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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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 Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 11:31 pm Post subject: Children say no to free fruit |
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"We have heard stories for years of kids forlornly wandering around the playground with a bucket of fruit, trying to dispose of it," said Fergus Lowe, professor of psychology, who runs the Food and Activity Research Unit at Bangor University.
The scheme was launched at an initial cost of �42m and has since been given a further �77m by the Department of Health. Every child aged four to six was to receive a piece of fruit or vegetable every day at school. It was, says the evaluation study published today in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, "the largest scale intervention in English children's diet since the introduction of free school milk in 1946".
Such was the enthusiasm for getting children to eat more fruit and vegetables, which is proven to help reduce cancer and cardiovascular disease in later life, that little was done in the way of research or pilot studies before the rollout across the UK. The school fruit scheme was seen as a simple way of increasing the intake among children - statistics show that one in five eat no fruit while three in five eat no green leafy vegetables.
But today's study of 3,703 children in the north of England aged four to six, who were given free fruit between February and December 2004, found that by the end of the period their diet was unchanged. |
For full account click here
As the mother of a little boy, who will not eat even yummy fruit like peaches or strawberries, I find this rather depressing...  |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 12:11 am Post subject: |
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| Yeah we used to toss the fruits our moms put in our lunches. Fruit and veggies suck. |
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Alyallen
Joined: 29 Mar 2004
Location: The 4th Greatest Place on Earth = Jeonju!!!
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| Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 1:49 am Post subject: |
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| mindmetoo wrote: |
| Yeah we used to toss the fruits our moms put in our lunches. Fruit and veggies suck. |
I was the total opposite. I loved fruits and juice. I had to dilute kool aid and soda because I thought it was too sweet. But then again, I loved liver as a kid too....
I'm weird  |
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stevemcgarrett
Joined: 24 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 6:49 am Post subject: |
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This is what happens in Western societies where the child's feelings are considered to be more important than their health. When I was growing up in the 1960's we were expected to eat everything on our plate. And we liked fruit and vegetables.
But too many of today's parents were themselves spoiled children who don't model good eating habits. Americans, Brits, Aussies, and Canucks are among the biggest offenders surveys have found.
Sad commentary on parenting skills today. |
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flakfizer
Joined: 12 Nov 2004
Location: scaling the Cliffs of Insanity with a frayed rope.
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| Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 3:01 pm Post subject: |
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| It's true people often need to learn to like some of those healthy fruits and veggies (especially the latter). You can't let kids choose their own meals. Remember that Bill Cosby routine where his kids asked for chocolate cake for breakfast? These are the sort of choices kids will make until they have been taught how to like good foods, or at least taught about nutrition. I wonder how many of the kids who don't eat their veggies actually see their parents eating and enjoying veggies. My little boy tends to like anything he sees daddy or mommy eat. When he tried broccoli, he didn't like it. When he saw us eating it, he decided to like it, too. I did the same with V8 when I was a lad. My dad drank it, so I made myself drink it till I liked it. Now I love that stuff. |
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crusher_of_heads
Joined: 23 Feb 2007
Location: kimbop and kimchi for kimberly!!!!
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| Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2007 11:21 am Post subject: |
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Because of fast food and single parent families [that's just the way it is, no social commentary] and the current western generation children not expected to live as long as their parents, children should be encouraged not to eat everything on their plate-anorexics and bulimia sufferers excepted.
As far as getting children to eat all their greens, good luck. |
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tomato
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: I get so little foreign language experience, I must be in Koreatown, Los Angeles.
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| Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2007 3:05 pm Post subject: |
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I used to work in a day care center where one of the children devoured the most nutritious--and usually least appetizing--item on the menu.
One day, we served broccoli, and she nearly cleaned us out.
I asked the child's mother what her secret was.
