Low sugar snacks (Sugar Crash RTE1)

emer_b

Did anyone see Sugar Crash on RTE lastnight? Well worth a watch.
Well I spent today writing down everything my 16month old and 3yr old ate and calculated the sugar. The 3yr old had 7 spoons (3 spoon recommended limit), the 16 month old had 2.5 (0 sugar recommended).
We got rid of juice in the house a few months ago and they're generally good all round eaters. And even though the 3yr old wasn't feeling great today and missed her usual yoghurt, and maybe raisins too, we still managed to well exceed the recommendations. The majority of the sugar came from a fruit pot at breakfast (14.5g) and a single chocolate sweet which had 5g of sugar!!! (4g is one spoon)

So I'm looking for suggestions as to how to replace our daily snacks with low sugar/no sugar options. Our meals are good, mostly unprocessed, and drinks are just water and milk so it's just the yoghurt, raisins and Liga/digestive biscuits I need to cut out.
Any ideas? Preferably easy to prepare and not too messy options for on the go!
(Correct me if I'm wrong but I understand that raisins count as added sugar as they're not fruit in their natural state. One of those tiny snack boxes contains 2.5 spoons!)

cyning

My 22 month old adores natural yogurt: and three year old likes it frozen! Instead of fruit pots just give fruit instead? Bread sticks are handy too. And oat cakes with hummus if they will eat it or avocado or cheese spread. Plain cheddar cheese just sticks of it go down very well here.

Honestly though (and admittedly haven't seen program as cant stand her!) I would just eat healthily. I try to avoid too many raisins as they can cause tooth decay but they aren't the worst thing in the world.

And mine probably have too many treats too but trying to reduce them at the moment. They are obsessed with kinder eggs

pwurple

How can zero sugar possibly be recommended for a 16 month old? Every single vegetable and fruit and all dairy contains sugars. What would you even feed, them, just steak?

Sorry, I'm calling BS on getting my children's dietary advice from the TV.

A normal mixed balanced diet should be fine. Cutting out yoghurt? Why?

emer_b

pwurple wrote: »

How can zero sugar possibly be recommended for a 16 month old? Every single vegetable and fruit and all dairy contains sugars. What would you even feed, them, just steak?

Sorry, I'm calling BS on getting my children's dietary advice from the TV.

A normal mixed balanced diet should be fine. Cutting out yoghurt? Why?

Pwurple, natural sugars from fruit and veg are not included. It's added sugars that are included in nearly all processed foods that are the bad guys.
Obviously yoghurt is not bad either, it's the 3 to 4 teaspoons of sugar used to sweeten most yoghurts that is bad. There are healthy alternatives without cutting out food groups.
Sugar has sneaked it's way into almost everything that we eat.
But I'm not here to debate the science, was just looking for ways to cut down!

Roselm

pwurple wrote: »

How can zero sugar possibly be recommended for a 16 month old? Every single vegetable and fruit and all dairy contains sugars. What would you even feed, them, just steak?

Sorry, I'm calling BS on getting my children's dietary advice from the TV.

A normal mixed balanced diet should be fine. Cutting out yoghurt? Why?

The programme is talking about added sugar in products

lollpop

pwurple wrote: »

How can zero sugar possibly be recommended for a 16 month old? Every single vegetable and fruit and all dairy contains sugars. What would you even feed, them, just steak?

No added sugar. Sugar in fruit/veg is fine. Dr Eva annoys me but to be fair to the programme they did point out the difference between natural sugars and added sugar and the fact that they do different things to our bodies.

pwurple wrote: »

A normal mixed balanced diet should be fine. Cutting out yoghurt? Why?

Most yogurts on the market have a huge amount of added sugar. There will always be some sugar in yogurts as there is sugar in milk but it's the amount of additional sugar added that's a problem. As an example there is around 3 spoons of sugar in a single muller light yogurt. Apparently the WHO recommends an adult eats no more than 6 spoons of added sugar a day so one of those yogurts and you're already half way there.

bp

Really enjoyed the show. Was shocked by the yogurt rice cakes when I looked at the packet this morning. Stopping fruit pots too.

