"parent" news and stories

With trans fats in the spotlight most of the time, it is easy to overlook saturated fats, which have long been the nemesis of the health-conscious. They have been linked to atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease and are found in butter, ghee, suet, tallow, lard, coconut oil, cottonseed oil, palm kernel oil, dairy products (esp. high-fat ones like cream and cheese) and in meats.

One other place that saturated fats are found is in parents' diets. A study at the University of Iowa College of Medicine found that adults who live with children (just about all parents) ate more saturated fat than their childfree counterparts. The study looked at adults who lived with children under 17 and those with no children. Those living with kids ate an extra five grams of fat per day, including almost two grams of saturated fat. The extra fat came from snacks, cheese, ice cream, cakes, processed meats and bacon, high-fat and often high-calorie "convenience foods."

The problem, according to the study's lead researcher, is that parents are not influencing their children's eating habits enough and are allowing theirs to be influenced. If parents don't take the time to make dinner for their children, then they aren't going to eat a nutritious dinner themselves. To make up for this, especially when part of a very busy family, researchers recommend keeping healthier snacks (fruit, low fat milk, etc) in the house and fewer high-fat frozen/convenience foods, which will help compensate for less healthy meals.

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All the campaigns to encourage people to eat healthier are having an impact on mothers, but not necessarily in the way that you might expect. Instead of giving up fried foods or other things deemed to be unhealthy completely, some mums are not changing what they feed their kids - they're just lying about it. A new survey, which was sponsored by the British Potato Council, found that as many as 93% of mothers lie from time to time about what they feed their kids, and they mostly spin the tales to their own mothers and other relatives, since they make up the group that is most likely to criticize parenting choices.

The most commonly made claim is that the kids are not allowed to eat fried foods, followed by telling people that their children "eat mostly fresh food at home." Other untruths include assertions that the kids are only allowed candy at weekends, are never fed frozen food and get all the required servings of fruits and veggies every day.

Some are confused as to what foods are healthy, or simply give up due to lack of time or energy, opting for a TV dinner instead of frozen fish sticks with some fresh veggies. Fortunately, the kids aren't as confused as the parents, so it is possible that the "little white lies" won't be necessary any more. The study also showed that 58% of kids would question their parents about whether given foods were healthy or not, demonstrating that they are becoming more aware of healthy eating issues at a young age and will hopefully want to make better food choices as a result.

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What would you do if your child were punished because you did not pack a lunch that met the schools' guidelines?

In Kent, England, a 10-year old boy was made to leave the lunchroom and eat outside under supervision because his lunch contained "one more snack than allowed". At Lunsford Primary School, a lunch is only permitted to contain two snacks (the type and quantity of other food items was not specified) and young Ryan Stupples's lunch had cheese biscuits, a cake and a fromage frais yogurt. We can assume that the school felt that the contents of Ryan's lunch would have a negative impact on the eating habits of the other children, or else they would not have sent him outside to eat. "Ryan said he...felt upset and frightened and feared he was 'going to be suspended'."

The school defended the decision to remove the child from the lunchroom, stating that they had given the father a warning about packing appropriate lunches.

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As the old adage goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. The same sentiment holds true for kids, who can be quite stubborn where food is concerned. At home, parents can monitor what their child is - and is not - eating to make sure they learn to make healthy choices. Now that the school year has started, however, ensuring that the kids get a healthy lunch can be harder.

One thing you can do is, as we have mentioned before, get your child involved in preparing the lunch. S/he can pick out the fruits and snacks that look the tastiest from the healthy foods you have available (aiming for fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean protein most of the time, of course). If it is hard to get your child going in the morning, however, you might not have time for this bonding activity. So, other tips include:

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Lunch is often overlooked by busy, working adults, but school-age kids have time in their day set aside to make sure they eat. Sometimes they might buy lunch, but the best lunch is always going to be a homemade one. Making lunches day in and day out can be challenging, especially if you don't want to make the exact same thing over and over again. Most cookbooks are not set up to offer recipes that would be appropriate for school lunches, though they have plenty of lunch recipes. These books are, on the other hand, geared only towards brown bag lunches are a great way to get some ideas - for your own lunches, as well as for kids.

Brown Bag Lunch Cookbook is packed with healthy recipes that can be prepared in advance with easy to find ingredients and minimal fuss. It's as good for kids as it is for working adults.

Brown Bag Success has lots of menus to help you plan and creative ideas to put twists onto old favorites to make them more appealing and add some variety to lunch.