UK Family Snack Challenge - How should I respond?

(Rob) #1

So, our daughter (aged 10) came out of her primary school last week with the following sheet in her hand after being given it to take home and act upon…

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We talked over a few of the things on the way home in the car and when I tried to argue that fat wasn’t actually bad for you and that fruit was full of sugar which was actually bad for you, I learned quickly that it’s not easy to reason with a 10 year old when they have a carbohydrate dependency and have been brainwashed by their school staff.

Although it’s supposed to go on the fridge door, I did take a small victory in making it “disappear” when we got home :wink:

So, my question is, when/if your child came home with, what we now to be poor dietary advice, what would you do?

I have a few ideas myself, but very interested to see what everyone else thinks.

(Karen) #2

I’d focus on the benefits of green above ground veggies, and berries as the best choices and why. :grinning:

K

(Hala) #3

Moving to U.K. Soon I’ll be part of this family :flushed:

(Vincent Hall) #4

Wait till they get to teenager years, real difficult to get healthy eating across especially with all other family members carb dependent.
I just try to show by example now, they know my thoughts on excess sugar, the UK is starting to come round and wake up to excessive sugar in food stuffs and pre packed junk. But I’m afraid it’s a hard uphill battle to wean them from the brainwashed way of eating we’ve been taught about the last 60 years.
My father in law can’t believe I can survive without eating breakfast, or high carb food stuffs, I don’t bother to mention the 48hr fasts I do on occasion.
\v/

(Cristian Lopez) #5

Keto pros could do this though?

day 1 : uh avocado is a fruit
day 2: Celery and walden farms(No fat tho)
day 3: quest bar and pork rinds
day 4: my camera isnt working…
day 5:Water and a few berrys
day 6: Celery,radishes,spinach,a few black and rasberrys
day 7:OK,How about we eat LCHF and dont eat snacks based off a retarded chart
DONE!

(Rob) #6

Thanks Karen, both excellent suggestions.

(Rob) #7

As long as you ignore the UK dietary guidelines and eat Real Food you’ll be fine.

(Rob) #8

Thanks Vincent.

Yeah, but hopefully by then i’ll have 6 pack abs and they’ll see the sense in LCHF by my example.

I am tempted to get in touch with the school headmistress at some point, just to see if they are even aware of things like insulin resistance and low carb ketogenic ways of eating. It doesn’t help that the head of the canteen staff is a vegetarian and regularly put Quorn products on the menu!

I think the thing that bugs me the most is that our daughter is really quite overweight and while the suggested snack challenge is reasonable for kids that don’t have a weight issue it’s clearly wrong, based on the science we know, for anyone that is overweight.

(Rob) #9

All good suggestions and I really appreciate the perspective from a kid. You are certainly mature beyond your years when it comes to understanding the LCHF way of eating.

It doesn’t help that she is a picky eater, so although I love the suggestion of an avocado I can just imagine the face when asked to try a bit :rofl:

She is right there with the pork scratchings (as we call them in the UK) and loves them, though I feel they would do more harm than good in the presence of other insuliogenic foods.

(Dan Dan) #10

Chocolate Avocado Pudding Recipe

flesh of 2 ripe avocados (240g) (chilled)
1/2 cup cocoa powder.
1/4 cup HWC
1 tsp pure vanilla extract.
1/8 tsp salt.
2-6 tbsp sweetener of choice

combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor until completely smooth.

add more HWC to make a smoothie

(Rob) #11

Thanks Dan,

Worth a try… She definitely loves chocolate!

(GINA ) #12

I think you can make that work. Focus on the options that that make sense.

The point of the exercise isn’t to push this plan over keto. The point is to push fruits and vegetables over packaged junk. Myself, I don’t think the average kid will be hurt by an apple anyway. The “packaged snack” day says to have no more than two. Zero is no more than two.

(Georgia) #13

So apparently I am morally bankrupt! Does she have to bring the chart back to school? I’d just tick the boxes and be done with it. There’s a “health and fitness” program at work and last month they had a challenge to reach for fruit first when snacking. For the length of the challenge I ticked the box everyday and I don’t even eat berries!