I was shocked by the amount of sugar in the chocolate bars, the pack gives information on two squares etc not the entire bar

LegacyUser

what type of yoghurts do you give?
Petit Filous are clearly laced with sugar (ever try tasting them?!) but our 18 month old gets Glenisk baby yoghurts, which I think are a bit better.
Either way, I'm not cutting out her yoghurts. She doesn't eat much else with sugar and it's all about balance. She needs the other benefits of yoghurts.

emer_b

What shocked me was how normal a high level of sugar consumption has become. I would think nothing of eating 2 chocolate bars in a day, something I never would have done 10 years ago (aswell as more alcohol than I used to!).
The amount of sweet treats I give my children compared to when I was a child is ridiculous.
However scientifically accurate/inaccurate that show was, it has proven to be a very good wake up call to look at our eating habits.

John Mason

Why do you need to give snacks ?

Can you just give 4 meals a day and cut out the snacks completely? There is absolutely no need for them.

Or if you "have" to give them why not give apples, oranges, grapes, bananas, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, melon, pineapple, tomatoes, cheese slice, cucumber, carrots, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kiwi, plums, peach, nectarine, etc.

How Strange

We consider ourselves relatively conscientious but I'm aware that since my son started school that sugar is sneaking in to his diet everyday. He gets his lunch from school which we pick but there's a sugar treat (puck 1 from yoghurt rice cake, flap jack, yoghurt frube) everyday

I'm thinking about asking the school to replace this with another piece of fruit except for Friday's. My son told me the sweet is the favourite part of lunch for all the kids.

Just entirely cut anything w high sugar added or not, even honey is bad, check out date sugar its the safest IMO, if you feel snacks are needed snack on homemade nut/seed bars (or just nuts and seeds with a few raisons etc) and just regular fruit and veg. Go for Low carbs/sugar fruits.

Get rid of that addiction/urge for something sweet. Sugar is a kids first experience of drug addiction.

Neyite

John Mason wrote: »

Why do you need to give snacks ?

Can you just give 4 meals a day and cut out the snacks completely? There absolutely no need for them.

Or if you "have" to give them why not give apples, oranges, grapes, bananas, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, melon, pineapple, tomatoes, cheese slice, cucumber, carrots, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kiwi, plums, peach, nectarine, etc.

Cheese is the only thing on that list that my toddler would touch. I'm working on him. I'll always put healthy stuff in front of him and the rule is that he has to try it, but I wont force him to eat something either as I don't want him getting fussier or having problems with food. And every few months I'll try him again on something that he's refused before. He's eating a few spoons of veg now with dinner, and will occasionally nibble on fresh fruit. It's progress, but its slow going. I don't get it. I lovingly puréed every organic fruit and vegetable on the planet when he was weaning and he happily horsed into the lot. I give him ella's pouches just so he basically wont sh!t rocks - tried to get him making homemade smoothies for months with me and while he was happy out putting the fruit into the beakers, he wouldn't taste a drop.

I'd love to cut down on sugary yoghurts for him. I swapped from petit filous to actimel drinks but they have the same amount of added sugar apparently. But I feel that at least actimel has pro-biotics in it. He doesn't drink milk or eat much cheese any more so I'm trying to get some dairy into him. But he wont touch chips, hates ketchup or anything saucy, and mostly drinks plain water, rarely he might have a bit of apple or orange juice, but hates fizzy stuff too. Long may that last.

The OH is a divil for getting toddler convenience snacks in, so I might stick it on player for us both to watch. He was a plump kid himself and hated it so it might get him thinking.

sillysocks

I'd guess if you pick fruit pots that don't have added sugar then the high sugar content is just down to the actual sugar from the fruit when it's blended?

John Mason

What about eggs? homemade muffins have no sugar.

have a look on the BLW sites, we never bothered with the pureeing faff. life is too short.

http://littlegrazers.com/baby-led-weaning/blw-recipes/

sugar free muffins
http://www.babyledweaning.com/blw-recipes/broccoli-and-cheese-muffins/

Egg muffins
http://www.herfamily.ie/family-time/realy-easy-brunch-recipes-mini-egg-cakes-you-can-make-with-your-kids/210570


two ingredient pancakes, which freeze great and you heat them in the toaster



I wouldn't be too concerned about dairy, its really bad for you anyway. we limit dairy produce in our house I am sure Dr. Ava will have a probably out next stating the dairy is the work of the devil.

