Welcome to “FitnessMantra Weekend”, your once-a-week health news update. As always you can also stay updated with the latest in fitness news by subscribing separately to the Fitness Mantra del.icio.us feed.
Well, it’s finally happened. Fast food is now so entrenched in the daily diets of millions of youngsters, that the BBC reports that children no longer consider it a special treat that should be eaten rarely. The research was done by the British Heart Foundation:
A poll of 500 youngsters also found that 82% do not think of crisps as anything special. More than half do not consider sweets a treat.
Although advertising unhealthy foods to youngsters is already under strict scrutiny in the United Kingdom with many restrictions in place regarding the time and nature of these ads, fast foods are still becoming what is increasingly considered “normal food”.
Here are a few suggestions to make sure this is not happening in your household:
- Keep the junk out: Having chips, cookies and ice-cream always available at home makes them look like natural foods to the impressionable minds of children.
- Use the right words: “Fast-food”, “Unhealthy”, “Treat” … whatever words you use to describe undesirable elements in your daily diet, make sure the message conveyed to your kids is clear and consistent: “Don’t expect to have these foods everyday. They are unhealthy. We consider them treats for special occasions.”
- Make it special:: I always tell my friends that when our family eats ice-cream, we know we ate ice-cream. I mean, it’s not a sad little scoop from a week-old bucket of ice-cream in the freezer. I am talking about freshly-made shakes, splits and sundaes that we reserve for special occasions. Making it special is not only just a healthier way to enjoy it, but somehow, the rarity seems to increase the pleasure one derives from it as well. (If you could just have ice-cream anytime you wanted from the freezer, it’s not going to be so special anymore, will it? Just like for the kids in the U.K. study, it’ll become “normal”)
What other tips do you have to make sure your kids are not making fast-food and other junk foods part of their normal food? Ponder on that while you give the week’s top health and fitness stories a once-over:
- Finding smart buys at the health food store: The options are amazing: low-fat, creamy Greek-style yogurt made from sheep’s or goat’s milk; kefir and other products with friendly bacteria that improve digestive health and boost immunity;
- Poor diets ‘kill 3.5m children’: A third of child deaths globally are caused by poor nutrition, experts warn.
- Strut your stuff: 7 moves for runway legs: Yes, even the hot models hate lunges but the truth is they work — and they work well!
- Doctors alone can’t solve kids’ weight problems: Weight is a very complex issue, and overzealous efforts to control it can lead to eating disorders, self-image problems, and ultimately, ineffective results.
- After 30 Years, Glycemic Index Still Fights for Acceptance: The glycemic index tries to gauge how much your blood sugar is likely to rise after eating a particular food. The higher GI score of a food, the more it raises blood sugar
- Mediterranean diet wards off asthma: Children of women who eat a Mediterranean diet rich in fruits and vegetables while pregnant are far less likely to develop asthma or allergies later in life
- Crisps ‘not a treat’ for children: Children’s diets are now so poor that more than two-thirds of them do not think fast food is a treat
- Indians Trade Health for Jobs: “After working, they party for the rest of the time . . . have bad diet, excessive smoking and drinking [...] We don’t want these young people to burn out.”
- Family meals curb girls’ eating disorder risk: Sitting down for regular family meals may protect teen girls from developing eating disorders
- Shaping up in ‘08? Keep it simple, cheap: If you’ve resolved to make ‘08 the year you finally get in shape, you don’t need overpriced gym memberships and overhyped fitness gadgets to reach your goal. Just get moving.
- Third of adults ‘always dieting’: One in three adults in the UK is now on a permanent diet, a survey suggests.
- Michael Pollan’s manifesto on eating well: “the genuinely heart-healthy whole foods in the produce section, lacking the financial and political clout of the packaged goods a few aisles over, are mute.”
Get the best health and fitness stories of the week in your RSS inbox.
Have a great weekend!
