Bad food habits in our society

mamilinda81

Our kids are getting bad food habits. I work in an Ice Cream Store and I am scared how parents let eat the kids fast food and sugar that it could be for one week. Kids ask for double dip, double hot fudge, double candy, extra topping and not forget about up size the fries and the drink, all with the parents permision. Where are the family meals, the healthy lunch and dinner, and the natural juice (without sugar), and drink water with your meal, now everybody wants to drink soda or any kind of high corn syrup drink. Please, let's realise that obesity is a the bad sickness of our genaration and maybe future generations.

aippolito1

Amen!! I'm trying so hard to drill healthy eating and behavior into my bf so if we do get married and have children, it will be an example set by both parents and not just one. I want to have healthy children that live as long as they're supposed to!! Not to mention me. I'm young so what better time to start than now?

balance9

I agree with you 100%:drinker: Just wrote a post along these lines, with some ideas to get the ball rolling towards making a change.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/86474-childhood-obesity-join-the-fight

simona1972

I agree with you. I see things that just make me cringe. And Im guilty of doing things that I know now were horrible for the health and welfare of my family members. When I was eating horribly, I didnt think twice about sharing the junk with others.

Today in the mail we got coupons for McDonalds. Before anyone else could see them, I tore them up. I didnt want the kids [my nieces and nephew] deciding that they were going to eat that junk all through March Break.

I am guilty of doing the take out food on the weekends, but that stopped. My niece asked if we could have Tacos next weekend and I was fine with that because I know I can make those healthy. We have a lot of home cooked, healthy meals at home now. It takes more thought and prep time, but it's worth it. I like seeing the kids grab fruit instead of candy for a snack. I like to see them grab water instead of sugary juice. Watching them make changes, I now realize how much of an influence I am in their lives and how much they just follow what Im doing.

I know I can set a good example. And I know I can help them build healthy habits that they can keep for life.

It REALLY, REALLY has to start at home.

rosalie_g

I agree. It took me having 2 daughters of my own to realize that I had to be better example. As a child I had no guidance about what to eat or not eat or exercising. Bad habits start at home. I think it's sad that more parents dont seem to realize that.

arfletcher

I was just talking about this with a friend last night. For some reason our society has made it acceptable to take your children to McDonalds on a regular basis and let them have ice cream for a treat - ICE CREAM SHOULDNT BE A TREAT!! A slice of nice homemade apple pie should be a treat. It is kind of scary how the food industry makes things that are poison to our bodys into an acceptable way to reward ourselves or our children YUCK!

TGIBriday83

a lot of it has to do with a lack of proper education. I myself am guilty of this. Ya i had always considered myself a somewhat healthy eater until i started logging in my meals and seeing exactly how many claories i really was eating, not to mention other factors such as sugar and fat, sodium, etc. Some people don't realize what they're putting into their bodies. Ya they know McDonalds is bad for you... just not how bad. It's the same with everything. Ya little johnny got the regular sized sunday instead of the jumbo, but once you add in the fudge and candy toppings and deep fry it for all we know, its a heart attack waiting to happen. Another problem is so many times parents use it as a crutch, especially now. I was never offered a reward of mcdonalds or something like that, and i'll be damned if my parents ever got me a happy meal to "shut me up" or Ice cream to just end a temper tantrum. you know what I got? a backhand or my *kitten* cracked for misbehaving. to make a long story short its a lot of different factors contributing to this mess.

jennylynn84

I have to agree.

I've had parents tell me "you'll understand when it's your kids and they're screaming. You'd be surprised what you'll do."

Really? Like what, drive them to an early grave by letting them eat whatever they want? Buy them a huge combination of horrible food so that they throw up and then I have to deal with that as well? The problem with this approach is that the more often you placate children by just giving them what they want the more willing they are to scream until they get it. Little Johnny thinks "Well last time I screamed about five minutes and she caved" and screams five minutes again to see if they can get you to cave. Not five minutes? Little Johnny's willing to push a little longer than that. And eventually the parents just make the situation worse and worse.

