Healthy Living
Monday, October 13, 2008
Food for kids is mostly junk
With all the talk about childhood obesity, there's been a push towards trying to get children to eat healthy foods and become more active. I doubt most parents would assume a box of cereal with a picture of SpongeBob on the front was necessarily health food. But what if the box also had a label saying, "high in essential nutrients for growing kids"? Even if you don't consciously think about it, you might soften in your approach to the cereal. Well, I've got news for you: That food is most likely junk.
See, researchers in Canada analyzed more than 360 products marketed to children. They did NOT include junk food, so there's nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide on this study. Instead they covered what is sometimes packaged as "fun food", products with cartoon characters and so on pimping the contents, such as prepackaged dinners. And guess what? Nearly 90 percent did not meet established nutritional standards, measured by percent of calories from fat, and the amount of sugar and/or sodium. Worse still in my book...
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Related: sugar, strollerderby, salt, research study, parents, obesity, nutrition, kids, junk food, health, food, fat, diet
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Posted by FRESH Wed Jul 23, 2008 1:48pm PDT
KIDS CAN EAT GREAT AND HEALTHY FOOD--THEY JUST DON'T HAVE TO HAVE THE JUNK FOOD THAT SOME PARENTS RESORT TO--KIDS CAN HAVE VEGETABLES IN A FUN WAY BY HAAVING THEM DICED FANCY AND GREAT DIP--TOMATES I LOVED THEM WHEN I WAS A KID--FRUITS CANTELOPE WATERMELON CANTALOPE AND HONEYDEW MELON--AND THESE ALSO CAN HAVE A LOW CALORIE DIP--THERE ARE SO MANY HEALTHY FOOD FOR CHILDREN CAN EAT TODAY THAT KIDS DON'T NEED HIGH CALORIE JUNK FOODS!
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Posted by FRESH Wed Jul 23, 2008 1:49pm PDT
KIDS CAN EAT GREAT AND HEALTHY FOOD--THEY JUST DON'T HAVE TO HAVE THE JUNK FOOD THAT SOME PARENTS RESORT TO--KIDS CAN HAVE VEGETABLES IN A FUN WAY BY HAAVING THEM DICED FANCY AND GREAT DIP--TOMATES I LOVED THEM WHEN I WAS A KID--FRUITS CANTELOPE WATERMELON CANTALOPE AND HONEYDEW MELON--AND THESE ALSO CAN HAVE A LOW CALORIE DIP--THERE ARE SO MANY HEALTHY FOOD FOR CHILDREN CAN EAT TODAY THAT KIDS DON'T NEED HIGH CALORIE JUNK FOODS!
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Posted by rlridley Thu Jul 24, 2008 6:34am PDT
I never bought my child any foods that were advertised on TV. Plus my kid loves broccoli.
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Posted by pretty much amazing Thu Jul 24, 2008 7:24am PDT
I don't find this shocking. Overweight parents pass on their bad eating habits to their kids. Many don't even realize it.
We only had healthy cereal growing up. We actually called it twigs and leaves, because that's what it looked like. Now that I'm older and buy my own cereals and such, I still go for the twigs and leaves cereal. Anything else makes me sick after a few bites.
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Posted by pretty much amazing Thu Jul 24, 2008 7:24am PDT
I don't find this shocking. Overweight parents pass on their bad eating habits to their kids. Many don't even realize it.
We only had healthy cereal growing up. We actually called it twigs and leaves, because that's what it looked like. Now that I'm older and buy my own cereals and such, I still go for the twigs and leaves cereal. Anything else makes me sick after a few bites.
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Posted by rglo820 Thu Jul 24, 2008 8:29am PDT
I think a good rule of thumb is not to eat anything out of a box, bag, or can unless it came from the health food aisle or has similar characteristics (whole grains, low sodium, et cetera). Otherwise, one of two things will happen: either you'll pass on terrible eating habits to your kids and they'll struggle with food issues their entire lives, or else they'll grow up to be nutritionally savvy and more than likely resent you for feeding them crap throughout their childhoods.
I grew up in a house with junk food galore: potato chips, sugary cereals, cookies, ice cream, soda. Granted, twenty years ago people weren't as aware diet-wise, but still. My brothers and I were all overweight as children, and though by some stroke of luck all turned into exceedingly healthy adults, this isn't always or even usually the case.
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Posted by Kristin Fri Jul 25, 2008 1:11pm PDT
It's not surprising to me, I usually shop at Whole Foods, but was in a rush the other day and went into an Albertson's, I glanced at some labels and was horrified, mostly horrified that I used to eat those things, but also at seeing people buying it with their kids with them. It's just really horrible how skewed the world is, everyone just eats crap, I mean, if kids eat Fruit Loops for breakfast, then, a sickly school lunch and Mcdonald's for dinner, that kid probably ate enough calories, fat, and sugar to last them 3 days and parents are just slowly killing their kids and refuse to acknowledge it.
Here's a post I did a few days ago on the subject.
http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/fitness-in-america-why-isn-t-there-any-212071/;_ylt=AhwS5VExRln5WmAkT9mxLD1hbqU5
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Posted by CeeCee Sat Jul 26, 2008 9:43am PDT
Harried parents gravitate to these foods because they are quick, and the kids ask for them. Opening a pack of "fruit" snacks is easier than washing off grapes, drying them and picking them off the stem. At the end of a long day on a grocery store trip, it is less stressful to say yes to the "Can I have ...?" than to say no.
I don't completely ban these foods, but allow them minimally. I just wrote an article on family fitness and nutrition tips for the summer at http://buzz.prevention.com/community/runninggal/3-family-fitness-goals-for-summer . Families need to integrate exercise and healthy food choices into their daily lives - educating their kids on how to live healthy lives.
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