FOOD AND FAT KIDS

FOOD FOR FAT KIDS.

Somehow the conversation got around to food and school lunches.

“I give my kids pita bread and filled with lettuce, grated carrot, meat, tomato and things, like McDonalds make those wrap-a-rounds. Tom had his lunch stolen twice last week. It’s the same with Marie.”

I asked why parents don’t know about this.

“They do. The school has a healthy food policy but parents are too lazy to take the time to do something different, even with all the kitchen gadgets we have now. It’s so easy to throw in a sugary candy bar and a couple of sandwiches of pre cut cheese and sausage meat.”

There is one eight year old there who is so fat that he swings his legs out to walk, half turning as he goes. He is from a split family and his father has him from Sunday to Wednesday then mother has him from Wednesday till Saturday.

His mother gives him reasonably good food but dad’s a baker and fills him with cream buns, jam tarts, cake and dohnuts. He comes to school each day with a bag of the stuff for the other kids so he doesn’t get called the usual names associated with his size.”

“One girl asked Marie why she ate grass. Marie said it was lettuce. The girl said they throw that stuff away. She didn’t have the faintest idea what sprouts were.

“I give them frozen fruit salad tubs. It’s thawed by lunch time. I suppose it looks like something from a shop so other kids want it. It doesn’t enter their heads that they can make it at home.”

I was really as astonished as Chef Jamie Oliver when he discovered English kids didn’t know what a carrot or stick of celery was. When they can’t tell a cucumber from a tomato what hope is there? Where do they think meat comes from? Do they know we have to kill a cow to have a steak?

Have they ever thought you could grow tomatoes, not have to rely on a shop to provide them?

There is a multi billion dollar move to control the worlds’ food supply. It’s bound to succeed if this state of ignorance exists among the youth of the planet. Already we have seedless fruit so we can’t plant more and huge companies “own” varieties of genetically modified wheat that can only be bought from them.

The idea that man can "control nature" is born of ignorance and arrogance. Look at the dramatic rise in cancers since the chemicalisation of agriculture after WWII. The benefits are there, yes, but at a price.

Unless we act soon all our food will come from conglomerates that will demand their own price for what we can now grow for ourselves.

Teach children about growing food. It tastes so much better and it’s safe. Steer them away from the 'fast food' junk that masquerades as real food. Analyse the advertising, see the lies.

If children are not taught about food and what affect various foods have on the body what hope is there for a full life? Beside their life expectancy being shortened their lifestyle is limited immensely.

It is not a matter of not being able to run anywhere; it’s a matter of being able to get out of a lounge chair; of taking ten minutes to do something that should only take one minute. It’s missing out on so many of life’s joys that enrich us.

One day they’ll have a sex life (or part of one; there is a physical aspect here.) and pass on their body metabolism and bad habits to another generation to spread ruin in more lives.

There are three main body types http://bodybuildingpro.com/bodytypeinformation.html

The endomorphs are the heavy boned/bodied people that should not be confused with neglectfully obese people, just like ectomorphs should not be confused with bulimia.

Bulimia seems to be more of a neurological problem but while a psychological problem does exist with compulsive eating it is none the less an ignorance problem as well. The problem compounds itself by making exercise harder to do, the more it is needed.

If children don’t get on that slippery slide at the beginning it will save them so much pain in the future.

What about how they will think of you? Your neglect led them down this path when they didn’t know better. Don’t you think they will blame you?

If you are not teaching your child the right way to eat, what to eat and when to eat you are committing a moral crime against that child.

They have to know that quantity does not equal quality and that many foods actually do harm to the body. Cola is bad for children. Unsweetened fruit juice is good. You should know what is what.

Another thing a lot of adults should correct is the habit of shoveling food into the mouth and swallowing it. Stop doing that and teach children that in order for food to be properly digested it needs to be mixed with a good amount of saliva from the mouth. The way to get saliva working for you is by chewing food. Make a joy out of getting all the tastes out of what you put into your mouth. Smaller portions chewed into nothingness give more to the body than large chunks swallowed and eliminated from your system in the toilet.

If it doesn’t get stored as fat it ends up being flushed. Either way is bad and a senseless waste.

The French have the right idea with the one hour lunch accompanied by a light red wine and good conversation. The body has time to assimilate the food. It’s not grabbing a hot dog while walking down a crowded street.

Kids grow so quickly and so their diet should change rapidly too. You don’t keep feeding them mush. As soon as they show the ability to grasp things is when to start introducing more complex foods. Get them on to more adult food as soon as their tastes evolve. It is astonishing how they will accept a Mediterranean salad of marinated meat chunks and olives with chunky cheese bits, colorful capsicum and rocket leaves if it looks good and Mum and Dad eat it.

Even left-overs can be represented in those plastic tubs and the tubs reused to cut back on useless landfill.

Presentation is essential and takes so little time. Any good cook will tell you that people eat with their eyes before their mouth. If it looks appetizing it must be good. If school food looks like it came from a shop it will be more readily accepted. If it is colorful or exotic looking it will be wanted.

Presentation takes a little thought at the beginning until you get into the swing of it. Then it’s a no effort habit.

See if you can influence the school shop to introduce healthier, better presented lunches and less of the candy bar, cola drinks. If you could put bubbles into fruit juice you’d make a fortune. Anybody want to get rich?

We are looking at an increasingly obese population brought about by the age of plenty and ignorance of how, when and what to eat. Couple this with sedentary lifestyles of watching sport instead of participating, being passively entertained by TV where no muscles are used or PC games where the only muscles used are in the hands. How can those possibly lead to healthy children?

Just a word about when to eat; we eat to provide material to build the body and provide energy to keep it doing tasks. As adults we need less to build the already built body and primarily need food for our energy requirements. More than that is waste.

With children they need the body building aspect and the energy for their lifestyle. A keen sportsman needs more than the couch potato. Eat according to how the food will be used, not because it is something to do.

At night we do not need energy so do not have a large meal. You’re going to sit and sleep, so don’t eat.

In the morning you are facing a day of activity so eat a good breakfast and top it up during the day according to the amount of energy you are using. Do not eat just to eat.

Topics we could discuss here involve the vegetarian way of life, calorie intake, good and bad fats, kosher food and religious taboos.

If you want to get into the debate about breast feeding and bottle feeding, just open the discussion by making a comment. Click at the bottom of this issue.

Email me at iqchildren@gmail.com

Take care,

Jay Ross.