John Mason

sillysocks wrote: »

I'd guess if you pick fruit pots that don't have added sugar then the high sugar content is just down to the actual sugar from the fruit when it's blended?

just give fruit - why bother with packaging. it cheaper, its nice and it is better for you

Neyite

John Mason wrote: »

What about eggs? homemade muffins have no sugar.

have a look on the BLW sites, we never bothered with the pureeing faff. life is too short.

http://littlegrazers.com/baby-led-weaning/blw-recipes/

sugar free muffins
http://www.babyledweaning.com/blw-recipes/broccoli-and-cheese-muffins/

Egg muffins
http://www.herfamily.ie/family-time/realy-easy-brunch-recipes-mini-egg-cakes-you-can-make-with-your-kids/210570


two ingredient pancakes, which freeze great and you heat them in the toaster



I wouldn't be too concerned about dairy, its really bad for you anyway. we limit dairy produce in our house I am sure Dr. Ava will have a probably out next stating the dairy is the work of the devil.

nice one - thanks for the links. I started to get him helping in the kitchen as a way of learning about food so I'll try a couple of recipes from those with him. He eats great in crèche, and its all home-made healthy stuff in there.

I know someone who made their own yoghurt at home. I might give that a bash if its not too complicated.

bp

First 1000 days have a nice cheese and herb scone recipe on their Facebook page today. Love 1000 days.

Now how to stop grandparents????

Hamstring

lollpop wrote: »

No added sugar. Sugar in fruit/veg is fine. Dr Eva annoys me but to be fair to the programme they did point out the difference between natural sugars and added sugar and the fact that they do different things to our bodies.



Most yogurts on the market have a huge amount of added sugar. There will always be some sugar in yogurts as there is sugar in milk but it's the amount of additional sugar added that's a problem. As an example there is around 3 spoons of sugar in a single muller light yogurt. Apparently the WHO recommends an adult eats no more than 6 spoons of added sugar a day so one of those yogurts and you're already half way there.

Is there anyway from food labeling to determine how much of a product is natural occurring sugars versus added sugar (not including products that are labeled "No added sugar")

John Mason

Neyite wrote: »

nice one - thanks for the links. I started to get him helping in the kitchen as a way of learning about food so I'll try a couple of recipes from those with him. He eats great in crèche, and its all home-made healthy stuff in there.

I know someone who made their own yoghurt at home. I might give that a bash if its not too complicated.

I have my 20 month old cooking in the kitchen all the time with me :-)

Here is another site I use.

http://mylovelylittlelunchbox.com/recipes-2/

Neyite

bp wrote: »

Now how to stop grandparents????

Ooooh WHOLE other battle!! :D. I'm lucky in that with my mum, others had already broken her in on toddler snacking from years back so only Parent-Approved stuff gets stocked at GrannyNeyites.

Other granny however...I once caught her giving my then 18mo his third in a row Cadbury Mini-Roll. While I was in the kitchen heating up his dinner. He looked hungry apparently :rolleyes:

Miss Merry Berry

I watched this show with great interest and I was not one bit surprised by anything that was said on the show. By coincidence in the last two weeks, I was doing science experiments with my pupils about how much sugar is in soft drinks, how to calculate this and what their sugar allowance is per day. I think all my pupils were shocked at how much added sugar is in food and drinks and want to limit their intake but guess what, parents load them up with them at home.

I don't give my daughter any treats at 2.5 years of age. By that I mean crisps, juice, cereal bars, chocolate, sweets etc. Some people think that I'm the cruel one because I don't want to load my child up with sugar. By the age of 3, 1 in 4 children are obese in Ireland. By 2030, we will be the fattest nation in Europe. We really need to wake up as a nation, the amount of crap I see parents give their children is an absolute disgrace. Sorry to be blunt but my attitude is, if you want children then you care for them in every aspect of their lives, not ruin their health from a young age loading them with up processed, salty and sugary foods. Create good eating habits from an early age.

