So DH has just told me that the DCs diet today has been rubbish. I disagree what do you think?

[Virgil]

Ok so it's not exactly going to win awards for healthy day of the year but I genuinely don't think what they've eaten today is too bad.

Two Weetabix with raisins (and sugar)
Slice toast with marmite
Strawberry and banana smoothie

Lunch spaghetti bolognese which had mushrooms peppers onions, tomatoes in it as well as beef mince and some lentils and herbs
Muller fruit corner for pudding
Water to Drink

Large lemon curd cupcake at movie time (plus a lick of the bowl each)

Ham roll with crisps and grapes, another lemon cupcake and a glass of milk

It's not that bad is it?

Sofia if sugar and fat are empty calories what is a full calories?

That's true Pickles , if you're going to eat cake much better to eat homemade. Likewise lollies etc.

I bake 12 cakes and stick the leftovers in an airtight cake tin to be eaten over a few days. I wouldn't imagine the four people in this house would eat 12 fairy cakes in one day however much we want to

If you listened to everyone in this thread there would be fuck all left to eat!

Do you not need tahini to make hummus then? I need an easy hummus recipe for DS

Pickles we could eat vegetables (but not unless we were sure of their pedigree and not a fruit or fungus in disguise)

Mine had

Cereal for breakfast (DSS weetabix, DD Cheerios and Cocopops together -not ideal I admit!)

Snack of apple slices and strawberries.

Sausage, chips and mushy peas- we were at the seaside!

Snack of a few chocolate raisins. They shared a bag of quavers between two, too.

Fish fingers, rice and vegetables. Yoghurt. Grapes. Few chocolate buttons each.

I'm not going to win any parenting or cookery awards but they were happy enough. A proper homecooked meal planned for tomorrow!

I didn;t have tahini in once and it tasted the saem. More tricky I think is the texture.

If DD, who is a little fussier on humus texture, is eating it I add atsp of peanut butter per 2 tins on chickpeas, garlic (sometimes raw from freezer which adds more of a kick or from a tueb which is milder). Shove in jug and blend.

We also like adding stuff to it. Today we added a little powdered ginger and some smoked paprika. Mmmmmmmmm Had it with peeeled carrots and a knob end of bread.

I am thinking of experimentng and laking some falalfels out of the left overs... DH reckons chickpeas are my food of the month.

You can add yogurt if you DS likes it creamier

Hmm, the diet sounds OK as a one-off, but their really aren't enough pies. if you add a Fray Bentos smoothie for breakfast, you'll find that goes some way to addressing the problem.

I was always taught that if you eat something then the calories must give you more than just the energy so for example a milky pudding with fibre, proteins, calcium etc in rice, fibre from raisons etc may be better that say a dibdab or a drink of cola which might have saem caoliries but nothing else.

Is this right? Is that what folks are meaning with empty/full calories etc?

Not sure if DD (age 13) had breakfast. She was out at lunchtime, so no idea about that. Shepherds pie with veg and cheese for tea.

I think she'll survive.

I really wished you hadn't said 'homemade cake'

[drool emoticon]

But you could have your eye out on a carrot baton.

That's what I understand from it mumble.

So certain sweets are empty calories, no nutrition whatsoever, just calories

However, a bag of crisps which could be the same amount of calories as the sweets, can give you carbs etc. So not empty calories.

fedup Are griggs sausage rolls healthier than greggs ones?

Love this competitive healthyness. My DS eats loads, varies on healthiness depending on what we're doing and where we are. I really cannot get my knickers in a twist about it. He has allergy problems and has put no weight on in a year and is very active. His cons pead said give him full fat dairy again (milk/ yoghurts) and continue with proteins, and carbs he eats. She said he actually eats loads of fruit/veg for a child portion which is great but she actually said an apple and a cake would benefit him more than either/or!

Even homemade cakes are better than sweets. Cakes contain complex and simple carbs, fat, protein etc. All essential for a healthy child's diet.

at Tethers 'more pies'

Oh dear, I can't keep up and I'm supposed to be cleaning the garage.... A "full" calorie is one that comes with some additional essential nutrients like vitamins and minerals and of course fiber. Coke is an empty calorie. Eating the equivalent amount of calories in fruit would be considered "full" calories. You don't need to eat green vegetables because of the calories, you need to eat them because of the vitamins and minerals.
ComeonComeon - just because it's homemade doesn't mean it's automatically good for you, but it does mean you know exactly what went into it and it is more likely to not contain some of the unhealthy junk that goes into pre-made foods.
Just because you feed your children healthy food, doesn't mean that you are feeding them awful or tasteless food. I grew up eating a healthy mediterranean diet and still like to eat vegetables even now that my mother doesn't make me any more. I expect that my children will do the same. And I also expect that my children will not have issues with food (ie needing to go on diets and feel like they are depriving themselves of things) because I have shown them a healthy way to eat all sorts of things in moderation.
My dad is not big on artificial sweeteners. A lot of the man made food ingredients have some unpleasant and as yet undiscovered consequences. Like hydrogenated vegetable oils and high fructose corn syrup which were both once upon a time viewed as saviors of the food industry (cheap and easy to transport) and now there is increasing research that they are actually very bad for you.

Mine had:

Breakfast: Slice of wholemeal toast and crumpet, both with butter and marmite, apple juice
Snack: Square of chocolate, lollipop
Wholemeal pitta with ham and soft cheese, gouda, tomatoes, handful hula hoops
Chocolate muffin, raisins, milkshake
Italian meatballs with pasta and garlic dough balls, drinking yogurt, kiwi, pear and melon

More treats than usual as we had friends over. Perhaps a little too much salt

Cote, how is ham in bread NOT a sandwich?? Ham roll is ham in a bread roll/cob/bap

So a food scientist doesn't know that the ovary of a plant is the fruit. Ah bless dear did you not get a 1st.

And I have no objections to sandwiches...I mean I am American after all. But most of the meals that most of the people on this thread have described do not have any green vegetables and very little other types of vegetables and not enough fruit and not enough fiber (ie not just whole wheat, but whole grain).

I think some of you sound a little hysterical...
I appreciate that if you've relatives with diabetes or bowel cancer then it feels very urgent, but this is not a crappy parent-this is a parent whose kids are getting fruit +veg and have overindulged on a homemade treat. They're thin and energetic....where is the panic in this?

My friend's dd is underweight and has been advised to eat a lot more than that.
I'd be dancing in the streets if asd ds1 ate that in a day...

Weetabix has added vitamins and minerals (the folic acid added to bread and cereal is a huge positive for our population) and are a lot lower in sugar than something like special k. Raisins have minerals too and if teeth were brushed afterwards than I think they're a good calorie boost for skinny kids.
Homemade meal good.
Ham/sausages/salami/chorizo is now put into the treat category because of the bowel cancer risk-this is not widely known and people need to be informed-not called crappy mothers-I'm very very sure the dh in this case was not referring to that.

I do know morbidly obese kids and adults, I'm related to 12 at least
None of them became obese on diets similar to op's kids.
Fried sausage sandwiches as a snack, a deep fat fryer on permanently, absolute absence of fruit and veg,biscuit tin repenished daily, early introduction to excessive alcohol and addiction to computer games/no exercise ever come to mind as more obvious reasons than a homemade cake or even 2...

Tethers - ! Just wasted 10 minutes that I'll never get back wading through this thread and I've honestly never read such a load of judgemental, ignorant and frankly unscientific twaddle about diet and nutrition for children.

There was even a "was the ham naice ham?" question from one loon poster!

And at folk who think low-fat milk is suitable for kids!