Are we too obsessed with “healthy eating” for kids?

[warrenettie]

I’ve noticed lately that so many parents (myself included sometimes) are constantly stressing about whether our kids are eating the “right” foods. Everything has to be organic, sugar-free, wholegrain, air-fried — and I’m starting to wonder if we’ve taken it too far.
When I was little, we had jam sandwiches, crisps, and ice cream without anyone panicking about it. Now, if a child brings a chocolate biscuit in their lunchbox, it’s practically treated like a moral failing.
Of course I get wanting to encourage good habits, but does it really matter if they have a few treats? I sometimes worry that all this focus on “healthy eating” might backfire — making kids anxious about food or sneaky about snacks.
What do you think — are we raising a generation of mindful eaters, or just kids who feel guilty every time they see a biscuit?

Food shouldn't be stressful or have moral value attached to it. Eating a healthy diet is good but so is balance and fun.
Being obsessed and anxious sounds like the start of Orthorexia.

The focus should be on just feeding your kids real, proper, fresh food, with some treats. There's no need to be obsessive about it. And no, food doesn't need to be organic. Why would it need to be air fried ? People managed to eat good food for the rest of human history without having air fryers! Whole grains are good, but you don't need to ban all non-wholegrain foods. I don't think I know anyone who's that level of strict about food tbh.

Yes i think we have and as i have said in here many times, I don't think it does anything other than make banned food seem exciting and something to go for once out of mummy's control.
The rhetoric that only allowing pre-schoolers 'healthy foods' will ensure they always eat healthily, don't want unhealthy foods and will live happily ever after is, I am sorry to say, optimistic to say the least in my experience.
See the post about the mother asking if it was reasonable to withhold dad's two- hour contact because he allowed the toddler crisps and smoothies. One poster actually called this 'child abuse'.
We have lost any sense of proportion or common sense on this.

There's such a huge spectrum and the healthy obsession is just one end of middle class. I work with 2-4 year olds and the vast majority of packed lunches are terrible. At the healthy end would be jam sandwiches, sweet yoghurt and a biscuit/ cake. At the unhealthy end we have kids whose lunch is purely packaged, upf foods - and absolutely massive, about 10 packaged items. Often kids will have 2 bites of each item. Literally no fruit, veg or sandwich! I would say about 20% have a balanced, healthy lunch.

Yes, that sounds like disordered eating to me and a sure way to pass it along to your child/ren.

Everyday meals should be healthy and nutritious and children should learn why the majority of our diets needs to consist of these things but treats are treats, though and should not be banned. They also need to learn about what's OK in different settings e.g a jam sandwich at a party is fine, but its not an every day food.

One thing I do hate though, is sugary, chocolate cereal because it poses as an every day breakfast, when it should be an occasional treat. I personally like to keep the distinctions clear.

UPF is just the latest middle-class fad. Of course it's better to eat wholesome home-cooked food, but i am still laughing at the thread a few weeks ago debating solemnly about whether cheddar cheese became upf if it was bought sliced 🤣

I think we get too hung up on the "every meal should be nutritious and balanced". Personally I think as long as you get a balance throughout the day or week, lots of fresh food, variety, etc, obsessing about the fact that you haven't managed to get all your fruit, veg, protein and fibre into every meal is a "recipe" for disaster.

On another thread it's being debated that pasta pomodoro isn't a healthy balanced meal. But as part of a daily plan, it would be.

Meh, DD was fussy as fuck(and still is) so I was obsessed with getting her to eat, rather than what she ate.

I think most people are just trying to do the right thing in the main so it's a matter of balance and common sense.

When I was little, we had jam sandwiches, crisps, and ice cream without anyone panicking about it. Now, if a child brings a chocolate biscuit in their lunchbox, it’s practically treated like a moral failing.

Indeed we did have those things but not everyday - I remember I used to buy a packet of crisps probably once a week with pocket money, and maybe had an ice cream from the van on a Sunday.

Now you can buy organic snacks for babies and toddlers!

Sounds like another AI thread to me.

Quoting myself to add here, can we report posts we suspect as AI to mumnset? There are so many these days.

