Food and Parenting

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Replies

  • DawnieB1977
    DawnieB1977 Posts: 4,248 Member
    I'm not a parent and have no strong opinions on this tbh - but when I am around my close friends who have young children, those kids will seriously tear down a raw veggie platter like nobody's business...3 yr old twins scarfing broccoli & carrots for days. Not even kidding. Those same kids get *OCCASIONAL* fast food and Oreo truffles and ice cream and fruit snacks. Much like with adults, moderation works.

    Yes. Moderation, same as with us. My 3 year old will snack on fruit, and if given the choice between pizza and stir fry, she will choose stir fry. My children can also take or leave food. They will stop when they're full. It doesn't matter what the food is. If they've got chocolate and they're full, they will stop.

    I prefer them not to have chocolate often, because it makes them go crazy. It makes me laugh when parents complain about schools not allowing kids to have chocolate and sweets in their packed lunches (we have a healthy schools policy in England). I wouldn't like to teach a class full of hyper 5 years olds who'd just eaten chocolate and haribo for lunch. My kids don't go crazy like that when they eat my homemade cake!
  • aakaakaak
    aakaakaak Posts: 1,240 Member
    Sarauk2sf wrote: »
    aakaakaak wrote: »
    Okay piling on for cookies...
    "If they want a cookie I will make them from stratch instead of buying the ones that come in a box is all I am saying."

    Chocolate Chip Cookie
    1 cup butter, softened - Separated, Enzyme added, pasteurized, aged, washed, salted
    1 cup white sugar - Really? What isn't done to process white sugar?
    1 cup packed brown sugar - white sugar with molasses...which is also a process
    2 eggs - U.S. eggs are chemically washed
    2 teaspoons vanilla extract - You make a chemical tincture of vanilla in pure alcohol
    3 cups all-purpose flour - Yep, pure bleached flour. Nope, no chemicals here.
    1 teaspoon baking soda - You mean NaHCO3? (Imagine the 3 is dropped)
    2 teaspoons hot water - Tap water frequently has fluoride and either chlorine or chloramine.
    1/2 teaspoon salt - The sea salt purification or salt mine purification process?
    2 cups semisweet chocolate chips - First you process the cocoa powder. Then you add the processed fats and sugars to process semi-sweet chocolate chips.
    1 cup chopped walnuts - Soaked, husked, dried and sprayed for pests

    So what part of an unprocessed cookie are you going to feed your kid?


    That is not the recipe I use, I ise this



    http://www.beginwithinnutrition.com/2014/04/07/chickpea-chocolate-chip-cookies-vegan-gluten-free/


    Kids have no idea when they come to my house they are made from chickpeas, and they are normally the first thing to go.

    And all those ingredients are still highly processed:

    1 can (15 oz) chickpeas (or 1.5 cups cooked chickpeas)
    ½ cup all natural creamy peanut butter
    ⅓ cup maple syrup
    1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
    ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
    ¼ teaspoon baking powder
    ¼ teaspoon baking soda
    ½ cup vegan mini-chocolate chips

    oh yes chickpeas are highly processed... not.
    peanut butter is good for you.
    i do not add salt


    1/2 choc chips...you say everything on balance yet you are pulling this recipe apart.

    did i say there was anything wrong with buying packaged? Gluten free biscuits are a rip off thats why we make our own and we have food allergies. I am not paying $5 for 6 biscuits!!!! Thats why we make our own.




    I just...threw up...in my mouth...a little bit.

    Please, for the love of all that's holy to NOT try and shovel that down your kid's throat and pass it off as a cookie. When I was a kid I had an aunt who used to try and do carob cookies and various other "healthy" methods. It was the most disgusting crap ever.
  • scraver2003
    scraver2003 Posts: 526 Member
    Last night, my oldest ate a bowl of vanilla-frosted mini wheats, with (organic) whole milk. That counts as healthy, right? Unprocessed?

    I still want to know what is wrong with gogurts and chicken nuggets?
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    Mr_Knight wrote: »
    Clay Marzo is a professional athlete with ASD. Looks pretty healthy to me...

    marzo.jpg

    He looks fit, but you can't tell health by looking at someone. That's why we have medical tests.
  • bkerr30
    bkerr30 Posts: 131 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    Judging much? I gave veggies to my kids as soon as they started eating normal food. After months and months of them not eating them, I realized that what's good in theory doesn't always work in practice, and started giving them more 'kid' foods (what I guess you call junk).

    Now they have cereal for breakfast (low sugar or not), Gogurt for snacks (what's wrong with that, by the way?), sandwiches and fruit for lunch, little oreos or crackers for snacks (and sometimes a Little Debbie cake, or more fruit), and eat a balanced dinner (some veggies are still a problem, no matter how much I want them to 'love' them). They get fruit snacks once in a while, but I guess that's where I draw the line, as I think they are mostly sugar.

    But it's called balance and moderation. My kids don't have a weight problem... I do. Sure, kids (usually) don't let themselves starve, but you're not the one who has to hear them say 'I'm hungry' over and over again after they refused to eat the veggie snack you gave them.

    But I'm guessing you don't have kids, so I guess it's easy to judge (not that I advocate giving juice or soda to your kids all day or mac'n cheese for lunch every day, mind you, but Gogurts and Little Debbie snacks once in a while are not going to kill them).

    Amen! I appreciate another realistic parent like you! I too, was a "perfect parent" before I had kids! I am a professional chef and there are still some foods I can't get my child to eat! Don't get me wrong, he has a very balanced diet, but yes it contains occasional treats, just like mine does. And no, a granola bar or two isn't going to kill them
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    Last night, my oldest ate a bowl of vanilla-frosted mini wheats, with (organic) whole milk. That counts as healthy, right? Unprocessed?

    I still want to know what is wrong with gogurts and chicken nuggets?

    You know if you freeze gogurts they are far less messy, like gogurt popsicles. I'm sure the simple fact of freezing them and calling them a popsicle makes them even unhealthier and "less real" in OP's mind.

    My kids are weird and also eat frozen peas, still frozen. They like when they have accumulated into big clumps of peas with ice - they call them pea popsicles. By my logic above that's probably unhealthy too...



  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    edited January 2015
    Mr_Knight wrote: »
    Clay Marzo is a professional athlete with ASD. Looks pretty healthy to me...

    marzo.jpg

    He looks fit, but you can't tell health by looking at someone. That's why we have medical tests.

    After your comments regarding autistic children not being healthy, you really need to stop posting in relation to the topic.

  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    Kruggeri wrote: »
    Last night, my oldest ate a bowl of vanilla-frosted mini wheats, with (organic) whole milk. That counts as healthy, right? Unprocessed?

    I still want to know what is wrong with gogurts and chicken nuggets?

    You know if you freeze gogurts they are far less messy, like gogurt popsicles. I'm sure the simple fact of freezing them and calling them a popsicle makes them even unhealthier and "less real" in OP's mind.

    My kids are weird and also eat frozen peas, still frozen. They like when they have accumulated into big clumps of peas with ice - they call them pea popsicles. By my logic above that's probably unhealthy too...



    I still prefer frozen peas to cooked ones.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    Sarauk2sf wrote: »
    Kruggeri wrote: »
    Last night, my oldest ate a bowl of vanilla-frosted mini wheats, with (organic) whole milk. That counts as healthy, right? Unprocessed?

    I still want to know what is wrong with gogurts and chicken nuggets?

    You know if you freeze gogurts they are far less messy, like gogurt popsicles. I'm sure the simple fact of freezing them and calling them a popsicle makes them even unhealthier and "less real" in OP's mind.

    My kids are weird and also eat frozen peas, still frozen. They like when they have accumulated into big clumps of peas with ice - they call them pea popsicles. By my logic above that's probably unhealthy too...



    I still prefer frozen peas to cooked ones.

    I find both of them to be pretty tasteless. It's just funny to me that my kids prefer the bag of freezer burned peas because the clumps are bigger...

  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
    stealthq wrote: »
    Mr_Knight wrote: »
    The other kid maintains a list of four foods that she will actually eat. Currently those are pepperoni pizza, grilled cheese sandwich, Mr. Noodles "soup", and fried egg sandwich. Anything not on the list will not be eaten, and it is not possible to out-patient this kid.