(Rob) #14

That’s a step in the right direction.

Zero snacks would not be an option for our kids, they come home from school on empty after eating carbs all day and just want more… they actually feel entitled to snacks like it’s something they have to have in their diet to keep going through the day. God knows I have tried with my wife, but she won’t budge on food and doesn’t see what harm she is doing to herself and the kids. The kids won’t take notice of me while their mum still buys them carbage as she’s effectively sanctioning it as acceptable to put in their mouths. I’m just trying to stick to my principles and KCKO in the face of adversity and lead by example.

I think that was the general idea, but I don’t think the diet police are going to come and lock us up if she doesn’t take it back.

Well that’s definitely an option. I’d not considered that before you said it, but the thought is appealing!

(Olivia) #15

I don’t think it’s bad. It seems they want to replace processed food with healthy real-food alternatives. It even says on day 7 “How about replacing your usual snack with a less sugary one?” How is that bad? Raw-milk cheese would be a good candidate.
Also, it’s perfectly fine for most people (even the overweight ones) to eat fruit. Especially children are metabolically flexible. LCHF is not a prerequisite for a healthy life and it’s not optimal for everyone.

(Rob) #16

On that point I agree.

While it might not be the case for everyone, on that point, from my own experience, I would disagree. In the early 2000’s when the 5 a day campaign was in full swing I took it to heart and ate 5 fruits every day. The net result was NAFLD and overweight from the amount of fructose I was consuming. Thanks for that!! That took a few years to correct using a standard diet, though I suspect it would have been a lot quicker on a LCHF diet. Knowing what I know now, I would suggest that fruits be put into the same category as snacks and should be limited to up to 2 a day max. I wouldn’t dispute that their nutritional benefits are perhaps more necessary in a carb-rich diet due to the high oxidative stress the body can be put under, but they are not without their own downsides. I have not had any fruit for 5 months now and feel just as good if not better than when I had it in my diet.

I am also concerned about the “Say no to reds” message. While a lot of high sugar products will be labelled as such, products which are high in fat, such as meats will also share the same red labelling. It appears to reflect the conflict between fat and sugar which has resulted in a “sitting on the fence” stance from the authority responsible for labelling. Knowing what we now know about the benefits of eating quality fats in our diet and greatly reducing carbohydrate, I for one would welcome a change to that labelling scheme to make it reflect current dietary science or eliminate it altogether an let consumers make their own choices again.

(Olivia) #17

It depends on whether you are adding fruit and veg on top of your standard diet or replacing unhealthy biscuits and chocolate snacks and pasta at dinner with fruit and veggies. There is definitely a direct benefit in the latter scenario.

(Ethan) #18

Sadly, I don’t hold my son to the same standards of healthy eating that I keep myself to. Also, while fruits are full of sugar, they are not particularly or necessarily bad for all people. A fit child with no metabolic or inflammatory disorder doesn’t need to be restricted from fruits!

Also, this challenge seems to be focused on having fewer added sugars, which is a HUGE step in getting society healthier. I forget who said it (the rugby coach from Australia maybe?)…but he said that just getting us to half the amount of sugar we eat is the best first step. Anything that helps us do that is a positive thing. This seems positive to me.

However, I do feel that they falsely vilify fats in a hidden way here (red-label items in Day 4). To counter that and still be snarky, I would get a copy of the requirements for red labels and completely deface them, sending back that defaced guideline with my child’s next homework assignment.

(Rob) #19

Completely agree. It was Prof. Peter Bruckner, he’s behind the SugarByHalf campaign in Australia.

In the case of our daughter, she is obese at age 10 and therefore I strongly feel that a standard diet and standard advice for snacking are now no longer appropriate and a corrective, restricted diet should be applied to reverse the metabolic syndrome.

(Ethan) #20

That sounds like a good plan. My son is 6 and at the bottom end of the weight percentiles. He eats tons of carbs though :frowning: