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ZOE Science & Nutrition
Kids and junk food: simple ways to break the habit with Rhiannon Lambert & Dr. Federica Amati
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- [00:01]
Jonathan Wolf
Welcome to Zoe Science and Nutrition where world leading scientists explain how their research can improve your health as adults. Food shopping can be a challenge, but when it comes to feeding your kids, the stakes feel much higher. Our food environment is rife with misinformation. Brightly colored labels on ultra processed foods promise high protein, high fiber, low calories. The additives and the mountains of added sugar are hidden in the small print. Making healthy food for your children shouldn't be a losing game. There are secrets to making food nutritious, appealing and convenient because from one parent to another, I know you don't have the time. There's also evidence that childhood holds golden windows of opportunity where nutrition makes a bigger impact. So nailing these tips could be a huge win for everyone. Two of those experts are with us today. Rhiannon Lambert literally wrote the book on the art of building a healthy lunchbox. Rhiannon is one of the UK's leading nutritionists. She's known for her evidence based approach to food and her latest book, the Science of Plant Based Nutrition, is a Sunday Times bestseller. Rhiannon is joined by Dr. Federica Amarty. Federica is head nutritionist here at Zoe, a scientist at Imperial College London and author of the best selling book Everybody Should Know this. You'll finish today's episode feeling confident to face the challenge of feeding your kids healthily. Rhiannon and Federica, thank you for joining me today.
- [01:49]
Dr. Federica Amarty
Thank you for having us, Jonathan. I'm so excited.
- [01:51]
Rhiannon Lambert
I can't wait.
- [01:53]
Jonathan Wolf
So we have a tradition here, Rhiannon, which we always start with a quick fire round of questions.
- [01:59]
Rhiannon Lambert
Love it. Bring it on.
- [02:01]
Jonathan Wolf
Brilliant. So the rules are simple, yes or no. Or if you absolutely have to, a one sentence answer. But there's a lot of penalties. So we'd like to see yes or no.
- [02:10]
Rhiannon Lambert
Okay.
- [02:10]
Jonathan Wolf
You up for it?
- [02:11]
Rhiannon Lambert
I am.
- [02:12]
Jonathan Wolf
All right, I'm gonna start with Rhiannon. Can I give my child food that's healthy and that they will eat?
- [02:19]
Rhiannon Lambert
Yes.
- [02:20]
Jonathan Wolf
For my kids meals to be healthy, do I need to prepare everything from scratch?
- [02:25]
Rhiannon Lambert
No.
- [02:26]
Jonathan Wolf
Federica, are children eating more ultra processed food than adults?
- [02:31]
Dr. Federica Amarty
Yes.
- [02:32]
Jonathan Wolf
Is there an age during childhood where nutrition will have a larger impact?
- [02:36]
Dr. Federica Amarty
Yes. Ages.
- [02:37]
Jonathan Wolf
Can I lower the risk of my child developing obesity?
- [02:41]
Dr. Federica Amarty
Yes.
- [02:42]
Jonathan Wolf
And Rhiannon, you can have a whole sentence for this one. What's the biggest misconception about healthy eating for children?
- [02:49]
Rhiannon Lambert
That it's simple and that it's laid out for parents to access. That is a huge misconception. It's far from simple. It's become complicated because of the mass media marketing around it.
- [03:00]
Jonathan Wolf
The answers to the questions are both quite positive, but also a little scary. And actually it's interesting. I was thinking about this podcast this morning. So I have a daughter who's 5 years old and I have a son who's 16. And so a decade ago, my son was basically the same age as my daughter. I hadn't started Zoe, I hadn't met my co founder, Professor Tim Spector, and as a result, I didn't really know anything about food. And I definitely wasn't spending any time thinking about food. And I now realize that I fed my son total junk while thinking in general, I was doing quite a good job in giving him a good diet. So it's slightly terrifying as I think about that. And now I take my daughter's diet and her health very seriously. And I think about this impact on her gut microbiome. And honestly, I think it's a minefield. I think it's incredibly difficult, I find, to find this right balance of trying to get her to eat well, but also not making her really stressed about things and also just the challenge of getting her to eat anything that I think might be good to eat and realizing that basically so surrounded by all this delicious, ultra processed food. And so it's not surprising that this is what she wants to eat. So maybe we could sort of start at the beginning. Like, what's the problem with children's food?
