Did anyone watch "What are we feeding our kids?" on BBC1

[MarchXX]

Here's link.

i astounded that there has been little to no research of the effect of UPSs on our brains and bodies. The results on Chris (after one month) were dire indeed.

Chris's brain scans before and after were shocking but not surprising as UPF food manufacturers spend multi££££millions on research to find the perfect bliss point to skewer and keep new addicted consumers eating their products again and again.

I was interested in the huge increase in our consumption of UPF foods since 1980 but would have liked to see the difference from 1970 or 1960 because when I was a child growing up (in 60s) there was virtually no UPF foods in our home, all meals were cooked using fresh meat/fish, eggs, veg and fruit with some dried/tinned goods and no ready meals/takeaways. Eating out (or takeaways) was a very rare treat indeed and snacking between meals was frowned upon and not encouraged.

The representative from the food industry was, not surprisingly, reticent about their role in the deteriorating health of our nation's population. Nestle's success in infiltrating remote communities with their UPF-packed supermarket-boats and creating new addicted consumers (and an obesity epidemic) was an eye-opener but not at all surprising seeing as their role in exploiting breastfeeding mothers in third world countries is well known, too.

Anyway, did anyone watch it. What did you think?

I wonder about Greek Yoghurt.. I buy the Lidl one. Full fat. I'd miss that. Otherwise feel so much better when eating the good stuff and yes it's more filling. My husband just commented on the expense of organic mince.. I said I'd get a lasagna and a shepherd's pie out of it, with plenty of veg. I might also have mentioned that the tray of mince that I'll make feed the family twice is less than his bloody takeaway!! 1-0 to me! His homemade soda bread is OK, right?

The programme didn't say never eat ultra processed food. The focus on that family with the overweight boy and Dr Chris's brain experiment was to highlight what happens if the majority of your diet is ultra processed food. I think the boy's mum said he ate no fruit or vegetables because he didn't like them and ate things like chicken nuggets and burgers every single day.

@Happyschool most non organic rapeseed is sprayed with glyphosate (commonly known as round up) to dry out the plant quicker. By doing this farmers can reduce the moisture content as it has to be a certain level for harvest. By spraying it off farmers can harvest the rape before wheat, barley etc... needing less machinery and people.

I think modern commercial yoghurt production has been tweaked compared to how you make it at home but the yoghurts they showed in the program were fruit ones not natural yoghurts.

I remember Aldi selling longlife ambient temperature yoghurts 20 years ago 🤮.

@HeyGirlHeyBoy I justify smoked salmon the same way, the same as I’d spend on wine years ago but with some goodness in it.

21flora thank you and I heard they do this with wheat too but would love to know whether it’s routine or not as it puts me off buying most cereals etc in case and one can end up a bit limited! Though I would prefer to spend less on other things In order to buy organic as guess it’s the way our ancestors ate yet now seen as a luxury .
I hate glysophates! I don’t trust them at all

I think a key factor in the British diet is how processed our dominant carbohydrates are. Typically many diets centre around bread and potatoes. Bread like warbutons has e numbers in and is now highly processed and many people eat potatoes as chips, again unless homemade, highly processed. If a diet traditionally centred on rice... That's a less processed carb than what we have.

Apparently you can make your own oatmilk in a blender ( stated on a previous Oatly ageist advert thread)

Anecdotally speaking, as a children's social worker for 35+ years, I have noted the apparent rise in mental and emotional disorders in children and young people. Of course, identifying and diagnosing these could have improved...

I am wondering how ultra processed those packaged meals are that are so convenient for elderly people, loads I expect.

Appalled by Nestle's activities in Brazil and will probably return to boycotting their products.

@TheoMeo

Apparently you can make your own oatmilk in a blender ( stated on a previous Oatly ageist advert thread)

There’s a machine you can buy to make soya milk too. It looks like a soupmaker.

Due to my disability I use ready made tomato pasta sauces but I really want to stop using them. I can’t cook on the hob. Could anyone share a recipe I can use for spaghetti Bolognese, and then what to add for chilli that can be cooked exclusively in a slow cooker. Thanks

I think a key factor in the British diet is how processed our dominant carbohydrates are.

