Can we have a list of foods which are rubbish for our LOs?

[ellehcim]

Not the obvious ones like "sweets" and "Chocolate" but the sneaky evil ones like fruit shoots.

Does anyone know for example if those fruity flake things in little packets are actually fruit flakes or are they pumped so full of other stuff that the fruit content is worthless?

Depends what you class as rubbish though. I'd add petit filou and other kiddie yoghurts coz of the unnecessary sugar content, but a little sugar never harmed a child with a balanced diet on the whole and it is still dairy and fruit too right?

Ditto those fruit flake things, especially the ones covered in yoghurt, high sugar content but that's fine in moderation. Just shouldn't be a replacement for fruit.

Do we really have to have a list of 'evil' food that people can beat themselves up about that their children eat?! No offence, but I think I can do without seeing a list like that as I'm certain my dd will probably eat a good % of them.

ribena! i think its something like 50g of sugar per single serving carton, 50g being the amount an adult should consume in an entire day! also ds came home with one of those yogurt drinks meant to be good for you, it had 33g of sugar. dont see why that amoung is necessary and am shocked thay are allowed to market it as healthy

agree a bit of sugar is fine, but if you give them a biscuit and ribena (thinking lovely vit c) its way too much all at once. i do think its important to let them have cakes and biccies so they dont think its evil and splurge as soon as they get control over what they eat

And it's not because i don't care about what she eats or don't try to include 'healthy' food!

dairylea lunchables

highly processed 'cold meats' like those ridiculous bear faces at deli counters

Drinks aimed at children labelled as 'juice drink'. If it's called that it's not pure fruit juice, if it's labelled 'juice' then it is

Depends on how your lo's energy levels are being used? Its not just as simple as diet but activity aswell. If a child sits in front of a tv for 2 hours per day then the amount of sugar intake is going to have to be lower than for a child that is out playing and riding a bike etc.

my local whole food shop has just started sticking those fruit flakes and bars which i was a bit about. I use them as sweets - as a treat, not as a subsitute for real fruit.

Basically, if you have very young children (mine are old enough to have pocket money and buy things for themselves) I would stick to whole foods where possible. The more ingredients with unprounouncable names, the less inclined I would be to buy them!

But really, I am an advocate of everything in moderation.

It's not the individual foods that are rubbish for our LOs, like peggotty, my DS has probably had a lot of these rubbish foods, it's their overall diet that is important, so yeah living off fruit shoots and turkey twizlers and crisps would be rubbish, but the occasional ribena,biscuit, sauseage roll ( I know) or other such thing in amongst an averall healthy varied balanced diet isn't going to do them any harm in the long run, and will make these foods less of a 'forbidden fruit' that they gorge themselves on when away from mummy's watchful eye.

DD(nearly 10) & I have a deal going on

If it has less than 10 ingredients then it's probably ok
10-20 ingredients then she needs to think how much of it she is eating
over 20 it needs to be rationed (she can still have it but in limited quantities)

Also if she can't say an ingredient - then I probably don't want her to have too much of it

It is working for us - but I don't really worry about sugar/salt I think artificals are much more scarey

I understand what you are after elle, but I think it is more empowering and useful in the long term if you can teach yourself to scan labels and spot which foods are going to be better.

We could list 1000 foods for you and then next week the manufacturers will have brought out 20 more new delightful junk foods.

FWIW I try to avoid very processed things and focus on wholefoods as FMF suggests. Eating like this is just nicer and cheaper as well as healthier. I then try to make an informed choice about processed stuff we eat. I don't count nicely made chocolate as a junk food btw - there's nothing wrong with a little bit of chocolate

Agree with ivykaty44 too, my DS is increadibly active sometimes and so does eat a lot of sugary food, be that natural fruit sugar in the four bananas he eats a day or the refined sugar contained in chocolate he gets when he's outdoors all day.

Obviously some foods have better nutritional content than others, but don't bneat yourself up about every little thing your lo eats or doesn't eat. Think balanced, varied, everything in moderation

Ok ok, I see what you mean. I just didn't want to see a self-righteous 'my little darling wouldn't touch a sausage roll with a barge-pole' type thread. The fact is that some of these 'crap' foods actually taste bloody nice and I think most kids would rather eat a sausage roll than quinoa, or whatever it's called! Not all kids of course, but probably most! I just think some of us could do without the guilt-trip - my dd used to eat all homemade, then she became a 2 year old and decided processed was the way forward (which I limit, needless to say)

Dumb question. I went to buy fresh orange for DH and it said from concentrate. Does that mean it is 100% squeezed orange and nothing else?

I think that means its been concentrated in the producing country and then the water gets put back in at the other end doesn't it?
No idea whether that means its not so good though

Thanks. Myabe someone else knows that.

On one of those u r what u eat type programmes they said dont touch the concentrate stuff full of sugar - not sure how true it is.

Godness I didn't mean to upset anyone. I just don't have time to read labels and in any event would have no idea whether for example 2 grams of sugar is high low or fine.

My children probably eat as much sweet stuff and rubbish as anyones. I've just seen various posts about various foods and thought it might be useful to consolidate the knowledge.

I would have been interested in a list too. I go by 10g of sugar per 100g is too much so over that I don't buy.

Concentrate only contains the natural sugar of the fruit. Dilute it like squash if you are concerned.

What is is with concentrate? Why is it viewed as evil?

Surely it is just juice which has benn frozen, shipped to another country and then packaged? Where would the sugar come from?

Stuff not from concentrate is really expensive. We have 3 teenagers in our house, who would guzzle it like water given the chance. We buy stuff from concentrate to try and limit the cost.

I am sure the food standards website reckons it is ok

it is for DH anyway but is it 100% juice if it states from concentrate?

rubbish foods?

in our case most things they'd eat all day if I let them

reminds me of the line in Tracey Beaker "food with no E numbers???? thats the only thing we eat here"

Don't get too hung up, a little of what you/they fancy does no harm

Basically anything out of a packet/pot/bottle aimed at children will contain a horrific list of ingredients. Just give them what you're having

Oh I know. I don't buy anything aimed at kids.

Yes, concentrate is 100% juice. It just hasn't got the original water content in it.