- [04:14]
Dr. Federica Amarty
Well, I think you've touched on a few things there, Jonathan. The first thing is that there is this relentless food advertising aimed at children, that is of unhealthy foods. So there was a report that was recently published by Byteback 2030, who are this charity trying to help reduce the amount of adverts aimed at children for unhealthy foods. And they found that on average, UK children are exposed to 15 billion junk food adverts per year.
- [04:39]
Jonathan Wolf
And the US is presumably even higher.
- [04:41]
Dr. Federica Amarty
Yes. And so the US we haven't got the number, but it's presumably even higher. And the issue here is that we are surrounded by foods that we know don't support children's health. So it's much easier to access those, but they're also being heavily advertised. And anyone who has kids, if you watch TV with adverts in it, so they will want the thing. My kids the other day happened to find a channel that had an advert for a chicken roasting pot. Oh, gosh, she's not. And they were like, mommy, can we have one of those? That is Literally the example of advertising working its magic. Right. So the problem is, is that we're not protecting our kids in the UK and the US and so they're exposed to these adverts, they're exposed to a lot of ultra processed foods and frankly, junk food. And it's actually a really precious time in life as we'll get into where we could have a massive impact on their health and wellbeing and happiness with their daily food choices. So it's just not set up for us to succeed at the moment.
- [05:36]
Rhiannon Lambert
I mean, it's also where parents are going to for the information because we're bombarded by this media storm of packaged goods really that are appealing, they're visual, they're bright, they're colorful. It's everything a child would want. Why would they not want something with a cartoon image? And I know there's some legislation now that's cracking down on that sort of display and how you display foods to children, but let's be honest, I think There's a stat 24% of adults now go to social media for health advice. Yeah, they're going for their kids advice, how to build lunchboxes, how to tackle everything. And less than 2% of nutrition information on TikTok, for example, is accurate.
- [06:14]
Jonathan Wolf
Less than 2%.
- [06:15]
Rhiannon Lambert
Less than 2%.
- [06:16]
Jonathan Wolf
That's rather terrifying.
- [06:17]
Rhiannon Lambert
It is, isn't it?
- [06:18]
Jonathan Wolf
And talk a little bit about ultra processed food within this, because I think that's one of the things that we've touched on on a lot of podcasts here about this sort of general growth in ultra processed food. But we've always been talking about adults. What's been happening with children?
- [06:31]
Dr. Federica Amarty
Well, unfortunately the numbers are a bit worse for children. So we know that over half of calories in the UK and the US come from ultra processed foods. It's really crept up. It's roughly about 65% for most adults now. And when we look at children, we see that it's up to 72%. And what's really quite scary is that it's the very young infants, so like under the age of 2, 3 and then teens who are bringing these numbers up. So it's a really scary statistic, but it's also not hard to see why when you go to the supermarket and the children's, the shelves are stacked with these ultra processed prepackaged snacks and foods that, as Rhiannon said, they're marketed as being ideal for weaning, ideal for learning how to feed yourself, like contains a piece of kale, whatever the way they're advertised, actually makes them sound like they've been designed to help parents on the weaning journey with their children to create like a healthy relationship with food. But they are actually just ultra processed foods that have been nicely packaged for convenience. We're living in a world right now where children are more used to opening a pouch or a packet of crisps than they are peeling a banana. That's where we are. And it's been really recent that this flood of ultra processed foods has arrived for children. It's been in the past five to 10 years. And we absolutely need to reverse that.
- [07:54]
Rhiannon Lambert
And there's a lot of nuance to add to even that conversation. Because if you look at the gender divide of roles in the household, if you look at the way that the workforce has changed childcare support systems, the time, you know, parents, parents are time poor. I've got a two year old, a four year old, I'm a nutritionist and sometimes I struggle to find the time. And if I'm the educated person that struggles, how is somebody that does not have access to what is nutritionally correct doesn't have the time? They're struggling, they're trying to work all hours because women are expected now. There's a huge, huge conversation and an almost overwhelming system that's in place now that isn't helping people make better choices.
- [08:36]
Jonathan Wolf
And what is this ultra processed food doing to my daughter's body?
