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!

The food industry and the government have done a number on people. I know lots of intelligent people who firmly believe you must eat 3 meals and 3 snacks a day and as long as its 5 fruit and veg and below X calories or low fat then they're healthy, maybe with something whole grain in there too.

So many low fat yoghurt and biscuits. Highly processed but wholegrain cereals. Tons of fruit. A packet of crisps is pretty low calorie. You see chicken nuggets 'made with 100% chicken breast', without it being clear that 60% of the weight is the coating. You can buy ready meals with all the claims on them.

Upfs are addictive, if the food says its low calorie, low fat, whole grain, 2 portions of your 5 a day then why wouldn't people eat it?

@User0549533 It is absolutely not a privilege to have access to healthy food! Everyone has access to it. Many families are more than capable of finding cheaper food and cooking and I’m sick and tired of hearing excuses! Sour apples takes the biscuit! Cook them then! Even with a tiny amount of sugar they are still one of 5 a day. It’s ignorance, lack of an incentive and laziness. Who needs to chop apples at 6 am? Total hyperbole! Parents must try and create a lunch box from easy to prepare and pack healthy food. It’s quick and easy when you have a routine. Dc need to like food of course but everyone is capable of preparing a healthy packed lunch!

I empathise with a lot of the issues people have, but agree it’s not an excuse. Today was an ‘easy’ meal prep with slow cooker sausage casserole. Basically sausages from the freezer, everything else from tins (potatoes, carrots, plum tomatoes, baked beans) plus some simple herbs, stock cube and Worcester sauce. It took 5 minutes to do and was relatively cheap. Not exactly the healthiest but balanced diet and can sit cooking for 8 hours. I work full time and have a child with autism so it’s not easy, but nutrition is so important. I have to be creative in what to cook so my son will eat it.

No one taught me to cook and I’ve tried to experiment and find simple recipes I can go to in a pinch (tuna pasta salad/bake, jacket potato, rice with chicken and veg). But I honestly don’t understand why people don’t try.

A lot of kids are growing up eating the same bland dinners at school also. Chicken burgers, fish fingers, half frozen chips. There's a problem around food, nutrition and budget. People say it's cheap to eat fresh food but if that's the case then why is the cheapest food schools can also get - which is how they measure value - also fish fingers?

I remember watching a documentary a few years ago and one of the families would have takeaway 7 days a week, mostly KFC. They stuffed a cupboard full with junk snacks and let their kids have free access. When the expert asked them why, it was all because they didn't want to mess the kitchen up by cooking 😱😱 coke in a baby bottle and greasy chicken every single night, it's bonkers

Lol. Im packing his suitcase right now and filling it full of wotsits and Birdseye waffles.

What did you do before you tried?

I kind of agree except that I find the whole concept of UPF is bullshit anyway.

I know what it's referring too except most definitions of "ultra processed food" would include jacket potatoes and porridge because they've been washed/peeled/milled/etc and then cooked on top of that.

Generally, people judging others for feeding their children UPF are actually just snobby about junk food. Whether that's deserved or not (and how one defines junk food) is a whole other thread.

Well good for you OP.

The family in question did work hard and turned their lives and diets around really quickly.

People slide into habits without realising. It's surprising how many people actually don't know the difference between various foods, especially if they are too busy to watch TV about it or didn't grow up with healthy eating, a family that taught them to cook etc.

They were brave to put themselves out there on TV for people like you to have a pop at. I thought they were a lovely family - loving and supportive of each other.

I know what it's referring too except most definitions of "ultra processed food" would include jacket potatoes and porridge because they've been washed/peeled/milled/etc and then cooked on top of that.

No they wouldn't.

No, that's just 'processed', even 'minimally processed'.

School food has high nutrition standards and they are held to them. My kids won’t eat some of them because it’s chips once a week with no salt and tiny portions. Puddings are low in sugar and minute.

They’d much rather make a chicken and salad sandwich, grapes, cucumber and a cheese string. My 10 year old can prep his lunch in about 4 minutes.

I’m not sure your casserole - made with processed meat, tinned salty vegetables and UPF baked beans - is any healthier than the average ready meal.

No they wouldn't - not if you were also feeding them veg and protein, which you would be.

