millions of parents dont take their kids outdoors enough nor do they feed them well enough
which is a national disgrace and the social services , schools perhaps even the police in extreme cases, should step in more often
these parents are bums

First though the people IN those roles need to be educated about what is and isn't healthy for children. I'm not disputing that there are parents who are outright negligent and their kids are lacking in daylight exposure because they're sat indoors all of the time, and lacking in nutrition because they're fed freezer junk cooked in a microwave.

However, the "health" mindset of the government, schools and social services is still that:

- Kids should be head to toe in sunscreen before going out in the sun and...

- Kids should be packed full of fruit, vegetables and whole grains and low-fat spreads and avoid fatty red meat and dairy.


This is making kids unwell. You can have your kids outdoors all day, but if they're caked in factor 50 it's going to seriously limit any benefit, and sun exposure is the single best way to ensure sufficient Vitamin D production, regardless of diet.

Secondly, Vit D is a fat-soluble vitamin and kids need to be getting plenty of good saturated fats (meats & dairy mostly, but also things like avocado, coconut oil, olive oil) in order to get the full benefit. But saturated fat was demonised years ago and parents still believe they're doing the "right" thing by using half-fat milk, Flora instead of butter, limiting high fat meats, encouraging high consumption of vegetables and wholegrain carbs. Even EGGS are still feeling the heat from "health concerns" that are several decades out of date.

But the parents who dutifully break out the sunscreen bottle, or pile plates high with veg instead of meat, or offer apple juice instead of full fat milk, are not being neglectful or bad parents; in fact they believe they're doing the right / responsible thing. It's because outdated information is being passed through the years. The social services, the NHS (health visitors, midwives), the media... all peddling misinformation. I am inclined to say that it's part of parental duty to ensure that you ARE knowledgeable about these things but... let's face it, most people live their entire lives in a bubble.

So how do you solve that problem? How do you convince parents who wholeheartedly believe that they've been doing the right thing by their children for years that they have actually been risking their health? You CAN'T! It's impossible. Defence mechanisms go up and people refuse to listen, because they can't handle feeling "wrong" or "judged", so they just carry on as ever.

Its obviously a combination of all these factors, but ultimately comes down to very very bad parenting.

The reasons are probably varied

1) people not spending enough quality time with their children
2) people not spending enough time outdoors with kids
3) computer addiction
4) selfish parents who had trophy kids but forget they had to bring them up to
5) ignorance to basic nutrition
6) tv over hyping the risk of children being attacked. yes theres a risk , but keep adults at hand when outdoors
7) benefit scrouncgers who make a career out of knocking out kids to gain endless freebees, in some cases, free house, free heating , free improvements, free prescriptions, free glasses, free dentistry oh and a massive tax free disposable income runnings to £3000 a month (way more than the average working person)
8) the collapse of fatherhood. in my experience dads spend more time playing with kids outdoors. no dad. less playing outdoors.
9) agree the factor 50 suncream is over fussy parenting
10) a general numbing of human compassion with violence everywhere and less human interaction due to technology. compassion is learned not taught

etc

Modern life is more paranoid that's true, we are germ/stranger/danger/sun/fat phobic.
It's the hidden transfats and sugar in food that harm kids too, you just have no idea what you're eating these days.
There needs to be more transparency on food labelling.

yes good call. were enslaved to these retail behemoths yet they've been selling us bute stained horse burgers for years....and no one has carried the can and the story seems to have died away? where are the enormous fines, the prison sentences? where is the responsibility and accountability? meanwhile the little man gets hammered

There was nothing done really following the BSE crisis caused who knows how many to be infected with CJD.
There are no safeguards or food standards now, it's all about the money.
Parents are under pressure to work longer for less money due to the stranglehold the government have to ensure they wring as much as they can out of workers/consumers.
If mum and dad work shifts/weekends when is there time for the children/family to be outside?
This isn't a problem which only affects the poor or lone parents, that just seems to be the goto response now for most.

I agree, there's a huge amount of sugar in some products that you wouldn't even think had ANY sugar in them... and sugar is the biggest cause of obesity in the UK. In the US it's a combination of sugar (mainly high fructose corn syrup), hydrogenated fats, and various food additives that are BANNED across most of the world :shocked:.

I recently saw a comparison page showing some well known branded products, with a side-by-side ingredient list of the UK and US... with additives that are banned in Europe highlighted in red on the US versions. It was just shocking. Some products contained as many as 20 "extra" ingredients in the US... and the one that really got me was... McDonalds chips! In the US, they're full of sugar (wtf??) and also something called an "anti-foaming agent". I don't even want to know.