- [08:41]
Dr. Federica Amarty
So. Well, we know, for example, there's a lot of interest at the moment around research and emulsifiers, right? So we know that about 95% of baked goods like buns and croissants and breads in supermarkets contain at least one emulsifier. Most of them contain two or more. And what we're starting to see is that emulsifiers eaten every day in various types of foods actually do disrupt the gut microbiome and they can potentially lead to higher levels of inflammation. And all of these things contribute to a higher risk of basically being unwell, whether that's from the gastric symptoms, so having IBS or suffering with symptoms of indigestion, things like this. But further down the line, when you have increased inflammation in the gut for a long time, that's when you run into a higher risk of things like developing obesity, type 2 diabetes and of developing autoimmune conditions, right? So we want to protect our children's gut health. Ultra processed foods don't help us to do that. But also what's really important, and I think this is a really big red flag for us, ultra processed foods, especially for children, are very often very high in added sugars. And the classic example of this is flavored children's yogurts. Some of them contain like an unbelievable amount of sugar. When you look at the back of pack, these tiny pots contain like teaspoons and teaspoons of sugar. And what we can see in the UK and the US is that there's this really massive rise in cavities. So children under the age of seven are having their teeth removed under general anesthesia because of the added sugar in their diet.
- [10:10]
Jonathan Wolf
More now.
- [10:11]
Dr. Federica Amarty
They're never before.
- [10:12]
Jonathan Wolf
That's interesting because I feel as though I'm in my late 40s. I feel like one of the things that shifted actually is, you know, we were all drinking full fat Coca Cola when I was, you know, eight or something. Right. Like there was before, really that shift was just starting away from full sugar drinks to sort of all of these artificial sweeteners. So I'm rather shocked that sort of 40 years later we're actually getting worse cavities, so the sugar is just sliding away.
- [10:37]
Rhiannon Lambert
Even under five year olds as well. In the UK it's under five. There's a quarter of children that have problems with their teeth under five from.
- [10:44]
Jonathan Wolf
The food they're eating from the food system.
- [10:45]
Dr. Federica Amarty
And this is the thing, it's a huge red flag. How can children this young have cavities so early? And it's exposure to constant added sugar. Coca Cola. At least you know what you're getting with Coca Cola, right? But so many children's foods have added sugar, including pasta sauces, including savory snacks. So there's foods that have added sugar to make them more palatable for children. Because at the end of the day, ultra processed food companies want us to buy more and more of these snacks for our kids. So we're now in a place where there's added sugar everywhere. It's directly affecting children's teeth, like oral health before you see the longer term impacts on their health later in life. And there's also this really clear relationship between ultra processed food consumption and high sugar consumption and how they're able to manage at school, for example. So behavioral issues, not being able to sit still, all these things are related, correlated with, have a relationship with the dietary quality that children have. And having a diet that's really high in ultra processed food for children is just not supporting what they're supposed to be doing, which is growing and learning and socializing. So it's a dangerous spot to be in for the Health of our future, what will be future adults. Right. Because another thing to note is that ultra processed foods are a metabolic challenge for our bodies. Now in adulthood, when we have these metabolic challenges, we're aware that we need to look after our metabolic health as adults. We're aware that we should really try not to become overweight. We're aware that we should keep an eye on our bloods, go to the GP and make sure our blood pressures are not rising, things like this. But for children, constant metabolic challenges is also disrupting their metabolic health. They also need us to feed them with foods that will help them to have a really healthy metabolism as they go into adulthood.
- [12:34]
Dr. Will Bolshowitz
Hey there. I'm Dr. Will Bolshowitz, Zoe's U.S. medical director at Zoe. We often hear from our members that Zoe changed my life. We're actually not at all surprised, as our science supports this. Zoe ran a randomized controlled trial, the gold standard of scientific research, to test our membership program. Now, this was a risk because if Zoe didn't work, we'd have to publish it anyway. But the results of the trial were conclusive. ZOE works. After 18 weeks, many Zoe members who participated in the study saw positive changes in their gut microbiome and waist circumference. They were twice as likely to report improved mood and reduced hunger. And they were four times as likely to report better sleep and more Energy. Over 100,000 people rely on Zoe membership to make smarter food choices. We use our world leading science and your unique Zoe test results to guide you to better health for life. Will you give Zoe a try? We're now available in the US so head to Zoe.com and take our free quiz to find out what Zoe membership could do for you. Listeners to this podcast can use the code podcast to get 10% off their membership. Now, let's get back to the show.
- [13:51]
Jonathan Wolf
Just before we move on, I'd love to talk about labels for a minute, Rhiannon, because, you know, I think that we see this across everything in the grocery store, but I think we see it even more for the kids food where it says like low sugar or high protein or all natural. What should we make of these labels?
