Calling all parents: Please Help Me; Opinions on Childrens diets for research ass please!!!!with cherry on top!!!!

[foxd]

I have a research ass due in on mon so furiously typing away this weekend to get it completed.

My research question has been: What are the factors preventing children eating balanced diets? and What can be realistically acheived taking into consideration modern lifestyles?

Pleae could you spare a few minutes and give your opinion and points of view that anyone has about this topic.
Also have just read an article from the Daily mail archives stating that in a poll 80% of readers believed parents were responsible for the rising childhood obesity epidemic? does anyone have any points of view regarding this?

It would be much appreciated and I promise to buy every one a drink who posts a message, in the 'Come into my bar' thread tonite.

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opbh I don't know what you do butI also work with children and I see to many children with grey faces, unable to concentrate for more than a few seconds who are either skin and bone or have humungous bellies. This is down to food, either a lack of it or too much junk.

Food isn't the answer to everything but I live in a town where every year children die of starvation or malnutrition.

opbh,quite often (not always) lacking concern over your child's diet is indicative of a greater malaise. Looking at the grey lifeless skin and dead eyes of many of the troubled kids I come across tells me that....

Say what you like,noone is shouting you down. We are ahving a discussion and everyone's view counts.

Definitely agree that by sorting children's eating we will be taking a huge step towards dealing with a lot of the behaviour issues in yound people.

Second the need for children in school to be taught actually how to cook, rather than just learning about nutrition. My cousin's son has just got top marks for his cookery project, which was developing the idea for an alternative fast food item (i.e. different from burgers) for a motorway service station and then designing the packaging and marketing. Erm, yes, but it won't help him to cook anything.

Also think better education for hvs and nursery nurses is a must, because so many new mums pick up their info from them. For example, I was told to try my dd1 on Skips when she was first weaning. And I am still being encouraged to give both my dds sugary cereal simply because they have added iron.

Every hv should be given a leaflet to give to parents warning about the effects of certain additives. Many of those we use here are banned in other countries.

I'd also like to see a telly programme about cooking for teh freezer. It's the one thing I've never got my head around and would make my life so much easier, and if more parents knew how to cook in this way there'd be less of an excuse re time.

What are those other issues?
Because THE issue is nutrition... poor nutrition leads to many other problems or issues. It is the root of all ! And nowadays I don't know how that isn't obviosu to everyone.

And I use to work 50-60h/week in the city when DS and DD were babies.... and I cooked from scratch. Put 8 carrots in a steamer and that made quite a few meals, did the same with 2 or 3 other vegetables.... could do this on the WE... my workload was never an excuse for poor diet (I gave their food to the nursery even though they were happy to provide it). Their health is paramount to me and a good diet goes a long way towards achieving this.
Off my soapbox LOL

In a funny way I can see what ohplease is saying and I do think that s/he is talking about neglect - obviously has a stressful job. I think she will see when feeling better that nutrition is important for average families. She does mention average families in her last post.

I agree fully that we need to invst in good education of nutrition. I think the jamie Oliver approach for schools was excellent but I think we need to go a stage further for parents/carers/guardians in education when at home. i finds the studies on concentration etc facinating and I agree there is some definite evidence there.

What do people think about some sort of free booklet to all households containing information and some suggestions for recipes (not everyone can afford jamies book)
Or night classes/lessons for parents? I know not everyone would/could go but if some went it would be a start.

can I just point out though that children on the autistic spectrum (often co- morbid with ADHD etc) often have real food issues.

These are not fussy eaters0 they have eating disorders. My eldest son was weaned correctly- I spent hours banging up organic muck for him which he wolfed down- and he would eat anything - anything at all. Didn;t like chocolate blah de blah de blah. Then he got ill, regressed and restricted his diet until he was just eating bread and cheerios. Now - 4 years later he has started to eat meat again ((last week- yeah) and I don't care that it was a chicken nugget, he also had a fishfinger last night, and a sausage today *by which time I had to be picked up off the floor. why's he started to eat meat etc again - probably because his class teacher has worked on getting him to eat chips at school (first vague vegetable to pass his lips in 3 years).

I hope eventually to get him onto those homemade chicken and cornflake things of annabel carmel's that he loved as a baby- he won't go straight there because of the texture. GOSH have a special feeding unit to treat the soort of problems he has wiith food but I think we have zero c hance of him being able to tolerate going there so in the meantime we have struggled along at home (until he started his new school and his switched on teacher).

Sometimes the equation isn't quite as simple as crap food= crap parent. My second son has a better diet, but not perfect as he sees his brother eating rubbish, and I have to prepare 3 meals a day as it is. (not to mention bake my own bread because my eldest son is gluten free- it was gluten free chicken nuggets).

When my son was young i was very smug about his diet- but boy that's gone out the window.

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reading the further messages I am concerned about the link here between behvioural problems etc and food. Yes that is true for normally develping children, but can I please emphasise that children on the autistic spectrum very often have sensory issues surrounding food that is more accurately described as a disorder.