We really are in denial as a nation about the obesity epidemic that is going on and it will only get worse. My sister is a paediatric nurse and a lot of cases she is presented with is purely from poor diet. I know a dental nurse in Dublin whose practice could do 200 children's extractions PER DAY. We need to take back the power and educate ourselves about sugar and salt content in food and make better decisions. It is not that hard to do, plenty of websites have this information.

Miss Merry Berry

Just checked there out of interest, one of those Rusk biscuits that some parents love to give their babies has 4.9g sugar per biscuit which is one and a quarter teaspoons of sugar if there are 4g in one teaspoon of sugar. So if you give them two Rusks per day, that's 2 and a half teaspoons of sugar alone!!

John Mason

as part of my job I get to visit lots of crèches and I am shocked at the amount of overweight toddlers I see.

It is really scary. I was in one childcare setting on Monday with 10 kids, I would have considered 9 of them to be overweight.

I was continuously battling with grandparents over rubbish food but I thought I got through until I last week when I seen liga being brought out of the press.

I have told them over and over again, that any food advertised for children is full of sugar and should not be given to children

lollpop

Hamstring wrote: »

Is there anyway from food labeling to determine how much of a product is natural occurring sugars versus added sugar (not including products that are labeled "No added sugar")

Not easily.
You'd have to read the list of ingredients and see if any of them are sugar. But there are so many different names for sugar on the labels (over 100 apparently), its very difficult for the average person to work it out.

John Mason

lollpop wrote: »

Not easily.
You'd have to read the list of ingredients and see if any of them are sugar. But there are so many different names for sugar on the labels (over 100 apparently), its very difficult for the average person to work it out.

Its really not, if it comes in a man made wrapper it has sugar. You might have to use to your common sense every now and then

pwurple

emer_b wrote: »

Pwurple, natural sugars from fruit and veg are not included. It's added sugars that are included in nearly all processed foods that are the bad guys.

We have two diabetics in the extended family, so we get a lot of exposure to the impact of sugars. 'Natural' sugar from a banana will send a diabetic reeling as fast as a bar of chocolate.

I just think that over simplifying this kind of this is pointless, we can all understand the basics of what to eat without villainising or cutting out foods, and frankly overcomplicating everything trying to keep up with the latest fad. It used to be bad guys were fats, then they got split into good oils and bad saturated fats, and now we're back full circle at saturated fats being essential nutrients. There was a phase of yeast being the monster before that, and the current villains of choice are gluten and sugar. It's the cynic in me, but I just really see this as another marketing tool for selling books, and more free-from products.

A varied diet is the best for everyone, with as little out of packets as possible. I give my children a biscuit, but it's a biscuit I made myself from oats and real butter. They mostly eat fish, meat, pulses, veg and fruit (some of which they help grow) and bread (which they help make). I do my very best to teach them how to shop for fresh things, how to recognise a fresh fish, or a local bit of veg, which is a skill in itself.

My main struggle with feeding children is that it is difficult keeping it varied enough, and giving them loads of exposure to different tastes and textures, along with teaching them some cooking and shopping skills. After a long day of work, it's tough going to keep the brain engaged enough to not just give them pasta every damn day of the week. If I had to also consider a list as long as my arm of good guy and bad guy things to avoid, I'd crack up altogether.

Hamstring

John Mason wrote: »

Its really not, if it comes in a man made wrapper it has sugar. You might have to use to your common sense every now and then

Ok lets take an Ella Food Pouch (the Purple One) for example...a favorite in our house...the ingredients per their website are Organic bananas
Organic apples
Organic blackcurrants
Organic blueberries
<1% organic lemon juice concentrate
Other stuff 0%

Whilst the nutrition details show 11g of Sugar...
Serving size one portion 3oz (85g)
amount per serving
Calories: 70
Total Fat: 0g
Trans Fat: 0g
Sodium: 0mg
Total Carbohydrate: 16g
Dietary Fiber: 1g
Sugars: 11g
Protein: 1g

So because its comes in a man made wrapper....does that mean 100% of that Sugar is therefore added??

bp

Hamstring wrote: »