- [14:10]
Rhiannon Lambert
Claims are often very deceptive. You know, they're put there to sell a product. We have to remember that. And, you know, if you buy an apple, for instance, you don't need it to have a claim that says, hey, this is great for you, this is a source of fiber. But if you're picking up a packet of cereal for your child and it's full of these claims, high in protein seems to be the trendy thing as well. Still at the moment, high in fiber. Perhaps that product is high in fiber, but what type of fiber, what type of added protein? A lot of the time companies put extra soy lecithin in and different binders and different ingredients to increase the capability of making a claim. And every country has its own unique way of displaying these claims. So it'd be different in the us you'll have a different way of categorizing things. Voluntary labeling as well. With the traffic light system, which we have over in the UK and I think some other countries have as well, where it could be red, that means high in sugar. And orange, which is just on the cusp, probably not great all the time. And then green, which is obviously good, that's voluntary, so you don't have to put it on every item. It's really deceptive. And I actually advise clients in my clinic in my line of work not to just go by the claim on a packet and always to read the ingredient list on the back and check the salt, check the sugar, because high in fibre can still be high in sugar and high in salt.
- [15:29]
Dr. Federica Amarty
Yeah. And I would add to that that actually if a product has a health claim on the front, and especially when it's aimed at children, great for finger food, Great to start learning how to wean. Ideal for ages 4 to 6 months. Don't buy it because do you know what, it's almost 100% going to be an ultra processed food that your child doesn't need. Because that marketing is put there to encourage people to buy something that they essentially just don't need. The best example for this is things like baby porridge, these baby rices that for some reason are so pervasive. Oh, we have to start with that. That's the first Sweeney food. Like literally said who?
- [16:03]
Rhiannon Lambert
But do you know why? I think it's because parents are scared.
- [16:06]
Dr. Federica Amarty
Yeah.
- [16:06]
Rhiannon Lambert
I think there's such a vulnerability, like when you've just had a bab. I remember that feeling. It was lockdown. And I can completely see why people are pulled into that trap.
- [16:14]
Dr. Federica Amarty
It appears safe, it scares people. But I think that it's a double edged sword because this kind of labeling makes parents fearful of buying another product that doesn't have that safety mark on it.
- [16:24]
Rhiannon Lambert
And then they stick to the brand, like if it's got an organic in it or something, they then think it's superior and then they're loyal to that brand.
- [16:30]
Dr. Federica Amarty
Exactly.
- [16:31]
Jonathan Wolf
The other thing I'm struck by is how in the States, in the uk, we're sort of very adrift from a food culture where we just know what we're meant to do. And I've been on holiday in Italy this summer and one of the things you see there is like, there's a very strong food culture, right. They're actually very intolerant to new food because they're like, they know exactly how it's meant to be.
- [16:51]
Dr. Will Bolshowitz
I know.
- [16:52]
Jonathan Wolf
And that's like how their grandparents. Grandparents did it and they, they're proud of it. Federica, with her Italian heritage, is smiling and nodding with me because she knows this is true. But I'm struck that, you know, as someone who both grew up in America and then here, you know, generally we don't have any confidence. And I think, as you quite rightly said, with our children, we particularly worry about this. We particularly worry about them when they're younger, because when they're teenagers, you don't have that much control over what they do. So you worry, but there's nothing you can do about it. And so I feel that you are particularly vulnerable then to, like, I don't really know what to do. This is quite complicated the first few years. And then there is this enormous amount of commercial interest, as you said, with people selling a lot of products, which.
- [17:30]
Rhiannon Lambert
Is when the cycle starts. That's when parents get pulled into the ultra processed food system. Because of that reason, I could go.
- [17:35]
Dr. Federica Amarty
A step further and say that the food companies know this and they have targeted that group because it's such a vulnerable group. Like, it's so obvious how it's been machined when you look at it, when you really stand back and look at that food aisle and for the kids, and it literally says, safe for finger feeding, ideal for weaning 4 to 6 months, 6 to 8 months, 12 months plus mixture of vegetables. Now, I've worked with people one on one where their children refuse to eat broccoli, for example, and it's because they've never actually touched or felt or eaten a whole broccoli. And I've been at restaurants where I've seen couples or parents or caregivers who prefer to feed their child from a pouch from their bag than let them try what's on the plate at the restaurant.
- [18:16]
Rhiannon Lambert
Yeah, it's fear of choking, though, as well, and different things. I think parents just. There's no support for parents, is there, in the States? In the uk, there's no one saying, right, you've just had a baby, you've come out of hospital. I'm going to show you what happens at six months when you start weaning.
