How much chocolate / sweets should a kid be eating in a week?

MrPudding

Dades wrote: »

That said, I have no problem with giving my kids treats as long as they eat proper food at proper food times and continue to play/exercise like duracell bunnies all day long.

If I thought for a microsecond my kids were getting chunky/slovenly the regime would change overnight. But right now I don't see the need to withhold treats because other people's kids are fat.

This is pretty much how we roll. My two oldest kids are ridiculously active. As a result we are fairly flexible on treats, though eating proper food at the proper time is a requirement.

They have both commented that a lot of their friends have a much stricter regime of treats, and my response is that is the regime they will have if they stop the activities they currently do. That seems to be working so far.

One thing that does concern me though, is bad habit formation. Take my daughter, as an example, she runs about 60k and swims about 15k per week. As a result she looks very athletic, which she really likes. Whilst we provide the meals at home when she is at school or with friends she eats pretty much whatever she wants. She is 15 and when she is out with her friends, some of whom are very body conscious, she will have a pizza and a couple of cokes while they have a salad and a glass of water. My worry is, if she decides to ditch the sports, but does not adjust her eating habits, she may get into a spot of bother... Not quite sure how to approach that. It is not so much of an issue now, but in a couple of years when she heads off to uni and is living by herself, it may be an issue.

MrP

robindch

MrPudding wrote: »

It is not so much of an issue now, but in a couple of years when she heads off to uni and is living by herself, it may be an issue.

Encourage cycling as a normal means of getting from one place to another? I'm doing around 600k a month at the moment and it's great at keeping off the flab, not to mention keeping car costs down and at this point, it's usually as fast and sometimes faster than driving almost anywhere within the M50.

I also use the Strava mobile app to keep track of progress -- it's great at encouraging one to keep the monthly average where it should be, even to the point of hopping onto the bike and going for a random 30k cycle in the evening. I've lost over 15kg in the last couple of years with this strategy without too many changes to my diet or anything else. A cycling/running club might help too - positive use of social pressure.

MrPudding

robindch wrote: »

Encourage cycling as a normal means of getting from one place to another? I'm doing around 600k a month at the moment and it's great at keeping off the flab, not to mention keeping car costs down and at this point, it's usually as fast and sometimes faster than driving almost anywhere within the M50.

I also use the Strava mobile app to keep track of progress -- it's great at encouraging one to keep the monthly average where it should be, even to the point of hopping onto the bike and going for a random 30k cycle in the evening. I've lost over 15kg in the last couple of years with this strategy without too many changes to my diet or anything else. A cycling/running club might help too - positive use of social pressure.

That is really cool. I need to do something like that. The kids are in swimimng and running clubs, so they are sorted. As I am sure you know, there is a balancing act in that, keeping them interested without making it a chore with a goal to get them hooked so they keep it up even after leaving home. That is the tricky bit.

MrP

Bloe Joggs

Cycling is great from a fitness point of view but with the way people are driving lately, it's also dangerous. I'm seeing a lot more cars running straight through red lights, sometimes 3 or more seconds late. There are lots of chancers out there so you need to really have your wits about you on the road.

Polarix

Peregrinus wrote: »

I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, but your children are weird. ;-)

Nicest veg there is, especially with a bit of natural butter and sea salt

Brian Shanahan

Tim Robbins wrote: »

It's boring having every thread to remind ourselves about the harm of religion. How about the harm of chocolate?

Chocolate doesn't kill people. People masticating kill people.

Polarix

Brian Shanahan wrote: »

Chocolate doesn't kill people.

A neighbour once had her dog poisoned by someone who used chocolate to get the dog to eat it. Very profound I thought.

recedite

Bloe Joggs wrote: »

..so you need to really have your wits about you on the road.

Who me?

PopePalpatine

Stop horsing around. :P

recedite

This outfit is purely worn for safety reasons;

Research carried out by Bath University revealed that drivers leave a much wider berth when passing a female rider with long hair. Traffic psychologist, Dr Ian Walker donned a long wig to see whether there was any difference in passing distance when drivers thought they were overtaking what appeared to be a woman on a bicycle. When wearing the wig, drivers gave him an average of 14 centimetres more space when passing. Wearing the bikini version of the skinsuit above is likely to get the same reaction.

But wearing it around the house with a horses head is inexcusable, unless you've just consumed too much chocolate

Hotblack Desiato

Polarix wrote: »

A neighbour once had her dog poisoned by someone who used chocolate to get the dog to eat it. Very profound I thought.