Ok lets take an Ella Food Pouch (the Purple One) for example...a favorite in our house...the ingredients per their website are Organic bananas
Organic apples
Organic blackcurrants
Organic blueberries
<1% organic lemon juice concentrate
Other stuff 0%

Whilst the nutrition details show 11g of Sugar...
Serving size one portion 3oz (85g)
amount per serving
Calories: 70
Total Fat: 0g
Trans Fat: 0g
Sodium: 0mg
Total Carbohydrate: 16g
Dietary Fiber: 1g
Sugars: 11g
Protein: 1g

So because its comes in a man made wrapper....does that mean 100% of that Sugar is therefore added??

I think that because of how they are made, like smoothies, the sugar is released all at once and the finer is destroyed....I think I saw that somewhere. My kids love those pouches too

I was told before why whole fruit is better than anyway processed

pwurple

Hamstring wrote: »

Ok lets take an Ella Food Pouch (the Purple One) for example...a favorite in our house...the ingredients per their website are <snip>
So because its comes in a man made wrapper....does that mean 100% of that Sugar is therefore added??

This illustrates my point. People can argue whether this is added or non-added sugar. Pour over the ingredients for days on end, and you know what? It doesn't matter. This sugar vendetta is yet another way of saying "Eat real food", which we knew all along anyway.

sillysocks

John Mason wrote: »

just give fruit - why bother with packaging. it cheaper, its nice and it is better for you

No matter how hard I try one of my kids won't eat fruit. Blended like the fruit pots is the only way to get fruit into him. Ok I should probably blend fresh fruit myself but sometimes I don't have the time or fruit on hand so use the pots. They don't have any additives so while they're not as healthy as the real thing I'm hoping they're better than a bar of chocolate!

John Mason

Look everyone feeds their kids as they see fit but if you use common sense it is very easy to avoid add sugar. the easiest by is stop buying food in man made packages.

I don't know what an Elle's pouch is but if you are happy to eat that to your child that fine.

The same with fruit, again I don't know what a fruit pot is but if you are happy feeding that to your child then go for it. I just gave him fruit as nature intended - the only thing that is pureed in this house is soup.

What is next years food obsession ? dairy? will we go back to wheat ?

Every few years something is demonised.

Hamstring

pwurple wrote: »

This illustrates my point. People can argue whether this is added or non-added sugar. Pour over the ingredients for days on end, and you know what? It doesn't matter. This sugar vendetta is yet another way of saying "Eat real food", which we knew all along anyway.

Agreed. Absolutely no contest between eating fruit naturally than in these pouches. But there is no way I could get my all my kids to eat (or in some cases even try) all of the various fruits included in even this example (banana, apple, blackcurrant & blueberries). So there has to be some trade off for parents in my opinion where you just go...right...its either this and you take the sugar-hit (natural or added) or the child doesn't have any of this in his/her diet.

Everything in moderation in my view. Your not going to pump 5 of these into a child to make up for them not eating an equivalent size piece of fruit.

genie_us

Hi

this maybe slightly off topic but I'm just interested to know if the people whose kids are fussy now and not wanting to eat fruit or veg etc - is that something that was always the case or something the kids tend to develop? I'm just curious to know if it's something I might end up dealing with myself. My 14 month old currently hoovers whatever is put in front of him, if anything his issue with food will be not knowing when to stop so that's my current focus at the moment. Luckily he does eat everything and I make all his stuff myself. So I'm just interested to know if your kids are fussy now were they always that way?

sillysocks

genie_us wrote: »

Hi

this maybe slightly off topic but I'm just interested to know if the people whose kids are fussy now and not wanting to eat fruit or veg etc - is that something that was always the case or something the kids tend to develop? I'm just curious to know if it's something I might end up dealing with myself. My 14 month old currently hoovers whatever is put in front of him, if anything his issue with food will be not knowing when to stop so that's my current focus at the moment. Luckily he does eat everything and I make all his stuff myself. So I'm just interested to know if your kids are fussy now were they always that way?