    Are you suggesting that if you didn't provide these 4 foods, this child would not eat anything at home, ever?

    i know a mum whos teen son is severly autistic. he will only eat chicken dippers and ketchup. nothing else at all anywhere passes his lips. his mum has to provide them to his special school and to his respite centre. Hes seen specialists and theyve tried stratagies but other foods really are a no go, he would rather go hungry. some kids and adults really do have severe issues around food

    Seems like this child's issues are more than just with food. I assumed the poster to which I replied was talking about a healthy child.

    It happens with kids that have no other apparent issues other than food. I was one. Went months at one point on just apple juice and chicken nuggets. And before you ask, yes, my parents tried everything they could think of to get me to 1) eat more, because I was already a 'failure to thrive' kid and 2) eat something other than chicken nuggets.

    That includes trying to wait me out, which is a problem when you have a kid that just doesn't really care if they eat, you know? I'm sure I've have eaten something else if I'd gotten to the point where I was literally starving to death, but what decent parent is going to let their kid get to that state? Plus, I'd have been taken away by CPS for neglect (as should happen). Bit of a catch-22.

    The good news is that in a kid that doesn't have altered sensory perception or other outstanding issues, it's usually a temporary phase and the kid grows out of it. I did, though it took me years to not be ridiculously picky.

    I'll have to take your word for it since it's all I have to go on. One must wonder what would have happened if you'd never tasted a chicken nugget.

    Most likely, I'd have fixated on some other texturally-bland and taste-neutral food. Might have been baked chicken breast, that'd always been a staple in our house. That actually would have been worse. Fewer calories in the same volume of food. Less fat, too.
  • I just wanted to say that I agree with op so much.

    I have two kids and one on the way. I like to think that I give them healthy stuff -I mean, I'm sure no one wants to think they give their kid crap lol, but I spend a considerable amount of time on their nutrition. I want them to be healthy and have healthy eating habits and look at me as an example too.

    I have seen moms really concerned about what they're eating, and not care about how they're kids eat. I usually assume that they don't have a healthy diet either but are dieting, so they think they're the only ones that need to eat healthy and don't really consider that it isn't just a weight issue. But I try not to judge other moms, no one likes that lol
  • Laurend224
    Laurend224 Posts: 1,748 Member
    Sarauk2sf wrote: »
    Kruggeri wrote: »
    Last night, my oldest ate a bowl of vanilla-frosted mini wheats, with (organic) whole milk. That counts as healthy, right? Unprocessed?

    I still want to know what is wrong with gogurts and chicken nuggets?

    You know if you freeze gogurts they are far less messy, like gogurt popsicles. I'm sure the simple fact of freezing them and calling them a popsicle makes them even unhealthier and "less real" in OP's mind.

    My kids are weird and also eat frozen peas, still frozen. They like when they have accumulated into big clumps of peas with ice - they call them pea popsicles. By my logic above that's probably unhealthy too...



    I still prefer frozen peas to cooked ones.


    I love frozen peas. They're sweet!
  • La5Vega5Girl
    La5Vega5Girl Posts: 709 Member
    i love going to jason's deli and putting their frozen peas on my salad! soooooooo yummy!
  • cebreisch
    cebreisch Posts: 1,340 Member
    I'm guilty of buying "junk food" for my kids. However, there are also "defined limits". My oldest daughter loves Paradise Bakery chocolate chip cookies. She can have 1 per day. She saves it for her evening snack.

    We keep applesauce, fruit, yogurt, cheese, and other healthy snacks in the house. My youngest daughter (I only have two - the older and the younger - LOL) I swear is going to be a dietician. We came home with spaghetti from Fazoli's one night, and it comes with 2 breadsticks. Megan said, "I'm not eating the breadsticks because they aren't healthy." I explained to her that it's not necessarily that it's unhealthy, but the amount of it may be questionable. It's okay to have a bite or two, but two breadsticks may not be the best choice. And we talk about what other choices could be made instead.

    We do this as a family. It's called responsible parenting. Nobody is immune from wanting to have stuff that is not "food journal friendly", but sometimes you can't hide from it. I don't know if you want to call it moderation or perspective or whatever. It's all about making smarter choices, and realizing what those smarter choices are. Teach the kids early enough about healthier options, about not turning to food to deal with emotions, and about keeping active - that goes a long way.