Chocolate itself is poisonous to dogs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog

Dogs are highly susceptible to theobromine poisoning, typically from ingestion of chocolate. Theobromine is toxic to dogs because, although the dog's metabolism is capable of breaking down the chemical, the process is so slow that even small amounts of chocolate can be fatal, especially dark chocolate.

Polarix

ninja900 wrote: »

Chocolate itself is poisonous to dogs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog

There you go, even more ironic. The vet said it was rat poison, she found some of it along with the chocolate. Some real classy folks out there in neighbour land.

robindch

recedite wrote: »

Research carried out by Bath University revealed that drivers leave a much wider berth when passing a female rider with long hair.[...] When wearing the wig, drivers gave him an average of 14 centimetres more space when passing.

Two weeks back, I was cycling out the Merrion Road from the city center to Dun Laoghaire. A lady cyclist passed me out, just going very slightly faster and parked herself in front of me. Didn't pay much attention until a passing car honked a few times cheerfully, so I looked around to see a guy with a huge grin on his face pointing at the other cyclist, at which point I noticed that her short skirt had ridden up her shapely bum, to reveal the top end of a pair of sheer black tights and a g-string. How on earth do you deal with that? Tell her? Get slapped or called a perv? Anyhow, I passed her out as soon as I could, but she passed me out at the next lights, then I passed her out and we played leapfrog until I turned off just after Blackrock.

Hope she didn't cause a crash.

#firstworldproblems

Hotblack Desiato

robindch wrote: »

and we played leapfrog until I turned off

Ahem.

silverbolt

our five year old at one oclock this morning decided to help herself to chocolate in the press

robindch

ninja900 wrote: »

robindch wrote: »

and we played leapfrog until I turned off

Ahem.

She could have been wearing a Freudian slip too

Misty Moon

There's a book called Pure, white and deadly by John Yudkin (published 1972) - all about sugar, I haven't read it yet but it is supposed to be very interesting. So not the most recent scientific study but I think it still stands as a very important work. It was largely dismissed at the time, I believe, as fat had been chosen to be the "baddy". There are free PDFs of it available if you google a bit and it seems to have been republished recently, too. I heard about it a few years ago and was reminded of it a while back when watching the BBC documentary "The men who made us fat" (on youtube, very interesting to watch).

I don't have kids so haven't had to wrestle with the issue of what to feed them. My sister (who lives in France) got fed up of trying to figure out the labels of some of the sweets and biscuits her kids always wanted to buy a few years ago and switched to using good dark chocolate - they'd each get a square of that in a piece of baguette as a treat. It's yummy, I still do that sometimes. Nowadays, there are usually a couple of those bars of chocolate in the house and the kids (if they ask) are allowed to have one square each after dinner. But not before they've had a proper dessert of yoghurt and/or fruit.

I quite like Michael Pollan's food rule about junk food, too. Everything is allowed, so long as you make it yourself. So homemade cakes and stuff rather than just buying something.

lynski

smacl wrote: »

I thought I loved cabbage as a kid, only to have dinner at a friends on day to realise that not everybody stir fries it with soya sauce and garlic.

mine will eat cabbage or sprouts like that but my daughter begs for cauliflower in the supermarket, loves avocados and not a good meat eater. all 3 eat industrial quantities of fruit and think peanut butter is a food group.

moderation in all, could never see myself giving them or allowing them daily access to the ice cream van like other children I see on the estate; just like the other atheist parents living here while all the catholic children get to go to the ice-cream van for crap everyday or almost everyday. hehehe

Brian Shanahan

lynski wrote: »

think peanut butter is a food group.

But it is. Isn't it?

iguana

Peregrinus wrote: »

These things are entirely in accordance with the natural order of things. But brussels sprouts? Seriously?

My brothers and I all love brussel sprouts. Family fueds have started over one being stolen off someone else's plate. My little guy loves them too but he prefers carrots.

Sulla Felix

There's only me in the family who likes them so I get them ALLL on babbyjesusday.

Brian Shanahan

iguana wrote: »

My brothers and I all love brussel sprouts. Family fueds have started over one being stolen off someone else's plate. My little guy loves them too but he prefers carrots.

I too love the brussels, and I used take a raw carrot to school with me every day.

Christy42

iguana wrote: »

My brothers and I all love brussel sprouts. Family fueds have started over one being stolen off someone else's plate. My little guy loves them too but he prefers carrots.

You are all invited to Christmas dinner, I need someone to slip mine too.

No idea what is right or even what I had. I don't remember having too much or particularly wanting too much as a child. I was overweight at about 5-6 anyway judging by pictures but sports and metabolism kicked in and sorted that out.

I've always eaten a lot (a lot of healthy food and a lot of not so healthy added in recently) so I am hoping my appetite decreases when my metabolism slows down.