My little fella has always been like that. It used to even take an age to get a bottle into him when he was only a baby and not on solids. Funny because my little girl who's older eats way more and would eat any type of fruit I put in front of her, he won't even put it near his mouth!

yellowlabrador

pwurple wrote: »

We have two diabetics in the extended family, so we get a lot of exposure to the impact of sugars. 'Natural' sugar from a banana will send a diabetic reeling as fast as a bar of chocolate.

I just think that over simplifying this kind of this is pointless, we can all understand the basics of what to eat without villainising or cutting out foods, and frankly overcomplicating everything trying to keep up with the latest fad. It used to be bad guys were fats, then they got split into good oils and bad saturated fats, and now we're back full circle at saturated fats being essential nutrients. There was a phase of yeast being the monster before that, and the current villains of choice are gluten and sugar. It's the cynic in me, but I just really see this as another marketing tool for selling books, and more free-from products.

A varied diet is the best for everyone, with as little out of packets as possible. I give my children a biscuit, but it's a biscuit I made myself from oats and real butter. They mostly eat fish, meat, pulses, veg and fruit (some of which they help grow) and bread (which they help make). I do my very best to teach them how to shop for fresh things, how to recognise a fresh fish, or a local bit of veg, which is a skill in itself.

My main struggle with feeding children is that it is difficult keeping it varied enough, and giving them loads of exposure to different tastes and textures, along with teaching them some cooking and shopping skills. After a long day of work, it's tough going to keep the brain engaged enough to not just give them pasta every damn day of the week. If I had to also consider a list as long as my arm of good guy and bad guy things to avoid, I'd crack up altogether.

When my children were young, I had a fixed rota of meals. It made shopping easier too. I had my own battles with food. I was used to a continental diet and the pressures of society are something else. Crisps, sweetened yogurts,sugared drinks, sweets everyday after school, these were all unknown to me. The battle to keep them out of my childrens diet was something else. A treat is a treat and should be for special occasions. How many children don't have at least 1 packet of crisps a day. Breakfast, lunch and dinner is enough and if you want to have a snack, a glass of milk and 1 or 2 biscuits is fine. If you make your own biscuits and cake, you can control the amount of sugar you add. Shop bought is always sweeter.

genie_us

sillysocks wrote: »

My little fella has always been like that. It used to even take an age to get a bottle into him when he was only a baby and not on solids. Funny because my little girl who's older eats way more and would eat any type of fruit I put in front of her, he won't even put it near his mouth!

Thanks sillysocks! Funny how they are so different!

pwurple

yellowlabrador wrote: »

When my children were young, I had a fixed rota of meals. It made shopping easier too.

Rota of meals is easier, but I don't think I can get enough variety or eat seasonally/locally/cheaply etc if I lock myself into a rota.

madeinamerica

pwurple, you're echoing a guy, Michael Pollan, I saw on tv over christmas (as I was finishing off a box of Roses :rolleyes:). Ever hear of him and his advice of Eat food, mostly plants, not too much. And he had some interesting thoughts about nutritionism in foods with 'bad' things removed and other 'good' things added. Here is some info from him http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/20090323/7-rules-for-eating

I'm all for basic food (and the occasional box of Roses).

pwurple

madeinamerica wrote: »

pwurple, you're echoing a guy, Michael Pollan, I saw on tv over christmas (as I was finishing off a box of Roses :rolleyes:). Ever hear of him and his advice of Eat food, mostly plants, not too much. And he had some interesting thoughts about nutritionism in foods with 'bad' things removed and other 'good' things added. Here is some info from him http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/20090323/7-rules-for-eating

I'm all for basic food (and the occasional box of Roses).

What a sensible fellow! Enjoyed that article, thanks, a cynic after my own heart, and expresses it better than me too!

The trouble with the whole notion of "evil' and "blessed" ingredients is that they help the food industry sell us processed foods that are free of the evil thing or full of the blessed one.

Love this piece as well... I forget how much of our childhood memories and relationships are wrapped up in occasions where we eat.

Myth #3: The whole point of eating is to maintain and promote bodily health. "You are either improving or ruining your health when you eat -- that is a very American idea," Pollan says. "But there are many other reasons to eat food: pleasure, social community, identity, and ritual. Health is not the only thing going on on our plates."

fro9etb8j5qsl2

John Mason wrote: »

I wouldn't be too concerned about dairy, its really bad for you anyway. we limit dairy produce in our house I am sure Dr. Ava will have a probably out next stating the dairy is the work of the devil.

