanced diet looks like. And also prioritising exercising and moving for 30-60 minutes every day.

if we are talking about military operations in the holidays my kids have a tick list of things they have to do before they can rot on electronics. On that list is 30 minutes of exercise, 30 minutes of outside time, reading, creativity, music practice, something educational, chores and an act of kindness. I’m probably an evil bitch but once they are done they can do whatever they want.

It’s a tough one, I was raised in an ‘ingredients’ house and then would gorge on sugar whenever I got the chance. But now as an adult I’ve come full circle and am very health conscious and rarely buy junk food. I appreciate my parents modelling what a healthy diet should be. My daughter is 2 and has the occasional ice cream or birthday cake but I want her to understand they shouldn’t be everyday foods.

We don’t have much processed foods in because my husband and I don’t eat processed foods at home, although we will happily eat cake in a cafe or order a pizza in on a special occasion or get a meal deal on a long journey. At home we all have access to a wide range of healthy foods - yogurts, dried and fresh fruit, home cooked meals, healthier cereals, berries, cheeses, eggs, nuts, meats, veg, fish, breads, grains, apple crumble, rice pudding when it’s made. My kids cook well, sometimes they make pancakes or cakes if after something sweet. A few times a week they walk into town and buy crisps or sweets or whatever and I’m happy for them to do this as they are walking, weighing up cost, shopping independently, socialising, eating well generally. Crisps and sweets, like processed foods are not something Im interested in having in the house. All the grandparents are the same, so it’s just a way of life

This is ridiculous, how can this be “restricting choices”:

toast
eggs
porridge
weetabix
muesli
fruit
greek yoghurt

How many choices for breakfast does one need?! When DP stays over he has a choice of porridge or eggs, that’s it.

I'm pretty good at not buying too much junk (not saying we never have it 🙂) but DH just goes & buys lots, so then it sits in the cupboard making the temptation much worse.

i hear you and do exactly the same, and get the same grief that you do. We do not routinely stock crisps, chocolate, biscuits etc.

In one of his more sensible moments, my 14 year old agreed that actual food I.e. my cooking (very similar to what you make) just doesn’t have the same ‘value’ - no matter how tasty it is. It doesn’t give the same chemical ‘rush’ as junk food does. It doesn’t ignite the pleasure centres of the brain in the same way a manufactured UPF does. And obviously it’s not marked in the same way (maybe we should try this).

Stick with it, they will eventually grow out of seeing shit food as a treat when they grow up enough.

Totally agree r.e. watching a movie. Why would you need to buy snacks to watch a film at home. It’s 2 hours. If they’ve eaten dinner, I don’t understand why Doritos and dips, big bar of chocolate and popcorn are needed? The only time I have snacks while watching something is if it’s a social event, e.g. we do a Super Bowl Sunday night at a friend’s house where we all bring food/snacks. But this would be in place of dinner.

Of course no one needs snacks during a movie but every once in a while there’s nothing better than a big pile of upf shit. Toffee popcorn, salty chips and a slushy.

Exactly. The kids that grow up eating normal diets consisting of actual food might go mad for a while and live on chips / Greggs for a while when they leave home. But they will revert to type when they become adults and I bet they provide actual food for their children.

But the ones that grow up eating shite ‘food’ will carry on doing this into adulthood and will teach their children to do the same 🙄

If someone craves something, then they crave it. Being a child means you don’t have the money to pay for it, so you can’t have it. Yet when they get older and have access to those things, they’re going to binge eat it. I know, because I was one of those.

parents never allowed any ‘unhealthy’ chocolate, cake etc unless it was dessert on a Sunday. As soon as I was 16 and had access to my own money, I would get anything sweet I could get my hands on as I had been deprived of it.

i would say to have it and teach limits. Have the odd selection and have a talk about health and the effect on body, teeth etc and what happens if you eat too much. But restriction leads to disordered eating so it’s best to educate rather than restrict.

Honestly, that sounds absolutely vile to me but we all like different things. Crisps would be my upf of choice and some Tony's or M and S chocolate.

Agree with OP, this honestly sounds disgusting (isn’t slushy just heaps of sugar and food colouring over ice?). I’m not saying I never eat UPF/unhealthy food, I love an ice cream after a bike ride in the heat and if I see tiramisu on a menu I’m all over it. But a pile of UPF every time the family watches a film together? Seems like a very unhealthy habit to me.

Balance in all things though.....tonight we had pan fried tuna with a cucumber, tomato and spring onion salsa. Chocolate magnum for desert.

We have a variety of everything. So we always have biscuits and crisps but we also have nuts, seeds, popcorn kernels, Greek yoghurt, fruit, salad, cheeses etc.
It's just me and 13 year old twin girls.
I filled the biscuit tin 2 weeks ago, it's still full but when I wanted to make myself a ham salad sandwich earlier I wasn't happy when I discovered someone had eaten all the ham, lettuce, spring onions and cucumber and not bothered to tell me.
I think my daughters have learnt to self regulate, they know what's healthy and what isn't. The only thing I've ever really restricted is fizzy drinks. They didn't have any at all until they were around 8 and now I only buy them occasionally.

We don't have it in, almost ever. I almost never buy crisps, fizzy drinks, squash, sugary cereal, biscuits or sweets. Mostly because it's the easiest way to reduce our food bill - I could easily spend an extra £20 p/w on those things, and they're of no nutritional value. I bake cakes and sweets things, and will buy an ice cream out and about or pop to the shop for some fizzy just for a treat sometimes, but we don't make any of it a regular part of our food shop or keep it in the house regularly.

I’d honestly never even think of getting this in for watching a movie.

it wouldn’t even occur to me.

I’m not really health conscious or anything. I’d make popcorn, get in some chocolate. But I’m not fighting cravings for stuff like this, thanks to the habits that were engrained from my parents.