Classify the following foods as junk/healthy

[tortoiseshell]

1. Fish fingers (100% cod)

2. Sausages 3. Rice 4. Pasta 5. Cereal (Shreddies, Bran flakes etc, not sugar coated cereal!)

I think all are pretty healthy, possibly the sausages are least healthy. My children eat A LOT of these foods, so interested to know what people think of them.

Pizza definitely, what's wrong with pizza?

I think the problem is that we confuse adult/women's ideas of healthy (where we recoil in horror from FAT) and a more rational meaning of healthy, which means a WHOLE FOOD which has been processed and had non-natural ingredients added.

Personally, I think that the less it's been fecked with from it's natural state, then it's fine. So stuff like cheese, olive oil etc. is HEALTHY and fabulous, stuff like, erm, Fruit Shoots are the work of the devil.

But my argument is that you do know. You are getting whole fish, minced up. White fish is by definition free range and pretty germ free, and we eat whitebait whole!

which has NOT been processed

Yes what IS wrong with minced fish? We eat fish whole all the time don't we? My dd had tinned sardine for dinner, lovely stuff, just with his head lopped off and yum yum, all the rest mashed up with cheesy potato.

but mincing something isn't like MRM, is it? It's just fish, minced up smaller, so why is that less healthy?

I had some sliced MRM turkey today

It was bloody lovely

Is it different parts of the fish? I don't know anything about this so am guessing, but is it parts that you wouldn't normally like to eat?

But, not unhealthy! Not as appealing to the adult mind, but no less healthy!

We need Moondog on here to give the definitive answer( then those of us who give our children the listed food will have to spend the next 5 years on our knees, beating our breasts, saying the mea culpa...)

why is the fillet judged to be the healthy bit? If it's about fat content, the fat in fish is supposed to be good for you, yes?

Message withdrawn

What parts WOULDN'T you want to eat? The gizzards are obviously removed

Argh she who must not be named on threads about junk food, argh, run!

more than you ever wanted to know about minced white fish

1. Fish fingers (100% cod) - Healthy so long as the batter hasnt got too much salt or other additives

2. Sausages - Depends on where you get them from. Have started getting ours from our local butcher so we know the ingredients are much better. Will not touch supermarket ones at all now - not least because they taste like crap compaired to the butchers ones & mainly coz of the scary list of unnatural ingredients. 3. Rice - Healthy, better still if brown 4. Pasta - healthy, again better if wholewheat 5. Cereal (Shreddies, Bran flakes etc, not sugar coated cereal!) - shreddies & branflakes etc still have far too much sugar & salt in them imo so definately not healthy. Better to have plain cereals like shredded wheat or bio biz if you must have processed, but better to simply have porridge or homemade granola imo.

Actually, F&Z, I read all the article and found it fascinating. You could make oily fish fingers, what a brilliant way of getting oily fish into reluctant children!

But I'm not put off at all.

The reason minced stuff is not to be trusted is that it could be anything.
If you buy a fresh fish and mince it then it's obviously the same either way.
With all processed food the mincing is done in the factory and I wouldn't like to even think about the content. If it says 100% fish then maybe that could include bones, eyes, head - anything, we don't know.
I wonder what fish fillet means? I thought it was the body but thinking about it, it could mean any part of the fish that had the bones removed - including the head and other yukky stuff.

I also think that whilst we have to bring up our children to eat healthier and exercise and not be obese etc etc etc I do wonder if what we're doing is actually now giving a new generation of children total hang ups about food?? Shoot me down for saying it but is it really the end of the world for a child to eat a sausage or bit of pizza and a bowl of shreddies? Its about teaching them restraint and balance and that whilst one bag of crisps isn't harmful 20 might be?? Witholding things from children only seems to serve them going out of the way to seek it out surely?? The idea of a healthy diet is a balanced one and that should encompass all food groups and allow for treats.
MP is right, we blur the line too much between kids and adults diets sometimes. I don't want a 20 stone teenager thats at risk of heart disease but at the same time I don't want a 2 stone anorexic one either.
Sorry, realise I've gone into one and am now walking away with tail between legs especially as I now see I've been totally led up the garden path with the whole minced fish thing

But that doesn't make it less HEALTHY!!!!!! Not liking the thought of something doesn't make it unhealthy!

This is exactly what happened last time I tried to make my point about people's prejudices against minced fish. I am convinced though, convinced, that minced white fish fingers are no worse for you than white fish fillet fingers.

What yukky parts of the fish?

A fillet is a slice/piece of the fish, from the main body. Like a steak fillet.

I am a bit more favour of them now I've read the things in here so have become a little less prejuidice agianst minced fish now. I have to confess I do make a lot of my own fish baals/fingers and I use salmon, tuna and allsorts tha tyou can't get from the old capn'

Franny, I was going to post about pizza actually. I just don't get it - why is it classed as junk food? I make my own pizzas (which are universally declared to be scrummy and are loads cheaper than buying or take-out) and they are basically, flour, yeast, salt, water, tomatoes, fresh basil and mozzarella, sometimes with ham or veggies on top. Now what in the name of god is unhealthy about any of those? Or am I being really thick?

Oxo, I guess the deep pan sort from takeaways is usually high in saturated fat and salt and so on, with not much fibre, vegetables or anything else to redeem it.

So I guess my thin Italian base (with no oil!) and veggie toppings are okay then Thanks for the info!!