Do you mind me asking, do you substitute other calcium rich foods for the dairy? My little girl is allergic to cows milk protein so our meals are all dairy free and I have trouble finding other ways of getting calcium into her.

The only treat we give at home is an occasional fig roll. I used to buy the heinz biscotti until I realised that there is almost as much sugar per 100g of biscotti as there is in 100g of mc vities choccie digestives :rolleyes:

Is there programmes running in schools these days to teach young people about basic nutritional requirements and how to read labels on food? When I was in school, home ec was the only subject that covered this and most people I know wouldn't think twice to read the nutritional info on a packet unless a doctor advised them to. Crazy given all of the money we pump into being healthy, gyms, living well, looking good etc.

Miss Merry Berry

pwurple wrote: »

We have two diabetics in the extended family, so we get a lot of exposure to the impact of sugars. 'Natural' sugar from a banana will send a diabetic reeling as fast as a bar of chocolate.

I just think that over simplifying this kind of this is pointless, we can all understand the basics of what to eat without villainising or cutting out foods, and frankly overcomplicating everything trying to keep up with the latest fad. It used to be bad guys were fats, then they got split into good oils and bad saturated fats, and now we're back full circle at saturated fats being essential nutrients. There was a phase of yeast being the monster before that, and the current villains of choice are gluten and sugar. It's the cynic in me, but I just really see this as another marketing tool for selling books, and more free-from products.

A varied diet is the best for everyone, with as little out of packets as possible. I give my children a biscuit, but it's a biscuit I made myself from oats and real butter. They mostly eat fish, meat, pulses, veg and fruit (some of which they help grow) and bread (which they help make). I do my very best to teach them how to shop for fresh things, how to recognise a fresh fish, or a local bit of veg, which is a skill in itself.

My main struggle with feeding children is that it is difficult keeping it varied enough, and giving them loads of exposure to different tastes and textures, along with teaching them some cooking and shopping skills. After a long day of work, it's tough going to keep the brain engaged enough to not just give them pasta every damn day of the week. If I had to also consider a list as long as my arm of good guy and bad guy things to avoid, I'd crack up altogether.

You seem to be an intelligent person so I don't understand how the concept of ridiculous amounts of excessive sugar being pumped into countless amounts of sweet as well as savoury food stuff is a concept lost on you. Fruit and vegetables are nutrionally rich, a bar of chocolate has zero nutrition but might make you feel psychologically nice for a short space of time. There are over 250,000 people with some type of diabetes in Ireland at present, they didn't get this by eating a few blueberries. It is not hard to educate yourself on the sugar and salt content of the main foods you eat or would like to eat. Even myself, when I eat more junk and less fruit/veg like I did at Christmas, I had ulcers in my mouth from lack of vitamins and minerals. That's my body's way of telling me enough is enough. Sugar is highly addictive, it's so important to remember this.

Miss Merry Berry

Wren Bald Marmot wrote: »

Do you mind me asking, do you substitute other calcium rich foods for the dairy? My little girl is allergic to cows milk protein so our meals are all dairy free and I have trouble finding other ways of getting calcium into her.

The only treat we give at home is an occasional fig roll. I used to buy the heinz biscotti until I realised that there is almost as much sugar per 100g of biscotti as there is in 100g of mc vities choccie digestives :rolleyes:

Is there programmes running in schools these days to teach young people about basic nutritional requirements and how to read labels on food? When I was in school, home ec was the only subject that covered this and most people I know wouldn't think twice to read the nutritional info on a packet unless a doctor advised them to. Crazy given all of the money we pump into being healthy, gyms, living well, looking good etc.