    However, it's not my job (or anyone else's) to be the food police of the world.
  • veganbettie
    veganbettie Posts: 701 Member
    there is just so much omg in this thread it's unbelievable. well, not really considering it's MFP...but...

    I had no idea that being Autistic meant that you were unhealthy....my word....

    It's really really hard not to judge someone else parenting, and in all reality i don't mind if people judge mine, because i'm doing the best i can....that said...I want my son to have treats. I don't want him to view certain food as bad (for reasons other than ethics...) I want him to grow up with a healthy understanding of what food is, and learn moderation....I didn't. and I got fat, and insecure, and now i can barely eat in front of people.

    Also.....kids will eat, what kids will eat. Their taste buds are super sensitive which is why we have a lot of picky eaters out there. When they don't like something they REALLY don't like it, and to try to force a kid to eat something is wrong, it just is. I remember that....and then i remember promptly puking up my dinner on the table. I didn't like veggies as a child, but i devour them as an adult.

    Personally for me, I give my child access to all the foods, and give him what we are eating, he will take a few bites of something, and then decide if he likes it or not and move on to the next thing. I always make sure there is something on his plate that he will eat, and a few things to try. It's important for them to keep tasting new foods in my opinion. Tastes change obviously. but i won't force feed my kid, i don't want to give him food issues later on, lead by example, eat the foods that you want your kid to eat.

    but for crying out loud man, cookies are freaking vital to childhood!!!!!
  • La5Vega5Girl
    La5Vega5Girl Posts: 709 Member
    there is just so much omg in this thread it's unbelievable. well, not really considering it's MFP...but...

    I had no idea that being Autistic meant that you were unhealthy....my word....

    It's really really hard not to judge someone else parenting, and in all reality i don't mind if people judge mine, because i'm doing the best i can....that said...I want my son to have treats. I don't want him to view certain food as bad (for reasons other than ethics...) I want him to grow up with a healthy understanding of what food is, and learn moderation....I didn't. and I got fat, and insecure, and now i can barely eat in front of people.

    Also.....kids will eat, what kids will eat. Their taste buds are super sensitive which is why we have a lot of picky eaters out there. When they don't like something they REALLY don't like it, and to try to force a kid to eat something is wrong, it just is. I remember that....and then i remember promptly puking up my dinner on the table. I didn't like veggies as a child, but i devour them as an adult.

    Personally for me, I give my child access to all the foods, and give him what we are eating, he will take a few bites of something, and then decide if he likes it or not and move on to the next thing. I always make sure there is something on his plate that he will eat, and a few things to try. It's important for them to keep tasting new foods in my opinion. Tastes change obviously. but i won't force feed my kid, i don't want to give him food issues later on, lead by example, eat the foods that you want your kid to eat.

    but for crying out loud man, cookies are freaking vital to childhood!!!!!

    very well written.

  • crystalnichle
    crystalnichle Posts: 126 Member
    I'm the opposite, I'll splurge and eat crap food myself but my 2 year old son eats very healthy.
  • rbfdac
    rbfdac Posts: 1,057 Member
    If you hadn't told us, it would have been obvious that you have no children. I try very hard to make sure that my kids eat balanced meals, but when your kid will either eat a Vienna sausage or nothing, you'll give them the damn sausage and you'll be happy about it.
  • randomtai
    randomtai Posts: 9,003 Member
    BayBanana wrote: »
    I just wanted to say that I agree with op so much.

    I have two kids and one on the way. I like to think that I give them healthy stuff -I mean, I'm sure no one wants to think they give their kid crap lol, but I spend a considerable amount of time on their nutrition. I want them to be healthy and have healthy eating habits and look at me as an example too.

    I have seen moms really concerned about what they're eating, and not care about how they're kids eat. I usually assume that they don't have a healthy diet either but are dieting, so they think they're the only ones that need to eat healthy and don't really consider that it isn't just a weight issue. But I try not to judge other moms, no one likes that lol

    Mmm hmmm... tell us more about how you are not judging while judging.

    ts6JK.jpg
  • k8blujay2
    k8blujay2 Posts: 4,941 Member
    I hear this so much and it really boggles my mind. When I hear a parent who is trying to have a more active and heathy life say well I buy those special treats for my kids. So it's ok for your children to eat that crap that is so called food and not you? Don't you want your children to grow up and have a healthy relationship with real food? Gogurt is not a food, little debbie cakes are not food, sugary fruit snack are not food. I want my future kids to love eating vegetables and fruits and have a diverse food palate.

