What are the worst food/ingredients to be avoided?

[Tinkerboo]

I have noticed on other threads that people have lots more knowledge on this than me. I thought I was reasonably(ish) healthy but now wondering??
So please what would you DEFINETLY avoid giving your children and most importantly WHY?

C'mon food police let loose I REALLY want to know!

I just generally try to avoid "industrial food". Probably more philosophical and practically motivated than health motivated (although I am health conscious). At the end of the day, the only thing that the food manufacturers care about is how much it costs. So they buy cheap and manufacture in bulk and take much of the taste, texture and goodness out along the way - so they just add it all back in with additives at the end.

Did you know that the average price that a UK chicken producer receives for a chicken is 3 pence?

There is a brilliant service in my area of North London (Highbury & Islington) for proper home-style cooking by a local chef who has kids and wanted to offer families an alternative to take-aways and ready-meals. It's about the same cost as M&S food and cheaper than take-aways. But better than M&S nutritionally in that produced fresh to order with nothing unnecessary added.

Agree with stuff already posted.

Avoid: hydrogenated fats, artifical sweeteners, and I always buy organic dairy and eggs. But am flexible on other stuff.

Packaging is another area to consider. Soft plastics have been linked to lower sperm counts and female cancers b/c of the oestrogenic effect on the body. Cardboard and tetrapaks are better than clingfilm and soft plastics.

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Generally speaking we avoid most processed foods. Proper butter not margarine - trans fats do bother me. Idon't do low-fat ANYTHING for my kids. If they get fat I might consider it. Wholemeal where possible. I don't have such a problem with sweeteners - as pruni said most of the claims about it's health problems have been debunked and the alternative is sugar which is NOT a natural food for humans in the quanitites that most people consume it. I have discovered that I have a serious problem with sugar so have cut it out of my diet almost totally - I don't do the same for my kids but I do buy low-sugar drinks for them and sometimes use sweeteners in baking. 'Natural' does not neccessarily equate to 'healthy' - small pox is natural.

What is bad and good is more complex than first appears.
Do cheesy strings have added salt?
Obviously I know they're processed and NOT the BEST but trying to work out how bad they are and whether it's a fight I've got to win with DS2 or whther I can chill a bit on it.
The packet does say 100% cheese ( I am admitting to having some in the house) I'm trying to work out where's the catch???
I'd relented a bit initially on the cheesy string issue as he didn't drink milk or eat other cheese and thought at least it's some calcium which I thought he was short on.
My kids are skinny rakes and need the calories so on balance I'd rather they had sugar than sweetner if they're having a cake or biscuit etc, so I'm going to try to do more home baking.

Me on the other hand am terrified of being a right old fatty without my aspartame. What to do?

honey as sweetener

ditto

flip sides of the food composition coin...

functional foods

food safety

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Thanks Pruni, that makes them sound OK, but then again it is their own website. but no transfat or added salt.

I may start a cheesy string thread though (can't find the old one) see if anyone else knows some murky hidden secret.

tinker I had to got to be last night, normally would be quite happy to toil the food issue all night, but am pregnant, post op for appendicitis and and I have a throat infection and 2 sick coughing all night kids.
But cheestrings, I think if you take a view on food, sucha s trying to eliminate processed foods, then cheestrings are easy to pick out, I mean most kids love cheese. But like many know, if 90% of your diet is excellent then you have a lot of latitude with the other 10%
We eat biscuits (no transfats thouigh ) crisps, shop bought fresh pasta sauces and so forth.
But you find once you start to inform yourself, you becom reluctant to undo all your good work by eating something below what you would normally eat for instance.
It's a consuming issue, the Guardian has had several excellent balanced articles recently.
Also I follow a GI/GL based eating plan - plenty of info on the web so this has made me examine my eating habits and change what I buy.
It can often be an overall pattern of eating
For instance today it is in the Times that supermarkets budget ranges are higher in salt, transfats and sugars than the more expensive ranges - thereby the health implications of people who can only afford these ranges is compromised
unethical... Highly

Katymac's dad has it about right IMO.

Here's a cheesestring thread

Thanks furball that's interesting, but still not conclusive. People saying salt is added to cheesy strings but it's not (see current ChStr thread) it has the same salt content as cheddar, apparently.
I just want to separtae the scare mongering, and 'feeling' that something must be bad, from the actual fact.
These emusifiers would they not have to declare those on the ingredients? and how bad are they for you and why?

Thanks Enideepmidwinter - he is a great advocat (sp) of "everything in moderation" & "if it ain't broke don't fix it" as well

it's the phrase cheese flavouring that gets me
Cheese IS cheese flavoured already
Don't they have like pizza flavour or something as well?

My kids have tried them - at other peoples houses or out of other kids lunchboxes, both think they are vile.
I do know they contain no transfats, but am keen to understand what the actual cheese they use, loses in the stretching/processing.

does it sasy cheese flavoured Piffle on cheesy strings?
I'm coming to the conclusion in the face of scanty evidence: they're not great but not the end of the world. Just as I suspected all along.