I do think for some families being busy and when you have a few kids it’s hard to get them to all eat the same thing. Happily I have only 1 but it’s a struggle, she just polished off a bowl of extremely simplified red thai curry and rice (minus any veg), she’s 6 and this is the first time she’s actually finished off a home cooked meal. It takes a lot of effort with some kids. I think starting them off right is helpful, mine is happy with fruit and nuts as a snack (getting there with veg) but it’s always been what we offered.

PP point about what counts as a meal is correct I think as well, Dh will make omelettes for dinner and thats fine. Tbh as well I think people need to let go of the upf sauce thing, jar of dolmio, chopped chicken, pasta, hide some veg and you have a perfectly decent meal. I tend to do my pasta sauces from scratch because I have time for it but if you are rushing in from a shift and dinner needs to be on the table quickly then you do whats reasonable. I wonder if we’ve over complicated what cooking is and some people give up before they start.

Something tasting the same every time, being reliable, can also be a big attraction.

Some people's monkey brains are telling them it's safe not some poisonous new thing, cos they recognise the taste. And the modern brains of people on a tight budget are telling them they know they like it so there's no risk of wasting your money and still being hungry.

Most supermarket sugar that's simply labelled "Brown" is refined with molasses added. Muscovado and some other types of brown sugar are unrefined.

Good question. A lot of crap in my 20s, then slowly learned to cook as I got older. I worked a lot longer hours then and had less time, but it was also not planning or knowing what to do to be honest. I think people need to find motivation to cook. Now my motivation is my son and my own health. But it’s hard. My mum fed me a lot of crap as a kid and then left when I was 11, and then my dad was more hopeless (but really tried). I think that’s why I want to make a difference to my son now and to give him the skill of cooking.

I watched this episode and made the pasta sauce with soaked cashew nuts and roasted tomatoes I added spinach and roasted red onion and it was absolutely delicious when blended!
The parents chocolate habit was absolutely bonkers though!
Mum had hot chocolate for breakfast, a huge chocolate brownie for lunch and 2 bars of Chocolate in the evening!
It must have cost a fortune too as Chocolate prices have really increased with the poor cocoa harvest issue.
My Adult DS's normally get chocolate in their stockings but I greatly cut back this year due to the expense of it.
Hopefully with the money they save they can do a kitchen extension as cooking for 6 people in that galley space would drive me absolutely bananas!
The kids did seem loved but the parents did need nutritional guidance as poor eating and the resulting health issues will be passed on.

Lots of parents are not 'off their face' when using drugs. Plenty of parents are habitual substance users and parent and bring up their children

But we know thats not ok, thats just about holding on. The children will be affected by that, the role modelling, the health of their parents. Even if the children themselves dont get their hands on the drugs (the example given up thread is that this family on the telly the other night dont feed their kids the same food they have, bt thats not the point)

Children of substance users are not always removed from the family home, they function, the parents function

So again, no judgement?

For someone who is being a bit snobby about what other people eat, you don't appear to understand what a UPF is?

Fish fingers are generally not UPFs - if you look on the Yuka app, the vast majority of fish fingers are rated as excellent or good. For example Aldi's frozen fish fingers are organic, have no additives, high protein and low salt, sugar and saturates.

This is not true.
At school in the 1970s we were taught cooking and nutrition but my DC who are 27 and 29 were not taught any basic cooking at school. They were taught "food tech" which was very, very limited. How to make a sandwich was one lesson.
I had to teach them everything from baking to veg prep and nutrition myself.

My DC are the same age as many young parents now, who's own parents didn't teach them and may have been raised on convenience food .

Does anyone remember kids sitting in pushchairs with a bottle of tea back in the day

Considering you can get 120 frozen chicken nuggets for the price of 4 chicken fillets and the chicken nuggets would last around a month where as the fillets would be about 1 week
When money is tight would you rather feed your kids for a month or a week?

It’s not even as clear cut as that. I probably have McDonalds once a week, sometimes twice a week. I’m a perfectly healthy size 8 with a BMI closer to underweight than overweight.

I’m aware of the UPF I eat though, and I’m aware of a normal weight and fitness level for me and will adapt what I eat if they start to change - but I don’t need to only have a grilled chicken wrap once every 8-12 weeks in order to be healthy.