- [18:31]
Dr. Federica Amarty
I would go as far as to say that we just all need to move back in with our grandmas. Like basically, if Nonna's around, she will say, absolutely not. As families now, we do live in these, you know, smaller households. We often lose touch with the rest of our family. I think you're right, Jonathan. It's the way that we live socially, culturally has impacted a loss of food culture here and in the US and it's like what we need to do is actually start to rebuild our own. It doesn't have to be any particular type. I mean, of course I'm Italian, so for me that's the best. But it can be any food culture. It can be your own made up food culture, but it's really finding what works for you and your household and your family and letting you be the decider, you be the person who brings us food into the household as opposed to looking to advertising essentially and food marketing to make those decisions for you. And I think if that's the first step people take, it's a very powerful one and it will quickly change your basket.
- [19:26]
Rhiannon Lambert
Just one item a week. If they said it's small, like small challenges, but we're talking weaning. I mean, if you progress the conversation forwards and if you're listening now and Kay, you've already been there, you've done that. You've given your kids the pouches because you believe they were safe, convenient options. And I get it, sometimes they are great convenient options. But the majority of the time the exposure is so key. And it's not actually too late. It's more difficult, but it's not too late to start when they're 4, 5, 6, 7. With food exposure, it's just going to take longer and you have to offer things alongside things they already enjoy. So an element of you thinking, right, I'm a parent, I did raise my child in this way. They go to school with a lunchbox that is made up of packeted items like left, right and center. I've got a fruit juicy drink in there. I've got one of those sugary yogurts. I've got a whole packet of chocolatey items here. I'm going to try and put in every day, even if it's rejected for a certain amount of. I'm going to make the effort to put in a homemade wholemeal pasta salad option instead of buying the packeted version I was putting in. And it is going to be a bit painful. I'm not going to sugarcoat that excuse the pun, but you know, I'm not going to sugarcoat it. But it is possible. But it's going to take some grit. And as the parent and the caregiver, it is actually up to us because no one else is going to help us do it.
- [20:43]
Dr. Federica Amarty
Yeah.
- [20:43]
Jonathan Wolf
So I'd love, actually, I think it's a brilliant transition point and actually switch from this sort of horror show that you're sharing with us about this immense fraction, like 3/4 of all the food they're eating is ultra processed food. This sort of food that didn't even exist 50 years ago. Right. So this profound change to okay, practically what can we do to improve things? Could you start with like where we are and what could people really do to start to make a change?
- [21:10]
Rhiannon Lambert
So with two in a hundred lunchboxes being nutritionally incomplete, what that means with the stats we've got is that they're not hitting the first of all, a protein, a carb, a fat, a vegetable, you know, the food groups. As a parent in your head mentally, every time you open that lunchbox, you have got to think what is going to fuel my child for the day ahead. And this is where Federica's love of everything fiber would come in. But you want fiber, you want great quality carbs. That doesn't have to be expensive. That just means swapping your white pasta for your brown pasta, your white rice for your brown rice. And these are things that don't need exposure, fancy equipment to cook. Shove it in a saucepan the night before, cook it, put it in your lunchbox for the next day, mix it in with a frozen sauce you've made before, the week before, you know, a tomato sauce, a pesto sauce, whatever it may be. Sometimes that might be a shop brought version, but you know what, a whole lot better to put it with the whole grain pasta than the white pasta. And then you can work your way up to swapping out the sauces because as we said, that is a source of extra sugar and hidden additives that often come in bought sauces. You've got your carb, hope everyone's visualizing their carbohydrate, then you move over to a palm sized portion. So for a child obviously slightly smaller of protein, that could be chicken strips, it could be canned. Well, fish is going to smell in your child's lunchbox. But you know what, some kids don't mind that. And if you do boil an egg, please don't do what I did and literally do it that morning because it stinks. And your child is not going to be wanting to open up their lunchbox and have that eggy smell come out. So prep it at least a few hours in advance, let it cool, and then package it up. Protein can be tofu. It can be a can of beans. You can roast beans the night before, turn them into crisps with olive oil or something. I know what I'm saying. Everyone's thinking, wow, this sounds a bit fancy. But once you get into the habit of visualizing the protein, the carb, the vegetables, which, let's be honest, most kids don't want to just eat steamed broccoli at that age in their lunchbox when they're at school. Hey, don't blame you. Try and chuck that stuff into the pasta, add the peas into the pasta, add the sweet corn, add the carrots into that main bit, or do some veggie sticks with hummus. It's a classic. You can't go wrong. And then the yogurts, try and go for the less sugary options, go for the original state, and then give them a pot of something to add in. Even if it was an extra little bit of honey, you put in a lunchbox, maple syrup or a jam. That's less sugary to add that to the yogurt than to buy a yogurt that's already sweetened. Let's go back to that. Fifty years ago, we used to make things with minimally processed stuff. We used to use butter, sugar, eggs, mix it in a bowl, you know, make something nice. Nowadays, we've skipped that process, and we've gone straight to the finished item, straight to this emulsified, artificially sweetened version of everything in a pot. Whereas if you just added. I think parents are scared of sugar, yet they don't realize they're buying it. But if you actually put a bit of honey in and then mix it into the yogurt, a child would love that. Or a few dark chocolate, like, chips chips, dark chocolate chips, dark chocolate buttons. I'd rather your kid have a small handful of those to add in, which is still better. And then they're still gonna go, wow, I love my lunchbox. And not everyone's got time to make fancy homemade bars and energy balls. I mean, I love that kind of stuff. But that's an example of a lunchbox that doesn't take as much time to prep. And it's a lot of. It's frozen. Frozen peas. You add in frozen carrots, sweet corn into the pasta so it can be done. I hope that visual image has stayed with everyone of your lunchbox.
