Do people really not know what to eat?

[WilderHawthorn]

Watching ‘what not to eat’, and the family they’ve found are just hopeless. Four small children all shovelled full of UPF junk, parents both obese, freely admit to eating crap constantly.

How adults choose to feed themselves is their choice, but to feed four small kids that much junk? It’s bordering on abuse. An apple/banana costs the same as a packet of crisps, jacket potato is one of the cheapest meals you can make, basic porridge oats and milk for breakfast, it’s not difficult to eat whole foods, so why rely on packaged things?

Freely admit I judge those who feed their children this way and truly despair over childhood obesity stats. I work full time, have 4 DC, DH works full time and I volunteer. I’m very time poor and partially disabled, I still feed my kids well and it doesn’t cost me a fortune. Taught myself to cook. There’s no excuse!

Yes I shouldnt have quoted you because its the general narrative I was talking about. When Jamie Oliver does his £1 meals shows its the same thing. They're always whataboutery about ' poor people' not having a tin opener rather than the majority of people who could just do with some information on cheap and nutritious meals.

I'll give those a go, thanks! My son wouldn't eat them but maybe I'll like them.

I don't know if it's about liking it. UPFs are addictive, they work like drugs on the brains reward system.

Hope ypu like them. My mum used to make them for when we came home from school so it may be nostalgia but my kids scoff them!

I haven’t watched the programme.

But as a social worker I can tell you that there are many parents who have no idea about food - how to plan, budget, cook etc.

Some of it is generational - brought up on crap, never taught to cook, so they do the same.

what is obvious and easy to many is a complete mystery to others.

Thanks.

My son doesn't eat much of anything but especially if it involves fruit and veggies, he has a very limited diet due to medical reasons so it's always tricky.

Yes, I think we are going to keep a significant portion of the population on these drugs forever.

Just has to be done.

The underlying problem driving the rise in obesity is the highly addictive edible food like substances.

100%.

I have managed to get myself off them (highly addictive industrial food -like substances) with a lot of education, support and effort…. and I can only stay off them with the continuing support of a Twelve Step fellowship.

But it means I am the “odd” person who doesn’t eat puddings, biscuits, snacks….. no, not even because you made it specially for me, or because everyone else is having one, or because it’s Christmas. I simply cannot afford to start again on what took me so much effort to stop.

It’s worth it to me, for the benefits of maintaining an 8 stone weight loss since my peak, and getting off all my medication after 28 years with type 2 diabetes.

How much easier it would have been if the stuff was subject to the same sort of restrictions we have on cigarettes or alcohol. And with all the restrictions and taxation we put on both of those, there are still 12-14% of adults addicted to each.

How many people would be able to do similar (with or without WLI as an aid) if the addictive nature of UFP’s was accepted, and public policy was used to move people away from them?

This absolute rubbish. Washing, peeling and milling does not make food UPF. They would make the food processed. There is a huge difference between processed and ultra-processed. You really need to pay attention.

I typically refrain from judging others' eating habits or body sizes. As a child, I was chubby, and my mother, an excellent cook, showed her love through food. Over time, I have undergone therapy, adopted healthier eating patterns, and exercised to stay in shape. Despite being slim now, I find it difficult to feel completely at ease with my eating habits, as this remains a complex issue.

A jacket potato is surely just cooked? Im not convinced thats even processed...

I think its processed because its been ' 'processed' in some way- ie cooked, wheras a raw potato is ' unprocessed'. Neither are ultra processed though. upf's contain ingredients not found in a domestic kitchen.

Cooking of any kind is processing. As is chopping, grating, boiling etc… and it all changes how the food interacts with the body (yes even just chopping).

Processing is not always bad. In fact, some is required to remove anti-nutrients and toxins etc like with beans and legumes or eggs (raw egg whites bind Biotin and stop it being absorbed).

a raw potato is ' unprocessed'
and 'inedible'😁
Much of what we eat needs to have something done to it so that we can access the nutrients, aka digest it!
And there's that whole thing about how the ability to cook meant that our species (or rather the progenitors thereof) could focus on activities other than chomping raw food 24/7 just to survive.

I really do wish everyone would stop banging on about not being taught to cook as an excuse.
I wasn't taught to cook by anyone.
I taught myself from cook books and magazine recipes. All in pre Internet days.
Everything was trial.and error.
In this day and age of Internet, Youtube, tik tok, Facebook, TV streaming and the media attention on healthy eating, UPFs, basically news headlines shoved in our faces and everything we need to know at our fingertips.... there really is no excuse whatsoever.

They make excuses because they don’t understand people who do this.

They are fine eating whatever and don’t want to change. They won’t go to farmer markets that you place near their communities, they’ll ignore the fresh produce sections for their usual food. You have to want to eat healthier food, and many of them just don’t want to put that kind of effort into it. Really that simple.

It's the trial and error that is the problem for many. If you can't afford to throw something away if it doesn't turn out right then you are not going to make the attempt.

I’m a bit like this with making my own pizza or chicken nuggets. Yes I can, and do, and yes, they are way nicer when homemade, but most of the time if we’re going to have pizza or chicken nuggets it’s because we’re pushed for time and need something quick and easy. If I have time to spend on cooking I’d rather the resulting meal was something better than chicken nuggets!

(You can make a great chilli with not much prep though as long as you cook it long enough imo)

Maybe for a small minority, but for most that is just another excuse. How much trial and error is there really when you have a step-by-step recipe sitting in front of you? And even if something doesn't turn out perfect it's unlikely to have to be thrown out. And no, you wouldn't know that if you had never tried, but it's another convenient excuse not to try - they've convinced themselves that it's all just to haaard and they couldn't possibly have tiiime* so they don't bother trying.

*And yet all these people with so little time are always up to date on the Traitors/football/soaps etc

It's not excuses because we don't understand.

I cook, from scratch, daily (especially at the moment as we're on a very tight budget while saving). I saw this growing up anyway. As did my younger sister, who has the same parents and grew up in the same house seeing the same stuff.

Cooking to her is something she cannot convince herself she can do. She finds it terrifying. If it can be quickly warmed up in the microwave or at a stretch in a pan (think beans), she'll do that. Otherwise it's on an oven tray, 200°C for 20 minutes and that's it.

She was taught. She lacks the abilities and the confidence to learn.

It seems to me she doesn’t want to? And that’s okay. It’s her life, her choice.

She does want to. She asks for help sometimes, and we try. It's like there's some kind of blocker in her brain. Doesn't matter how often we talk her through it, do it with her, show her cheats (pre-prepped veg, garlic paste/jarred garlic etc), it just falls straight out the second we leave.

It's the strangest thing. We worry, because she lives on chips, beans on toast and ready meals. But there's only one so often we can fill her freezer with batch cooked food and then see her ignore it because she panics about "getting it right" when she has to reheat it.

I think we all do the best we can depending on the time, money, knowledge and ability we have and the situation we’re in.

I don’t judge anyone for what they eat/feed their family and nor would I tolerate anyone judging me.

We’re just doing our best regardless of how that looks to everyone else. Shaming people for it is wrong.

The judging on here by those who know nothing of the struggles/experiences of others is dreadful.
Your family is fed. It may be less than ideal in the opinion of some but they have no clue how your life is on a daily basis so their opinion doesn’t matter.