Yoghurts five a day or not

[davyatsea]

Hi there. I'm not sure on this one, so I thought I would ask on here. DS, aged seven, is fussy about his food to say the least. If he had his way, he would live on Pot Noodles, youghurts, dairly dunkers and cheese strings. I am going shopping later on, so there wont be any pot noodles bought - end of arguement on that one. We are trying to educate ds on his five a day, and reward him if he improves his diet. This will also teach his younger sister of 21 months as she is starting to pick up on his fussy eating habits.
Going back to five a day, ds thinks yoghurts count as one of their five a day. I disagree, on the basis that five yoghurts do not count as five portions of fruit. I know sometimes items are labelled as one of the 5 a day, but not always. What is the opinion on here? Maybe a happy medium shared by yoghurts, and the real thing. DS does like bananas and grapes, but will not eat vegetables - unless as part of a pot noodle. Now, would you count the peas in a pot noodle as one of the 5 a day. I'm not sure, but maybe I can be proven otherwise.

Are you saying does the fruit in a yogurt count towards the 5 portions a day target for eating fruit and vegetables?

If so, the answer is no.

I would not count any "vegetable" in processed food (such as pot noodle) anything in terms of 5 a day. The only thing you can count in there is number of artificial colours and flavouring (which is pretty bad) calories, and carbohydrate content.

Pot Noodle fills your stomach, but does not address any nutritional needs the body has.

Do you cook anything at all?

Youghurt has dairy, and sugar, and thats it. The fruit is so negligible that it is pretty much non existing.

Sorry.

My wife does most of the cooking as she is usually home before me, but ds is just so fussy with food, my dw does lose heart as times - understandibly. I must admit, I thought some of the yoghurts with 'bits of fruit' did count, but I wasnt too sure.

You know what I do?
I put fresh blueberries, fresh rasberries, cut up some strawberries, and add natural yoghurt on top. Sprinkle with some cinnamon, add some walnuts, and hey presto, a yoghurt and fruit meal which is healthy and balanced, and absolutely count towards five a day. Walnuts contain helathy fat and omega3.

If your son does not like natural yoghurt, try vanilla youghurt instead.

Beware that fruit yoghurts are extremely sugary. Natural yougurt, either Greek or "Set" have much less added sugar.

Interesting comment about pot noodles. My dw was cooking tea last night when I came home from work, admittedly not the healthiest, chicken steaks, chips and beans (we cant be good all the time and Thursday is our 'oven chip night). DS was tucking into a pot noodle, which he had clearly asked for while DW was cooking tea. He didn't eat his tea, then asked me for some toast one hour later while I was bathing DD (DW was out at this time). I made him toast, whilst he helped imself to a cheese string and yoghurt. Needless to say, this is the last time I'll be doing this. Two hours later on, he came downstairs, after hearing dw come back, claiming that he was unsettled, bored and hungry (bearing in mind it was almost 9pm on a school night). I wont post my reaction, but you can imagine how I felt.

NotQuintAtAllOhNo. That recipe sounds lovely, and I know my wife would love that. She is trying to lose weight and I know she is always looking for inspiration and new ideas. Many thanks for that.

If my sons could choose, they would be tucking into cheese strings and drink yakults all day! I have to refuse snack (other than apples and some almonds) after school, as it will just totally kill their appetite for dinner, and they end up asking for food and snacking the rest of the evening.

Yoghurt is dairy, not fruit, it doesn't count at all to your five a day. Most of them don't even have any fruit in!

How about cooking your own noodles? I cook noodles and throw in any combination of (cooked)onion, garlic, diced chicken, turkey, frozen peas, sweet corn, chilli, peanut butter, soy sauce, ham, brocoli, french beans, beef, etc etc. The kids love it and it's much nicer than a pot noodle. A packet of plain noodles is really cheap.

I also used to "hide" vegetables in things like bolognaise sauce, by, for example, grating courgette or carrot and adding that, or cutting up cabbage very small. Most of the time they never noticed.

YDdraigGoch. Interestingly enough, we do often have plain noodles and various stir fry combinations, but when my wife asks my son what he wants, he always refuses this option. We made a cottage pie last weekend, and ds helped to prepare the vegetables for this, but still did not want this choice. If we do things with bolognaise sauce, he also refuses - much preffering the 'junk' option.

Problem is, he's too 'clever' for his own good, but not clever in my eyes when it comes to food choices. I just feel it is rubbing off on his younger sister.

Stop having pot noodles and junk in the house. If it is not available to him, it will no longer be "an option".

Thats simple... I'm doing the weeks shopping in a while, so there'll be no junk in the trolley. He wont be happy, but tough really!

Going one further than NotQuint, i often blend the fruits with natural yoghurt and a splash of milk (we use soya yog and milk) to make a smoothie, no effort to drink (which i think is part of the appeal of some 'junk' food, there is no chewing involved!) and you can easily get 2 or 3 fruits in there. Also remember that baked beans also counts as 1.
I've noticed recently that the heinz soups count too. I know you'd probably rather he ate homemade soups, but tinned ones might be a compromise.

Ha ha! Loving this -cheese strings, oven chip night, pot noodles and is a yoghurt a portion of fruit.

10 out of ten. Do more please op, what do you have for Sunday dinner?

And what I, a chicken steak?