Yes. I have a Polish friend who moved to England decades ago. She had always been slim and didn't really change her diet when she moved here, but found she was putting on weight. She'd always eaten quite a lot of bread in Poland, but noticed the bread here was really different. She started making her own or buying it from the Polish shop and slimmed back down again.

The bakery or fresh supermarket bread I've had in France, Spain, Germany and Italy is also noticeably less sweet and doughy than bread here. It's not just the pre-sliced crap that's bad either. I'm lucky enough to live near a Booths. Their lovely-looking fresh loaves still have a huge list of stupid ingredients and are quite heavy and doughy.

For bolognaise I usually chop and fry an onion in mild olive oil and couple of chopped carrots, celery and lastly some garlic then brown the mince. I then add a dash of Worcester sauce sometimes and a bottle of passata/ sometimes some cherry tomatoes and cook slowly for at least half an hour.

The really sinister bit was the man representing the food manufacturing industry at the end, basically saying "if it was dangerous the government would tell us to stop and we would" but omitting to mention just how influential the big processed food companies are in government. Do you honestly think Nestle will be sitting around waiting for government to say 'UPF' is bad, stop selling it' and then go quietly? Their business is processing and selling UPF, they'll not go without a fight, and they wield alot of influence.

I can definitely see that foods are being made to taste a certain way to set off our brain reward centres. Carbs and processed foods are properly addictive. The combination of low nutrition and over eating is a problem .

I only drink raw milk. I think pasteurised milk is very processed and loses much of the nutrients. However I can’t see why a nice raw artisan cheese would be considered processed. The process is a natural one using whole ingredients.

His girls were super cute.

I just watched this. I quite like this dr he comes across as quite non judgemental and being a parent and a working parent at that he obviously gets how difficult it is and it was nice to not see just outright blame parents as lazy etc he actually seemed to listen to their reasons and empathised.

One thing that did strike me however is the inability to say no to children. To feel guikt if they have to wait ir are hungry.

I grey up in the 80s akd 90s. I never went without food. But my parents didnt have money to waste on something that would only do one meal nor did they have money to waste on food that would be binned because we had snacked all day and weren't hungry.

So there were - no snacks.

If we didnt eat our vegetables we didnt get pudding.

You ate what you were given or went without. Plenty of nights I went to bed hungry if dinner was a suet pudding of some sort, sausages and mash which I didn't like and as far as quiche went I didn't like that either so merely picked out the bacom/ham and that was all I ate

My parents had no problem.saying no.

I think it would be interesting to know when we changed to people who feel guilty amd worry if their kids didn't like their food. Who will cook alternatives and have a permanent stash of quick easy beige food lest a kid not eat the main choice or have to wait for a proper dinner to be cooked as opposed to being able to zapp a meal or have some nuggets ready in 15 mins. Why do we feel so bad about saying no or not having something instantly ready?

Do we have a problem with feeling guilt about left overs? Do we feel we have failed in some way if our kids have something 2 days in a row? Who are we competing with that that's not OK? Left overs can be cooked and dished up quite quickly but we seem more averse to reheating bolognaise than putting a chicken Kiev in the oven..

The brain thing was scary. Those food manufacturers know exactly what they are doing. Taking advantage of the poor, the uneducated , the sick , the disabled, and thise who are just exhausted and getting them hooked on Shite. I thought that was bad enough but then we find out they sent a boat out full of it to hook up those that tesco/walmart etc cant reach? Shame on them. The entire defence seemed to lay on the definition or lack of of UPF. Never was there am example so clear of someone who only cares about the money and who is clearly quite satisfied with themselves for having found all the loopholes to exploit to achieve it.

Realky scary stuff tbh

Maybe we are just our own worst enemies. Maybe it wouldnt hurt to remind ourselves that not every meal has to be finished not every meal has to he something to scream about from the rooftops. That it won't kill them of they decide not to eat dinner one day. That actually everyone else is in the same boat thinking everyone else is serving up delicious food when really they aren't. That it's no big deal if one night they get last nights roast chicken with some rice and vegetables. Its not the most thrilling dinner in the world but its food and better for them than a macdonalds drive thru.

