What are we feeding our kids? - BBC

But this is nothing new, it's probably put out for people who are unaware of the problems caused by overeating such food. There can't be many of those left.

More ammunition for the food police? We had a woman here who was always on about what we should and should not eat. She looked very skinny and unhealthy and sadly died of cancer in her 50 s. Not everything is black and white.

Well, Jamie Oliver tried to do something about children’s eating habits but from Teresa May onwards the current government have wanted nothing to do with him. I seem to remember him being pretty upset by Teresa Mays indifference.

It sounds a bit like Supersize Me.
Without watching me it, can you say what it is about processed food that causes obesity Chestnut please?
Or is it more than lack of nutrition that is the problem?

The lack of nutrition, that should be

It's on my 'watch' list - shocking what big businesses put out as healthy options.
I'm always surprised how much sugar people put in their shopping & artificial sugars ? don't get me started!
Years ago there was a series of programmes called 'Honey were killing the kids' amongst others.
The info is out there but the food industry just seen to have ploughed on with processes foods and advertising.

Chestnut
I watched it. Absolutely fascinating. The scary bit was when they showed the ‘new’ brain ‘channels’ that set up in his brain while on that diet and were still there a month after he had stopped the diet.
It got me thinking, why are we doing this.

I've been urging DS2 to watch this programme because both his boys, but mainly the younger one, tend to snack at will. He was on the phone today and when I asked him where he was, he was at the McDonald's drive-through! He's a vegan but hasn't managed to convert his sons.
One thing that was news to me was that ultra-processed foods had the effect of making the consumer want more whereas home-cooked natural ingredients will make you feel satisfied which explains why my youngest GS, who is a snacker and fridge raider, is, distressingly, obese.

It was a very interesting programme.

It's all this ready food that's the problem. If everyone had to start preparing meals, i.e. peeling potatoes and veg and spend on decent cuts of meat instead of takeaway/ processed meals there'd be no obesity or health problems.

Years ago I used to order potatoes by the sack which was delivered and the six of us were always well fed. All that was needed was a veg and meat or fish through the week. There was always a dinner every day of the week. Potatoes are so versatile when you have a family, a filler and an energy-giver.

None of us were ever overweight and have remained the same . I drummed it into the 4 children that nothing else mattered so long as they had a good meal as it would keep them in good stead. Health and nutrition mattered a lot in my family. I still think it matters.

I wouldn't dream of forfeiting a fillet steak for an item of clothing

We thought it was interesting that these processed foods actually made you feel still hungry.
Years ago when DH was getting his cholesterol go up the practice nurse told me that he could eat anything in the cake/pastry line I made but not bought stuff - too much trans fats in industrially made food. - he did have to cut down his cheese consumption too!
I used to cook everything from scratch but when I was on chemo I just could not do it so DH bought prepared stuff - have to say it did no good at all for my reflux!

FannyCornforth

It sounds a bit like Supersize Me.
Without watching me it, can you say what it is about processed food that causes obesity Chestnut please?
Or is it more than lack of nutrition that is the problem?

You should watch it! The processed foods actually change your brain and make you hungrier, so you eat more of them. They are truly addictive.
I realise there have been other programmes on the subject but what shocked me was there have been no studies done on how these foods are affecting children's brains. They are actually programming them to eat more. The availability of these foods is driving this, and as a nation we are consuming far more processed foods than in the past.
I really fear what this is doing to children's brains.

I did see it and unfortunately due to busy lives people don’t prepare and cook meals from scratch anymore. I always did as a young mum, working full time too. All it takes is planning and only buying what you need, I rarely throw anything away. The only way it will change is to educate our young people, home economics has disappeared from education.

I’ve been banging this drum for years, whilst supermarkets devote so many aisles to this rubbish and councils allow so many take aways nothing will change.

We need to bust the myth that fresh food is expensive, it’s not.
We also need to change how we teach young people in schools, when I worked in a school the children were taught to make Baileys cheesecake and Pizzas with a pre made base.

There should be a tax on take aways and processed foods and a ruling to limit the amount of floor space supermarkets can give to processed foods.

Sago ???
I always walk past aisle after aisle full of processed rubbish, fizzy drinks, sweets, chocolate, cakes etc. The supermarket is stuffed full of processed foods. This is the problem, much too easy to access, and much to easy to prepare. The bottom line is PROFIT and this will not change until something is done to rectify the marketing of good food and bad food.
If people think this is not their problem, think again. Society relies on people to have functioning brains and not to be addicts. Overconsumption of this type of food means many children are now food addicts, what will the situation be like when they are adults?

I last visited a hospital about 3 years ago, I had to go to the canteen to get my mother something to eat as her appointment was delayed.
The selection of healthy food was nearly non existent, there was a bowl of fruit by the till everything else was processed rubbish.
I asked a member of staff why there was such a limited choice she said it was what staff demanded they tried healthy options but they were not purchased.

We had a house that we let for 7 years, we had 7 tenants through the property, the oven was never used or the pan set only frying pan and microwave.

Some of these findings are really new. DD who is a biochemist who often works for the Food Standards Agency was shocked when she watched it.

The combination of rapid weight gain, change in hormone levels and changes in the brain are frightening when you start applying them to children.

What is so shocking is that no-one has really investigated the effects of these foods on children. I think Dr Chris was amazed at that too.

I thought the programme was both fascinating and terrifying in equal measure. I hadn't come across the categorisation that was used for foods according to how highly processed it is but it seems more helpful than the healthy / unhealthy divide. I do hope that this will be the starting point for much more research into the complex reasons for soaring obesity rates in children. And for adults also, given that obesity seems to be a high risk factor for morbidity / mortality from Covid.

There was another programme about 2 years ago looking at this and also the effects of diet drinks not actually helping people lose weight. I think it was an Asian doctor helping people with various health issues through the foods they ate.
It's such a controversial subject though.

Sago I agree: healthy food is not more expensive - A bar of chocolate @75p or a bag of sweets @ £1.00 versus a banana - 30p all at our local supermarket - where the mum's pop in on the school run.

Builders aren't helping tiny fridges and cookers pre installed. House like ours. Four bedrooms and a fridge too small to take the food for a family of four.

Chestnut, it is frightening that processed food causes irreversible changes in the brain.

The problem is how to get people to eat better food. That Nestle's floating food shop in a boat where the healthy people were seduced into convenience food and fat bad health was a shocker. I will never again regard Nestle as an honest business.

Elan Vannin, I agree with you about potatoes. I used to be put off real potaoes because I peeled them too carefully. But I realised that it is not a sin to make thick potato peelings and this made my popato cookery much simpler. Boiled or par-boiled they are a base for all sorts of patato dishes.

Add oxo, oil or butter snd black peeper potatoes are good even better with cabbbage and onions.

Alexa
Nestle has never been an honest company.
I don’t know how old you are but many here will remember this scandalous horror.
www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/nestles-infant-formula-scandal-2012-6?r=US&IR=T#nestl-sued-a-war-on-want-publisher-for-libel-in-1974-10