Orthorexia is a massive problem amongst the younger generation which I have witnessed first hand ! This wonderful person was very unwell for 2-3 years where obsesssion with ‘unhealthy’ eating took over his life !

Why do you think it's AI? Genuinely curious

There absolutely are a lot of people who have become totally paranoid about food, often with very little understanding of the real issues. I agree, the odd chocolate biscuit never killed anyone but because we do have an obesity crisis and we are all aware of how much easier it is to acces poor quality food, it can be difficult.

But yes, people go too far and panic because their child ate salami or ate a home cooked burger at a friend' shouse.

Growing up, one packet of biscuits was purchased per week. We had a biscuit with morning tea on Saturdays and Sundays only. These days, biscuits are just routine purchases, easily available fo rmost people.

I agree. As I said above, all common sense has gone out of the window.

I think 'junk' food, UPFs, fast food, takeaways etc have become the norm for a lot of people and as such they are likely to be overweight with poor health outcomes (and probably their children too). Unhealthy food is too readily available, too cheap and we're exposed to so much of it we don't even think about it. I think we have lost our way in terms of what is healthy food and what is nutritious. Saying that, it's not good to become obsessed and worry about a child having a biscuit once in while.

No, I don’t think enough parents are worrying enough. We are sleeping walking into a health crisis. It’s one of those inconvenient truths; it takes time, effort and money, it disproportionality impacts poorer and less educated people (and mothers!!), but the fact it is inconvenient shouldn’t stop us talking about it.

I think we can all agree that parents should ensure their children eat a healthy diet, no one could argue with that.
My gripe is with the obsession with eating healthily 100% of the time, with children not introduced to the concept of treats in moderation. They don't learn to self-regulate.
Am I alone in thinking a bit of smoothis once a week for a toddler actually in NOT child abuse or am I in the minority?

All things (legal) in moderation is my simplistic approach with DSs. I certainly had a chocolate bar (small) after supper in the 1980s etc etc. so long as DSs are fit, healthy and not overweight then I refuse to get excited about the fact they have a small piece of cake for teatime daily.

To be honest, most of my friends are the same with their DC. The bit that makes me cringe is adults talking about food being ‘naughty’…that way lies a disaster as far as I can see.

The way it’s written screams AI. They are all over Mumsnet now. And the poster never returned to engage. AI post and run.

More AI bullshit 🙄

I'm more than a little suspicious that MN are posting some of them themselves tbh.

No we haven’t gone anywhere near far enough. My friend was telling me her 4 year old was being given ice cream or cake every day at school. EVERY DAY. And of course it was always white rice not brown. They have now switched to pack lunches but most children there are still having sugary crap foisted on them by the adults whose care they are in.

we have started getting halloween invites in and it’s the same story- dysfunctional adults desperate to give children shit food.

I see healthy eaters on Instagram but in real life it’s just junk food all the time. white bread, white pasta, “just 1 treat” (but every day! and they won’t count most processed foods in the treat quota anyway), birthday parties which are also full of crap, no acknowledgment that binging on fruit is also bad, instead people advocating for “balance” and to “not put food on a pedestal” which in practice seems to mean a relentless onslaught of sugar sugar sugar.

I don’t get it.

The primary school students that I teach, on the whole, eat very poorly. Homemade, whole food happens rarely.

So there may well be a vocal group of middle class parents obsessing over supermarket sliced cheddar and air frying root vegetables, they are not even close to the majority.

I hope so.
I’ve spent years trying to get it right, I even went on a community cooking course to ‘get it right’

TBH, me and DH enjoy healthy food, we model good eating, there is ample healthy food available. But my kids want junk, beige crap and sugar.

Age 14 and 12, the 14 year old is now pretty good and will eat real food, 12 year old, only if it’s not mixed or touching and isn’t too green.

I give up, they are healthy and slim. Some of their relatives and friends have very controlled diets by their parents, so we can see thatat any opportunity they get to eat something ‘bad’, they shovel it in at great haste before their mothers tell them off. They are the overweight kids we know, so maybe a more relaxed approach means my DC only eat until they’re full. I hope so, their diets make me feel awful.