Last night’s homemade leftovers over McVomits drive thru any day. And far far cheaper. A place that smells so bad that your clothes and hair stink after you’ve walked through just to use the loos (the only reason to enter the place) CANNOT be serving food that is good for your insides.

@MyDcAreMarvel Jamie Oliver 7 Veg Sauce. I slow cook it in a big pan (I use an Aga but a low oven or slow cooker would work), blend and batch freeze. We add it to everything, plus it's lovely on homemade pizza.

My son is autistic and has a very limited diet mainly fruit, porridge, toast with nut butter etc. He only eats a homemade pizza or rice. Inspired by the programme I made the tortilla base from scratch and a homemade sauce. It was really easy and I have no excuse.

Going back to the finger of fudge and snacking in between meals, it was never as bad as it it now. Kids don't seem to be able to go a couple of hours without having a snack.
In the old days we used to be out playing for hours and hours and would rock up for dinner starving, even if we'd had a curly wurly or a packet of space raiders.

However I can’t see why a nice raw artisan cheese would be considered processed.

Cheese (unless v processed, cheese strings etc) is not an ultra processed food but in the category below.

A snack when I was little was an apple or a carrot. If you didn’t want either you weren’t hungry, later when my dad started buying me a bar of choc every day and a bag of crisps I got fat.

Who will cook alternatives and have a permanent stash of quick easy beige food lest a kid not eat the main choice or have to wait for a proper dinner to be cooked as opposed to being able to zapp a meal or have some nuggets ready in 15 mins.

Yes - back in the 70s/80s, the idea of the parent cooking a separate meal for the DC because they didn't like what was on offer just wouldn't have happened in the average household.

The only time I remember having any say over what was for dinner was on my birthday. It was a treat to choose what you wanted for dinner.

Also agree with pp who said it's OK to have some meals that are not very exciting and simply do the job of nourishing you in a reasonable palatable way. We always use up leftovers even if it means having more or less the same meal two days running. I think you appreciate the special meals more if you allow some of your meals to be run-of-the-mill.

@Arbadacarba

Who will cook alternatives and have a permanent stash of quick easy beige food lest a kid not eat the main choice or have to wait for a proper dinner to be cooked as opposed to being able to zapp a meal or have some nuggets ready in 15 mins.

Yes - back in the 70s/80s, the idea of the parent cooking a separate meal for the DC because they didn't like what was on offer just wouldn't have happened in the average household.

The only time I remember having any say over what was for dinner was on my birthday. It was a treat to choose what you wanted for dinner.

Also agree with pp who said it's OK to have some meals that are not very exciting and simply do the job of nourishing you in a reasonable palatable way. We always use up leftovers even if it means having more or less the same meal two days running. I think you appreciate the special meals more if you allow some of your meals to be run-of-the-mill.

Yes, my mum never, ever cooked more than one meal. Eat it or leave it - that’s it.

And crisps in the house weren’t a thing. Being allowed to take packed lunches to school in the late 70s was really exciting as suddenly we had Monster Munch.

A biscuit tin with digestives only, or homemade flapjack. Chocolate only at Easter or Xmas.

There was only ever one, maximum, overweight child in the class who by today’s standards absolutely would not stand out. And we walked 40 minutes each way to school. Parents never taxied us around - too busy working.

There was a news report a few years ago that said that today’s young people will be the first generation in several generations to predecease their parents due to diseases caused by lifestyle choices. Treating type 2 diabetes could cripple the NHS financially.

We can’t be wilfully blind to childhood obesity - it’s happening right now. It’s really shocking. And yet largely preventable.

JumpLeadsForTwo If you can afford the fresh, not UHT milk with fewer ingredients, and the plain unsweetened yoghurt- defrost and wiz some berries then mix in, you'll have a much more "healthy" dairy free substitute

Thank you. Also others for replies.
The ones about making your own oat / soya milk. If heard of this but we get oatly barista as it's fortified with vitamins and calcium and things. Tricky.

Anyway maybe I'd actually better worry about the other one with no allergies but only 4 things he'll have for dinner, most of which come out of the freezer