What happened to discipline? It wasn't called "time out" when I was a kid, it was called a pop on the butt. I was never rewarded for a temper tantrum by getting what I was demanding. The more of a fit I threw, the less likely my chances of getting it.

This is why I don't believe in restricting advertising. I'm a journalist and after studying free speech pretty thoroughly I decided it's a very slippery slope as to what we censor. And you can't blame McDs for trying to make a buck by advertising during afternoon cartoons to little kids. You CAN blame Mom and Dad for not telling Little Johnny to quit demanding the food or the TV was going off altogether.

simona1972

I was never offered a reward of mcdonalds or something like that, and i'll be damned if my parents ever got me a happy meal to "shut me up" or Ice cream to just end a temper tantrum. you know what I got? a backhand or my *kitten* cracked for misbehaving.

This was SO my house too! Rewards...NEVER! You were EXPECTED to behave properly.

smae1980

I agree and disagree with some of you. I have a 3 year old who eats very well. She loves fresh fruit and veggies, brown rice, wheat bread, all the things you would expect a child her age to turn her nose up at. On the other hand, she is allowed chocolate, candy ice cream, etc. in moderation. By that I mean once or twice a week at most. and I regulate her portions of these items. She can have 1 cookie, 1 small scoop of ice cream, you get the idea. I thinks not letting your kids have these things as treats ( yes I think of these things as treats) is not the answer ( unless due to underlying health problems, of course, none of which my daughter has), but teaching them portion size and self control when it comes to eating treats. As to fast food, well that's not really an issue for us, we never go to fast food joints anyway.

jennylynn84

Actually brings up another point - it's not just food habits. It's activity as well.

I once knew a woman who let her kids play outside as a TREAT. So outdoor exercise was a rare and much coveted reward. They got to go out once every couple of weeks. The rest of the time they were expected to quietly watch a video. ?!

So we are also teaching sedentary lifestyle habits as well.

smae1980

Just to clarify I don't mean treats as something to get your kids to do what you want them to do, that's what discipline is for. I mean treats as something special you don't get to have all the time

jennylynn84

I agree and disagree with some of you. I have a 3 year old who eats very well. She loves fresh fruit and veggies, brown rice, wheat bread, all the things you would expect a child her age to turn her nose up at. On the other hand, she is allowed chocolate, candy ice cream, etc. in moderation. By that I mean once or twice a week at most. and I regulate her portions of these items. She can have 1 cookie, 1 small scoop of ice cream, you get the idea. I thinks not letting your kids have these things as treats ( yes I think of these things as treats) is not the answer ( unless due to underlying health problems, of course, none of which my daughter has), but teaching them portion size and self control when it comes to eating treats. As to fast food, well that's not really an issue for us, we never go to fast food joints anyway.

I agree completely! It's necessary to teach moderation and self control and that you CAN have these things. Just only on occasion. My outrage is mainly for parents who buy this kind of crap for their kids daily (or even twice daily!).

BrendaLee

Can I add one more thing that I find disturbing? Alcohol. People have come to associate it with every fun activity...from playing a game of pool to getting together with the girls to watch your favorite show, and they can't imagine these activities without a few (or more) drinks.

If you're trying to lose weight and get healthy, and it comes down to a decision between a few drinks or a good dinner...choose the food, please.

TGIBriday83

and i'm not saying kids shouldn't have treats or anything like that. it's the frequency and situation. and i agree 100% about the sedentary lifestyles. 1500 tv channels, and video games have had a major hand in that. I had nintendo and things like that as a kid, but at the same time i was expected to go outside and play. My parents would actually force us to go outside and play. I really feel like im the last generation that would ride bikes all day long or get week long baseball games going at the park. you drive past playgrounds now and theyre like ghost towns.