She told me that when the child was a baby, she refused to buy baby food at the supermarket because of the sugar which was added, and instead made baby food at home with the blender. |
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flakfizer
Joined: 12 Nov 2004
Location: scaling the Cliffs of Insanity with a frayed rope.
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| Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2007 4:26 pm Post subject: |
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| tomato wrote: |
I used to work in a day care center where one of the children devoured the most nutritious--and usually least appetizing--item on the menu.
One day, we served broccoli, and she nearly cleaned us out.
I asked the child's mother what her secret was.
She told me that when the child was a baby, she refused to buy baby food at the supermarket because of the sugar which was added, and instead made baby food at home with the blender. |
That's a great idea because baby food is also insanely expensive. |
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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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| Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 6:23 am Post subject: |
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| flakfizer wrote: |
| IYou can't let kids choose their own meals. |
An expert agrees with you.
| Quote: |
| Anita Bean, a nutritionist and author of Healthy Eating For Kids said that parents should revert to methods of the past: 'A common mistake for parents is to give the child too much choice [over food]. The old-fashioned rule of just eating what was put in front of you seems to have waned. The children shouldn't get into the habit of rejecting food, which gives them power and control. Don't let them demand food.' |
Official: obesity risk to half of all children
I'm really struggling with all this. I used to have my little boy eating brocoli, but because my son began to spend so much time with my mum and his dad, I seem to be losing the fight. He knows he can get from them what he can't get from me - biscuits, sweets etc.  |
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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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| Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 6:37 am Post subject: |
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| Did bigbird just agree with SteveM? |
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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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| Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 7:16 am Post subject: |
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| BJWD wrote: |
| Did bigbird just agree with SteveM? |
It wouldn't be the first time, but I'll try to limit it in future to something like once a month.  |
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OneWayTraffic
Joined: 14 Mar 2005
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| Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 7:25 am Post subject: |
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Not all foods that are 'good' are suitable for children IIRC. Sometimes tastes change as children grow older. I remember hating a lot of stuff that I like now. I read somewhere a long time ago that some veggies aren't necessarily good for children as they haven't developed the ability to deal with some of the natural chemicals in certain greens.
Of course giving your child anything they want is a recipe for disaster, but trying to force feed them doesn't always work either. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 3:34 pm Post subject: |
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Fruit sucks. Remember how pissed off you were when you got some do-gooder on Halloween who gave you a fraken apple instead of chocolate bar? I mean Jesus rogering a leather bear, what would it take for that stupid woman to dip the apple in some caramel? But no. Anyway, screw the apple. You'd just wheel at the dirt skank's window.
I got no problems with these kids. Carry on, boys! |
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stevemcgarrett
Joined: 24 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 6:32 pm Post subject: |
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tomato wrote:
| Quote: |
I used to work in a day care center where one of the children devoured the most nutritious--and usually least appetizing--item on the menu.
One day, we served broccoli, and she nearly cleaned us out.
I asked the child's mother what her secret was.
She told me that when the child was a baby, she refused to buy baby food at the supermarket because of the sugar which was added, and instead made baby food at home with the blender. |
Yep. This has been reported in the mass media too. It is the most sensible thing one can do. Sugar--and worse yet--high fructose corn syrup--are destroying the health of far too many children these days. Revealingly, in the 1950s and 1960s the number of Gerber's baby food flavors was limited as was the sugar. But in keeping with the times, two decades later they began to produce baby food with more sugar, and with too many sweet choices.
But the most telling aspect of this nutrition crisis, in my view, is that parents in the past quarter century in the West have gotten away from the dictum "Eat everything on your plate." My sister hated vegetables and often sat for an hour or more pouting at the table until she ate them because she didn't want to sit there alone.
It's part and parcel of this trend to indulge children, even in higher income brackets in developing countries like China in a way that will not serve them well in adulthood.
BJWD:
The Mod Team has reset Big Bird's monthly quota for concurring with me from once to thrice. It's a progressive trend on these boards, methinks. |
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