    Any thoughts?

    I don't buy those treats just for my kid... I buy them for myself too... why? Because I'm teaching my children to enjoy "treats" in moderation and to not to have an unhealthy relationship with food. My child is just as likely to eat green beans, broccoli, apples, and oranges as she is to gravitate towards fruit snacks and little debbies. We go to a little neighborhood market that sells all kinds of dairy products, produce and meat (we go there multiple times a week for milk)... there are cases of ice cream... where does she go to? Where the apples are... that doesn't mean she doesn't enjoy ice cream... because she does... she is always asking for it from the front counter... but she knows it's a treat... and she is only 3.
  • k8blujay2
    k8blujay2 Posts: 4,941 Member
    It's not food... It's artificial chemicals and highly processed crap that kills, which is why this current generation is said to have a shorter life span than there parents. What I mean by a diverse diet is a diet with real food... fruits, vegetables, etc.

    It's not anymore artificial chemicals and highly processed than anything treat you make in your own home... and no we don't have a shorter life span than our parents.... real food is anything that we can actually eat... "fake food" is what goes into my daughters play kitchen for pretend....

  • shiybaby
    shiybaby Posts: 1 Member
    SideSteel wrote: »
    What differentiates a Quest Bar (something you ate today) from GoGurt?

    Would you let your child eat a Quest Bar or would you be concerned with chemicals?

    Exactly: Maybe she should be more aware of the food in her OWN food:


    Quoted from :http://blog.fooducate.com/2013/12/30/are-quest-bars-really-as-nutritious-as-claimed/
    Quest promotes itself as the “#1 Protein Bar” and at first impression the nutrition numbers look very impressive. Take, for example, the Vanilla Almond Crunch Protein Bar. It’s a 200-calorie bar, but only has half a gram of saturated fat. It’s got 20 grams of protein, which is 40% of the recommended daily intake. The fiber count is super high at 18 grams, almost three fourths of the daily requirement. Most Americans lack woefully in fiber intake; here an individual can erase her deficit with a single bar. Quest sells itself as a low sugar, low carb solution, claiming only 2-6 “net carbs”. Indeed, only 22 grams of carbs, of which 18 are fiber, and just 1 gram of sugars. Amazing.

    But then you take a look at the ingredient list, and the house of cards comes crumbling down. This product has “gamed” the nutrition facts panel by using food-like ingredients to compose the bar. Let’s have a look at the Ingredient list:

    Protein blend (whey protein isolate, milk protein isolate), isomalto-oligosaccharides, almonds, water, natural flavors, sea salt, lo han guo, sucralose.

    First the pros: It is a short list.

    Now for the problems. The protein sources are not something you can make at home or buy from a farmer. Whey protein isolate milk protein isolates are a byproduct of cheese production. Body builders buy them in powdered form to add to food and drink. In some cases, they may cause digestive problems such as bloating, cramps, and gas.

    Next are the isomalto-oligosaccharides (IMO), the source of fiber in the bar. It is a syrupy goop that tastes slightly sweet but is not considered a sugar because it is a long chain molecule. Although it is found naturally in fermented foods, it is much cheaper to manufacture it in factories by applying enzymes to various starch sources. The problem with ingesting 18 grams of this IMO, is that it feeds only a small subset of our gut bacteria.

    A balanced diet with a variety of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains will provide a much better fiber profile for your digestive system. In our book, IMO is a fake fiber. Incidentally, Quest is being sued now, with the plaintiffs claiming that the actual fiber count is lower than stated in the package.

    But we digress.

    Whenever we see natural flavors added to a product, we try to imagine what it would taste like without them. Added flavors are made in labs and serve to mask the lack of flavor of the other ingredients in the product. Ask yourself this – do you need to add natural flavors to food you prepare at home?

    On to sweeteners.

    Lo han guo, also known as monk fruit, is the Chinese equivalent of stevia. Instead of a leaf, this is a fruit. Monk fruit extracts, called mogrosides, can be processed to manufacture a powdered sweetener that is 200 times sweeter than sugar.

