Junk Food

[xyzzy@bok]

They make nice chocolate. And coffee. So why is nearly all the food that's available primarily pure junk; e.g fish portions, fishfingers, fishcakes, burgers, sausages, meatballs, nuggets.. its all cr@p and is especially fed to children.. they trying to make them grow up ill?

[comloulou]

I think maybe its all cheap and inexpensive to manufacture and therefore cheap to the mums and dads trying to buy their little darlings dinners every week. It is fairly rank tho, i cant abide frozen beef burgers or those horrendous chicken nugget things, i dont ever want to know what kind of a chicken THEY came from.

[Squirrel]

I think part of the reason is because [...] fast food restaurants, already have the factories and stuff that are designed to make the unhealthy food. I assume they ask customers from time to time, "Would you like to see more vegetables and fruit on the menu?" but there doesn't seem to have been a great demand for healthy food, or [fast food restaurants] would have changed by now. All I can say is, the owners of the fast food chains must be raking in their money, and probably have no interest in changing their policies.



On another note, beef is actually one of the most inefficient meats to produce. On average, for every 1kg of edible meat in a cow, it ate 8kg of roughage. Pigs have a ratio of 3kg of feed to 1kg of meat, fish about 2:1, and chickens 1.7:1. The most efficient things to produce are plants.

[Please note we have removed references to specific fast food restaurants from this answer, just to be on the safe side. - AB Editor]

[tracymort]

you might like "fast food nation" by eric schlosser. i feel exactly the same as you, trouble is many other parents don't which can get awkward when children are at school. http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~foodcomm/parents_
jury/

[tracymort]

also i believe it all starts from the beginning - the 1st junk food being formula. It's all down to the government keeping major corporations happy who put profit before health, and making money. sad isn't it?

[Squirrel]

Sorry, AB Editor - I forgot I shouldn't mention that kind of thing. As for the restaurant, let's just say "He had a farm."

[cucumbers]

too true tracyh. My wife has breastfed our daughter from day one , sorry day 5 i am told cos she wouldnt feed untill then , and has continued to feed her up to now and to whenever. she refused point blank to give her the stomach stretching chemical cXXp known as formula milk and as a result we have a fantastic baby who has yet to suffer from asthma, eczema or any sign of obesity as will befall babies who do have been forcefed the rubbish by parents who will tell you they know better. The parents who get up at all hours to make up and warm up bottles of cXXp whilst those of us in the know carry on sleeping whilst the baby helps herself.!!! Sorry if i have been on my high horse but hey breast milk is there for a reason and its free.!! Just ask cow and gate !

[tracymort]

well said! Especially on the cosleeping front, so much easier for baby to help themselves to milk while you sleep on! Nothing nicer than waking up to a grinning cosy baby nuzzling you in the morning, better than screaming from another room! If only the news reported the cases of babies dying as a result of formula, maybe then a few parents may realise how bad it is. Last april a belgian baby died at just 5 days old because there was bacteria in his milk. nestle (what a surprise) had to recall a load of formula, but it never made the news! trouble is if you promote breastmilk you get lynch mobbed as i found out. i wrote an article for a local paper pointing out the benefits and got loads of letters saying "you made me feel guilty, how dare you" etc My view is if 80% of norweigan babies are breastfed at 6 months old then it can't be that difficult. Just 21 % of uk 6 month olds are breastfed I hardly think UK women are physiologically any different to norweigans!! Norway's culture is though. Formula is never promoted for a start. it's all down to unethical marketing, poorly informed health professionals, the media and even children's toys! It's very sad. If you're interested in that kind of thing a book called "The politics of breastfeeding" by Gabrielle Palmer is a good read and eye opener! Sorry i do go on about this subject!

[cucumbers]

Thanks TracyH. you really do feel like some kind of alien when you tell people that you still have your child in bed with you at nearly 20 months and you almost feel guilty about explaining why, but as a friend of mine told me, before she was born , it is fabulous having them in bed with you, and he was so right . Scorned as he was by myself and the rest of the crew in our local pub I had to agree with him when i had been there. Both my wife and myself have found a closeness to our daughter that is not understood by the mass of people who think that you must throw the baby into a cot in a room on its own so you can carry on with your life without any disturbance from the noisy thing!! as soon as is possible. They will never know the pleasure of having your nose bitten at 5.00 AM when you have a hangover so you have to rise and play on the see saw. Pity the child who wakes up to no one!! As for breastfeeding , we were fortunate to have been under the most wonderful care of the midwifes at the QMC in Nottingham who have been promoting breastfeeding to their dying breaths and ,although my wife was adamant about feeding until our daughter was 2 , helped her for hours and hours until she was ready to feed. The sad thing is that through my job i have come into contact with numerous young mothers who have recieved no conselling on breastfeeding or any encouragement so they only understand the formula way. How will things ever get better ?