And what night is it tonight at your house? Bernard Matthews night?

Earlyriser, the last time I made that, my kitchen exploded!

Not making smoothies again. Not with a kenwood for sure! The smoothie managed to get INTO the machine, then came out of every nook and cranny.

I cleaned the machine up as best as I could, unscrewing screws and mopping up inside, and realized it was a lost cause. So took it back to the shop hoping it was on warranty.

It wasnt, as I had unscrewed it and invalidated the warranty. But, the bloke in the complaints department said (while winking) "Oh dear, it looks like you dropped your Kenwood on the floor! Good job you have accidental damage insurance! " That was a good 'un!

Can you designate one night a week as "junk night" - if DS' choice, if he has eaten all his fruit and veg on the other 6 nights?

Or maybe start the othe way round, and designate one night a week as "fresh food night", with no options, and then slowly build up from there.

It's not easy, I know, but occasionally we need a bit of tough love - he'll thank you one day.

PS - We make smoothies with a hand blender - there's no machine for the smoothie to "get in to". Ususally use a banana or mango for thickness, and add strawberies, raspberries, peaches, or whatever we have to hand. You can use frozen fruit too, which is just as good as fresh. DS could have some fun experimenting with different fruit combinations.

Soups are also a good way to get veg into kids - again, experiment with combinations.

oooh messy stuff Quint! I use the hand held blender as i broke my kenwood making 'juicy ices' in the summer (basically a tray of ice cubes and a carton of fruit juice wizzed to make a sort of healthy slush puppy) so i feel your pain!

Have you thought about trying stir fry with noddles?

50g (5 oz) fine Chinese style dried egg noodles or use straight to wok noodles
250ml (8 fl oz) chicken stock

3 tsp dark soy sauce
50 g(2 oz) frozen peas
75g (3 oz) drained canned or frozen sweetcorn
100 g (4 oz) cooked chicken, shredded
1tsp cornflour
1 spring onion, sliced

Method
Cook the noodles according to the packet instructions (or use pre-cooked noodles). Drain and set aside. Put the stock, soy sauce, peas, sweetcorn and chicken in a pan over a medium heat. Bring to a simmer and cook for 2 minutes.
In a small cup, mix the cornflour with 2 teaspoons of cold water and add to the contents of the pan then cook, stirring, for a further minute until the liquid thickens slightly. Add the noodles and spring onion and reheat briefly, stirring.

Have you got any old pot noddles pots you could serve them in? This would make it fun for them.

Egg friend rice here - I add frozen cut beans and peas to bulk out the vegetable

Also let your dc know that a fruit or vegetable only counts once per day - so if they have peas at lunch then it doesn't count at dinner time.

Does your dc like dips? Try having vegetable sticks as a starter with humous or other dips, chopped up cucumber, carrots, peppers and baby corn all chopped up on a plate with the dip at the table, everyone gets to dig in before the main course.

Or the same with fruit before the main course - all chopped up and on a plate

It is at this time they are hungry and more likely to want to try the vegetables and fruit

We went to the affordable arts fair a few weeks back.

There was a post box, and writing paper, envelopes and pens. It said "Complaints box". People were supposed to submit their grievances and complaints to The Box.

My youngest son wrote:

"My complaint is that we have fish for dinner EVERY DAY, please make it stop"

(we dont have fish for dinner every day, but my son seems to think that)

Davy, can you sit down at a PC or with a recipe book with your son and explain that he won't be getting pot noodle any more so you need him to talk to you about other foods that he might try? Look at the BBC Good food or cbeebies I can cook sites? Do you like the look of this? What ingredients here do you fancy trying? Pick me 3 dishes that you're willing to try etc.

Your son didn't know that he liked pot noodle or cheese strings until he tried them, so there will be other foods out there that he also likes, that he just hasn't tried yet. You're there to help him discover what they are.

What does he eat at school, presuming they don't put the kettle on for his pot noodle? Does your DS do any cooking? Could he help cook some noodles himself, and add sesame oil and soy sauce and peas, so it's like a pot noodle, and then build up from there?

Finally, why is your wife conceding to him? If you don't buy pot noodle, presumably she does, "we do often have plain noodles and various stir fry combinations, but when my wife asks my son what he wants, he always refuses this option" - why is he offered another option? Surely, he eats what's in front of him, even if he picks the chicken out and just eats the noodles, or goes without.

I wonder what the person though when they emptied the box?

I like the thought of options for tea, we have 5 options of tea for the week and my dd's can choose which options they have on which nights - but all the options must be eaten over the 5 nights until I produce the next 5 options - I get to choose the options when I go shopping

I use frozen spinach and put it in EVERYTHING- spag bol, chili, soup, pasta sauce. Nobody notices and they all eat it. Grated courgette melts down into nothing but is full of vitamins so you could put that in too.

Your DS cannot eat Pot Noodles if there are none in the house. If children are hungry an hour before tea, I just give them a drink as I tell them they need to be hungry when their tea arrives on the table.

I do sympathise though, my 2yo has completely gone off fruit and I am always trying new tricks to get it down him.

Have you tried Fruitapura? It's actually pureed fruit for babies but I still give these to my kids from time to time if I am worried about their 5 a day. They are in pots that look like yoghurt pots so you could try that maybe?

I also put drained tinned fruit in a sugar free jelly which works too.