Anyway, either way, the best way to avoid "hidden" crap in packaged food is to simply avoid it altogether and cook from raw ingredients wherever possible. We switched to a completely "ingredient-based" shopping list about 18 months ago (although we mainly cooked properly before that, anyway) and it's good to be able to say you know more or less exactly what's in food.

The problems, though;

- Our weekly budget (for 2 adults, and 2 young children) went from <£60 a week to approx. £85 a week. Pre-packed food is cheaper, no matter what people like Jamie Oliver want you to believe when trying to convince people to eat healthily. Good quality, fresh food costs.

- Both of us were cooking at a young age... I had the odd "benefit" of having a mother who was great when I was young and taught me all sorts of things with cooking, and then went off the rails when I was around 10, so at that point I was cooking for myself a lot. My partner used to cook with her grandmother a lot.

A lot of parents these days simply don't have the necessary skills to cook from scratch, they were never taught them.

I can believe, have you seen the Micheal Moore book 'Fast Food Nation?
That's scary!... It's about the expansion of the fast food industry in the US, we will no doubt go the same way, in any one day I get 2-3 pizza/curry leaflets and greggs mc Ds and nandos are on every high street.
Convenience/microwavable food has exploded in the last 15yrs or so, if I can't have it in 5-8 mins forget it! :laugh:
The product placements in programming means advertising is creeping into your subconscious even as you watch the soaps now. Busy parents may be getting lazy or time constraints may force a quicker meal. Is it just because the packaging looks so appealing or
The slogans used? We're being bombarded by mixed messages amd it is more than a little confusing.
I'm on a bit of a rampage against the tinned/packet/ready meals at the moment too. One of the best tips I got was to freeze herbs in butter and to used dried beans and pulses and soak what I needed overnight.
I buy whatever meat is on offer at the best price and in season veg to help keep costs down too.
One plus is knowing there's no VAT on fresh food, even though the price for veg at supermarkets has gone through the roof, local markets are much cheaper.

good post. the amount of leaflets is staggering
I wouldn't give microwaves food to my pets, disgusting and total rip offs too

My family never owned a microwave when I was growing up... I remember going to a school friend's house when I was around 8 or 9, who (I can see retrospectively) was from a very poor family... and his mum made us "dinner"... by laying out unheated sausage rolls, microchips and beans all on a dinner plate and blitzing them in a microwave ... urgh. I remember it so clearly because it was utterly foul. I now realise that the poor boy was eating like that every night... he was painfully skinny and his teeth were awful too.

Personally, I've not had a microwave in my house since I was a student at all, let alone for pre-packed microwave meals, of which I have only experienced one. My dad ate "microwave food" for about a year after my parents got divorced around 10 years ago. I had one at his house. NEVER AGAIN. You're right; the stuff smells like dog food, but isn't even fit for a dog. The thought of children being raised on this stuff is depressing.

I got rid of mine 2yrs ago as it really just became an ugly kitchen ornament, my daughter would occasionally warm milk in it but I got paranoid about 'nuking' the goodness out of it. :laugh:

Microwaves are horrible,they seem to dry food out and only seem good for warming food imo.

Isn't that what they're supposed to do - warm stuff up?

You can cook stuff in them as well. i only ever use mine for microwave popcorn though

Some people cook in them from scratch,I have never succeeded at that,I tried once and things like potatoes etc took forever,but according to the instructions you can cook almost anything in them,I much prefer the halogen cookers.

I remember when I got to uni and needed to defrost some mince, and it had cooked half of it. Absolutely disgusting.

You're supposed to select the defrost option though when you're defrosting stuff

Thanks Gordon Ramsey. I did, but even on defrost setting it started to brown/grey. Amirite ladies?

bet you didn't :idc:

Microwaves are good to start off jacket potatoes or home made wedges, Uncle Ben's rice and.........erm....that's about it.

I've done that aswell,they do have a defrost button ,but I never used it,couldn't be bothered:hugesmile:so I guess it's my own fault.

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recip...0000001700453/

In the Microwave
Bottom line: This method is fast. You can thaw a couple of lamb chops in less than five minutes flat.
Bear in mind: Because the defrost setting on a microwave starts the cooking process (raising temperatures to bacteria-friendly levels), it's essential that you go on to cook the food immediately.

http://mattsko.files.wordpress.com/2...urtsey-gif.gif

You're not really helping me out here Kaz. I did use the defrost button, and it started cooking it as well.

I believe kazanne tbh jesus

rking parents are under more pressure, those milking benefits and avoiding more and under zero pressure