    Sucralose is an artificial sweetener that may or may not cause cancer, bowel disease, and DNA alterations in mice. We understand that despite no added sugars, this bar is rather sweet due to the addition of processed and artificial sweeteners.

    Bottom line:

    This product is engineered to taste good and look like a nutrition powerhouse. In fact, it is a highly processed food-like product that we would not eat.

  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    Mr_Knight wrote: »
    Clay Marzo is a professional athlete with ASD. Looks pretty healthy to me...

    marzo.jpg

    He looks fit, but you can't tell health by looking at someone. That's why we have medical tests.

    shovel-digging-hole-for-digg.jpg
  • k8blujay2
    k8blujay2 Posts: 4,941 Member
    shiybaby wrote: »
    SideSteel wrote: »
    What differentiates a Quest Bar (something you ate today) from GoGurt?

    Would you let your child eat a Quest Bar or would you be concerned with chemicals?

    Exactly: Maybe she should be more aware of the food in her OWN food:


    Quoted from :http://blog.fooducate.com/2013/12/30/are-quest-bars-really-as-nutritious-as-claimed/
    Quest promotes itself as the “#1 Protein Bar” and at first impression the nutrition numbers look very impressive. Take, for example, the Vanilla Almond Crunch Protein Bar. It’s a 200-calorie bar, but only has half a gram of saturated fat. It’s got 20 grams of protein, which is 40% of the recommended daily intake. The fiber count is super high at 18 grams, almost three fourths of the daily requirement. Most Americans lack woefully in fiber intake; here an individual can erase her deficit with a single bar. Quest sells itself as a low sugar, low carb solution, claiming only 2-6 “net carbs”. Indeed, only 22 grams of carbs, of which 18 are fiber, and just 1 gram of sugars. Amazing.

    But then you take a look at the ingredient list, and the house of cards comes crumbling down. This product has “gamed” the nutrition facts panel by using food-like ingredients to compose the bar. Let’s have a look at the Ingredient list:

    Protein blend (whey protein isolate, milk protein isolate), isomalto-oligosaccharides, almonds, water, natural flavors, sea salt, lo han guo, sucralose.

    First the pros: It is a short list.

    Now for the problems. The protein sources are not something you can make at home or buy from a farmer. Whey protein isolate milk protein isolates are a byproduct of cheese production. Body builders buy them in powdered form to add to food and drink. In some cases, they may cause digestive problems such as bloating, cramps, and gas.

    Next are the isomalto-oligosaccharides (IMO), the source of fiber in the bar. It is a syrupy goop that tastes slightly sweet but is not considered a sugar because it is a long chain molecule. Although it is found naturally in fermented foods, it is much cheaper to manufacture it in factories by applying enzymes to various starch sources. The problem with ingesting 18 grams of this IMO, is that it feeds only a small subset of our gut bacteria.

    A balanced diet with a variety of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains will provide a much better fiber profile for your digestive system. In our book, IMO is a fake fiber. Incidentally, Quest is being sued now, with the plaintiffs claiming that the actual fiber count is lower than stated in the package.

    But we digress.

    Whenever we see natural flavors added to a product, we try to imagine what it would taste like without them. Added flavors are made in labs and serve to mask the lack of flavor of the other ingredients in the product. Ask yourself this – do you need to add natural flavors to food you prepare at home?

    On to sweeteners.

    Lo han guo, also known as monk fruit, is the Chinese equivalent of stevia. Instead of a leaf, this is a fruit. Monk fruit extracts, called mogrosides, can be processed to manufacture a powdered sweetener that is 200 times sweeter than sugar.

    Sucralose is an artificial sweetener that may or may not cause cancer, bowel disease, and DNA alterations in mice. We understand that despite no added sugars, this bar is rather sweet due to the addition of processed and artificial sweeteners.

    Bottom line:

    This product is engineered to taste good and look like a nutrition powerhouse. In fact, it is a highly processed food-like product that we would not eat.

    If it tastes good and fulfills my nutritional goals... then hell yeah I'm gonna eat it...
  • TheVirgoddess
    TheVirgoddess Posts: 4,535 Member
    I <3 Quest bars.
  • k8blujay2
    k8blujay2 Posts: 4,941 Member
    I <3 Quest bars.