I'm aware of my son's pallor, and dark circles round his eyes. (very common in autism as well- their metaboolism os often off the planet). I'm aware that it would be much much better for him to eat a vegetable or piece of fruit, This time last year he ate 5 apples a day, used to go to great lengths to steal them- then he stopped overnight, I have no idea why.

Luckily he's at a school where the food issues are well understood!

Please be careful about generalisations, too many people think autism is a behavioural disorder as it is (it's not- its a developmental disorder)- some of these comments could be applied incorrectly.

baka, fully agree with your point. my worry with some of the children that I wirk with who have ADHD are triggered by the food that they are eating. Some of them don't have parents who care , the vast majority do have intensly worried parents by are ripping themselves apart because their teenage kids want to eat the same junk as everyone else and it sends the kids off the deep end.

We have now, thankfully, stopped selling fizzy drinks in school. But the local Asdas does a roaring trade.

just had a party with 2 children with ADHD and three children with autism - we hid the fizzy drinks - and dished out fresh fruit juice instead. I know you know the difference hmb, but just wanted to clarify that its sometimes the other way round- the problems can lead too eating problems.

Anyway as well as eating a sausage (thud I'm on the floor again) DS also pinched a pringle so am watching with interest to see what effect MSG has- hasn't had any for years........ Gluten doesn;t seem to affect him as it used to (he's stolen quite a bit recently)......

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so out of interest what would be a typical healthy weeks shopping list in your house and what wold you make/serve?

Last week,

Monday,
Lunch was at work so dd had sandwiches, salmon and cream cheese, and soft cheese and jam and a kiwi fruit.
had our tea in town as dd has dancing monday night.

Tuesday, dd has lunch at school for tea it was cous cous, spicy with raisins, apple and oddments out of cupboardd.

Wednesday , for dinner we were on a trip with playgroup so dd had sausage sandwich and a chocolate ice cream, for tea it was chicken drumsticks with peas and potatoes.

Thursday, lunch - minced beef in gravy with carrots, cabbage and a yorkshire pudding
for tea - baby spinach pasta with pine nuts.

Friday= lunch at school
tea - we went out and dd had fish and chips followed by sticky toffee pudding and custard!

Saturday - is dad's access day so will be burger King for luch and pizza hut for tea

Tomorrow, having a picnic so have made sticky chicken drummers, scotch eggs, ham sandwiches and when I get back from the pub will make scones.

for tea we will have a sunday roast at my Mums.

Good point Pruni! Lots of sociologists have been pointing out the issue of accessibility when it comes to good food. The average sink estate isn't bristling with fruit and veg shops.
Darlingbud,my average weekly shop would have...

Weetabix,porridge,muesli,milk,yoghurt,cheese,bread,fruit,vegetables,meat, wine,rice,noodles and pasta.
I can put my hand on my heart and say that I don't but processed stuff,but this is mainly because I honestly and truly have zero urge for crisps,chocolatr,pizzas,nuggets,fizzy drinks and so on.

And I'm in charge.

In our house,it's cereal or toast for breakfast,sandwiches for lunch and a hot meal at night.

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What were the Town Planners doing, allowing the Development to go through? (nothing, from the sounds of it)...

Tescos... aaahhhhh - they are taking over the country

Thinking back to my childhood.

My mother was the worst cook in the world. We didn't have access to the sorts of supermarkets that are reasonably common nowerdays. When peppers arrived, we had no idea of how to eat them!

The food my mother cooked was crap, awful to eat. But what we did eat was meat and two veg. We also had fruit. the fruit and veg wasn't always fresh, but it was there. We also ate some crap, but we had the basics.

And that doesn't happen for many kids now. It isn't simply access to shops, or money, because my parents were strapped for cash. By my mother did have some idea of how to prepare food from basics. And that isn't true of many people nowerdays.

Death to all Saturday night threads.

Soory Pruni,knew what you were getting at,just thinking of another slightly different scenario.
My nearest big town (Llandudno) has been basically redesigned to accommodate a huge new Asda.

The scenario you describe is what kills communities and leads to a rise in public disorder.Also,it makes everything so car oriented that,like America,those that are on foot are largely the disposessed I would love to hear a town planner's take on all of this.
This is why I try and avoid supermarkets. Feel my money is being used to murder a town.

Yet,I have a love/hate thing with supermarkets. Sometimes I think,hell what's wrong with cheap food,cheap clothes,basically cheap everything asll under one roof? But...someone pays the price (viz Maomi Klein's 'No Logo')

Excuse this interruption please but..
Moondog - getting rather concerned that we have genes in common. You are Welsh, like poetry, enjoy your own company, find organised children's stuff interminably dull, love cooking, enjoy more than a glass or two of the fine stuff, etc. What part of Wales are you from?

ha ha!! There are more of us than you think!
Caernarfon (although I'm in Turkey now. Bloody good food too!)

And me! We are going to break into song any minute!

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