Healthy eating, exercise and reading food labels is on the SPHE and Science curriculum. There is a food programme running in schools called Food Dudes and their aim is to introduce children to fruit and vegetables. The children get prizes for sampling new f&vs. My sister is a teacher in a relatively well off suburb in Dublin and in her 2nd class, there were some children in her who had never tasted bananas, apples or oranges before! She was telling me that her school used to run a (One) Treat of the Week in their lunchbox on a Friday and parents used to send in whole packets of chocolate digestives as their treat! This is what you are up against in schools these days.

lazygal

I worked as a Montessori teacher and occasionally do sub work. We had healthy eating policies, HSE guidelines and most parents were really into healthy eating but you'd still be amazed at what parents give. One girl came in with a packet of Tuc crackers or a dry bagel for lunch most days. We did a tasting game and she loved everything so why she had that for lunch I can put down to poor parental choices.

pwurple

Miss Merry Berry wrote: »

You seem to be an intelligent person so I don't understand how the concept of ridiculous amounts of excessive sugar being pumped into countless amounts of sweet as well as savoury food stuff is a concept lost on you.

Ahem? I seem to be intelligent so why am I being so thick?

Because this concept is another way of selling more stuff. People get the sugar soundbites stuck in their brain, and the marketing depts latch on. The packaging now says "all natural sugars" or "low in sugar", but if they are just swapping honey into the chocolate bars instead of white sugar, it makes no earthly difference to either diabetes or obesity. I've seen things advertised as sweetened with concentrated apple juice, honey etc. So, from tv personalities selling their new amazing weight loss program, or set of books, to the newly rebranded processed foods disguised as the new 'healthy', make no mistake, it is all selling us something to fix a problem they have convinced us we all have.

I don't need to educate myself on qtys of salt or sugar on boxes of cereals or prepackaged children's snack items, because we buy raw ingredients and eat real food. If you find yourself looking for a new processed food that's 'low in sugar' to replace your old processed food, what's the point?

John Mason

Wren Bald Marmot wrote: »

Do you mind me asking, do you substitute other calcium rich foods for the dairy? My little girl is allergic to cows milk protein so our meals are all dairy free and I have trouble finding other ways of getting calcium into her.

he eats lots of green veg, sardines, tofu, soya beans and fortified rice milks and stuff like that.

The Dairy farmers have played a blinder making us think we will collapse into a pile of dust unless we take in excess amounts of dairy.

Ask an Asian person what we smell like!!

Neyite

I'm of the opinion that lots of fresh foods, in as varied a variety as your budget will go, goes a hell of a long way towards weight management. Portion control plays a big part too, and I've recently experimented with the theory that you can always reduce sugar amounts in baking recipes by about a third, and I've never noticed the difference in the few things I have baked.

I almost never add salt to cooking - there is one recipe that I have where you'd notice the salt removed, but I have reduced it in the recipe as much as I could without it changing the taste too much - I don't use salted water in veg or pasta - I've never heard any one tell me they tasted different. I use full fat butter, milk, yoghurt's, cheese and so on - I'm very sceptical of the low-fat ranges.

My new years aim will be to expand on my range of dinners, and I'm going to pick at least one ingredient a month I don't know much about and that I've never cooked with before and experiment.

j@utis

bp wrote: »

<...>
Now how to stop grandparents????

shoot them

I watched the program couple of days ago. I found presenter quite annoying because she was talking soooo slow, cutting words in to syllables at some places :mad:

I wasn't shocked by the contents of the program. If you're interested in nutrition - it's old quite old news tbh.
What drives me mad is trying to shift the blame onto someone else, i.e. onto food producers. It's free market afterall and what we buy drives the supply. Stop buying crap and it'll disappear from the supermarket shelves.

j@utis

John Mason wrote: »

<...>
Ask an Asian person what we smell like!!

Asian people don't smell nice to me at all :rolleyes:

madeinamerica

j@utis wrote: »

shoot them

I watched the program couple of days ago. I found presenter quite annoying because she was talking soooo slow, cutting words in to syllables at some places :mad:

I wasn't shocked by the contents of the program. If you're interested in nutrition - it's old quite old news tbh.
What drives me mad is trying to shift the blame onto someone else, i.e. onto food producers. It's free market afterall and what we buy drives the supply. Stop buying crap and it'll disappear from the supermarket shelves.

Yeah, its not quite that simple, unfortunately. Human behaviour gets in the way!

j@utis

<...>