Junk Food: Some Facts
When your child demands crisps, sweets and fizzy drinks, it's hard not to
give in. If your child isn't overweight, junk food isn't really a problem,
is it? Sometimes we think that at least our children are eating something
rather than nothing. The whole issue of junk-food and children is a
minefield.
What is "Junk Food"?
Junk food is difficult to define. Broadly speaking, we consider foods that
are high in fat and sugar (or both) and low in other nutrients to be
"junk".
Some Examples of Junk Food:
For specific product examples, click here.
Should we use the term "Junk Food"?
Many nutritionists hate the term "junk food", and the food
industry usually contends that there's no such thing as a "bad" food...we think
this is nonsense. Try telling the
harrassed mother of a child that refuses to eat anything other than sweets that
there is no such thing as a "bad" food. We like to use plain language,
and we love the term junk food.
Is junk food OK for special occasions, like parties? Probably. We're
not trying to say that the odd glass of fizz will cause irreperable damage to
your child's health. But we ARE saying that we should keep this kind of
food for parties and special occasions. Food companies would love us to consume
lots of junk food every day. These foods are cheap to produce, have a long
shelf-life, are easy to transport and have a large markup. The advertising
campaigns seem to have succeeded...in most of the schools that we work with,
children consume large amounts of junk food.
There are lots of reasons why you might be worried if your child eats a lot
of junk food. A diet that is full of sugar and fat and low in fruit and
vegetables increases risk for a range of illnesses, including heart disease,
stroke and certain cancers.
Our children are becoming a generation of junk-food junkies. Our work in
schools has highlighted a range of issues, including the following:
The "No-Fruit" Kid
We have worked with parents whose children do not eat any
fruits or veggies at all (check out some good reasons for eating fruits &
veggies here). When we ask parents to tell us what their child does eat,
the answer is usually (you guessed it) junk food! We have worked with eight year
old children in rural Ireland who have never in their lives eaten an unprocessed vegetable
-including potato!
"My Child Isn't Overweight, So We Don't Have A Problem"
Wrong! Just because you are skinny doesn't mean you are immune from
lifestyle-related illnesses. Slim people who don't eat a balanced diet
still have an increased risk for a range of chronic illnesses, like heart
disease and certain cancers. In a similar way, slim people who are
inactive may be storing up health problems for the future. If your child
is slim, but doesn't eat well or is physically inactive, you still need to
act.
The "No-Water" Kid
Junk beverages like fizzy drinks have become the norm. We have worked
with children who drink nothing but Coca-Cola. In some schools only 5% of
students drink water on a daily basis. This is worrying - regular moderate
consumption of fizzy drinks has a number of effects on health. Click here
for more details.