    I would like them better if I didn't have to pay $2+ a bar for them... >:)
  • TheVirgoddess
    TheVirgoddess Posts: 4,535 Member
    k8blujay2 wrote: »
    I <3 Quest bars.

    I would like them better if I didn't have to pay $2+ a bar for them... >:)

    Absolutely true. It stings.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    shiybaby wrote: »
    SideSteel wrote: »
    What differentiates a Quest Bar (something you ate today) from GoGurt?

    Would you let your child eat a Quest Bar or would you be concerned with chemicals?

    Exactly: Maybe she should be more aware of the food in her OWN food:


    Quoted from :http://blog.fooducate.com/2013/12/30/are-quest-bars-really-as-nutritious-as-claimed/
    Quest promotes itself as the “#1 Protein Bar” and at first impression the nutrition numbers look very impressive. Take, for example, the Vanilla Almond Crunch Protein Bar. It’s a 200-calorie bar, but only has half a gram of saturated fat. It’s got 20 grams of protein, which is 40% of the recommended daily intake. The fiber count is super high at 18 grams, almost three fourths of the daily requirement. Most Americans lack woefully in fiber intake; here an individual can erase her deficit with a single bar. Quest sells itself as a low sugar, low carb solution, claiming only 2-6 “net carbs”. Indeed, only 22 grams of carbs, of which 18 are fiber, and just 1 gram of sugars. Amazing.

    But then you take a look at the ingredient list, and the house of cards comes crumbling down. This product has “gamed” the nutrition facts panel by using food-like ingredients to compose the bar. Let’s have a look at the Ingredient list:

    Protein blend (whey protein isolate, milk protein isolate), isomalto-oligosaccharides, almonds, water, natural flavors, sea salt, lo han guo, sucralose.

    First the pros: It is a short list.

    Now for the problems. The protein sources are not something you can make at home or buy from a farmer. Whey protein isolate milk protein isolates are a byproduct of cheese production. Body builders buy them in powdered form to add to food and drink. In some cases, they may cause digestive problems such as bloating, cramps, and gas.

    Next are the isomalto-oligosaccharides (IMO), the source of fiber in the bar. It is a syrupy goop that tastes slightly sweet but is not considered a sugar because it is a long chain molecule. Although it is found naturally in fermented foods, it is much cheaper to manufacture it in factories by applying enzymes to various starch sources. The problem with ingesting 18 grams of this IMO, is that it feeds only a small subset of our gut bacteria.

    A balanced diet with a variety of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains will provide a much better fiber profile for your digestive system. In our book, IMO is a fake fiber. Incidentally, Quest is being sued now, with the plaintiffs claiming that the actual fiber count is lower than stated in the package.

    But we digress.

    Whenever we see natural flavors added to a product, we try to imagine what it would taste like without them. Added flavors are made in labs and serve to mask the lack of flavor of the other ingredients in the product. Ask yourself this – do you need to add natural flavors to food you prepare at home?

    On to sweeteners.

    Lo han guo, also known as monk fruit, is the Chinese equivalent of stevia. Instead of a leaf, this is a fruit. Monk fruit extracts, called mogrosides, can be processed to manufacture a powdered sweetener that is 200 times sweeter than sugar.

    Sucralose is an artificial sweetener that may or may not cause cancer, bowel disease, and DNA alterations in mice. We understand that despite no added sugars, this bar is rather sweet due to the addition of processed and artificial sweeteners.

    Bottom line:

    This product is engineered to taste good and look like a nutrition powerhouse. In fact, it is a highly processed food-like product that we would not eat.

    Sorry, but I am actually lolling. This is totally the opposite of what he thinks.
  • melimomTARDIS
    melimomTARDIS Posts: 1,941 Member
    All right I admit it. I let my son (who has extreme sensory issues) eat 1/2 a cookies and cream questbar as a "protien" choice sometimes. Bring out the pitchforks.
  • PearlAng
    PearlAng Posts: 681 Member
    All right I admit it. I let my son (who has extreme sensory issues) eat 1/2 a cookies and cream questbar as a "protien" choice sometimes. Bring out the pitchforks.
    I wouldn't sweat that, my mom used to let me have tastes of her slimfast shakes and nutrisystem food when that was "the thing" for weight loss. The chocolate pudding was icky :neutral_face:
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