- [24:31]
Jonathan Wolf
It sounds beautiful. It sounds like quite a lot more work than I bought a bunch of stuff from the grocery store and I threw it all in the, in the box. I can, I can imagine people listening and saying, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's part of like the dream life that I'd like to have. But I'm running around, I've got a full time job, I'm looking after the house and I'm trying desperately to feed my children.
- [24:54]
Dr. Federica Amarty
Well, I don't know, I've just come out of summer holidays when we're recording this, right. So I have been packing, packed lunches a lot for all the various clubs, things, you know, all the things the kids do in the summer holidays. And honestly, it takes such little time to put this lunchbox together. I actually timed myself doing it one day because I was like, this feels really good. Like I got into a groove, right? It took me seven minutes. Children do get to have favorites, right? So I find that, for example, for my kids, like my little one, she loves apples. So packing a whole apple in her lunchbox is always going to go. I mean, they love pasta, they're Italian, of course they do. But they also love, you can get these really lovely flatbreads from the supermarket that aren't ultra processed or you can make them yourself at home in a pan very quickly by just whizzing a batter up together, honestly, like smoked salmon, bit of avocado, they love that. Sometimes it's cheese with a bit of tomato. So quick and easy, just toast it in the pan. So these things are often, once you get into the groove of it and you have your natural yogurt. I couldn't agree more. It's so, so easy to make natural yogurt delicious for kids, however they prefer it.
- [26:02]
Rhiannon Lambert
And dairy alternatives, you know, soy yoghurt doesn't have to, obviously for people with lactose intolerance. So you're not eating dairy.
- [26:08]
Dr. Federica Amarty
It's just really a focus on buying the natural version of the yogurt, not the flavored version. And then just building these lunchboxes up, put something that they will love in there, Give variety of fruits and vegetables as well. Like I always put veggie sticks because they inevitably love them. And sometimes they'll eat all the cucumber and no carrot. Sometimes it's all the carrot, all the cucumber and the celery. It depends. But if you give children variety and you expose them to foods and they have a choice then that day when they're at school, depending on how hungry they feel or on what they fancy, they then have a choice to eat from. But you know that what they're choosing from is good for them.
- [26:44]
Rhiannon Lambert
I've always said to parents, do you know exactly what's in your freezer or in your cupboards? Because if they have one designated drawer at the top of their freezer, I think this is quite useful hack for parents. And they fill it with those flatbreads they brought in the supermarket at the top. So basically all the carbs in one shelf, the basis of all the meals they're about to chuck in the night before to save time. And then they can say, well, they can have a pit of bread that day or a flatbread that day, then rice, then a pasta. And that kind of builds the foundation of everything they're gonna chuck in.
- [27:13]
Dr. Federica Amarty
Yes. And I think another really good tip is I love that freezer hack. I love freezers is actually sometimes children will eat really well if you just invest in a thermos. So this changed the game for my eldest because she's not a huge fan of cold food. Fair enough. Interesting.
- [27:27]
Rhiannon Lambert
Yeah.
- [27:28]
Dr. Federica Amarty
And so a little thermos. And in that is where I would put the pasta with the greens with the peas. She just absolutely is so happy with a little bit of thermos food because it warm. So that's another thing that for some children and for parents who just run out of ideas for things that taste nice when they're cold.
- [27:45]
Rhiannon Lambert
I think we should definitely touch on the ham sandwich equation because I don't know what it's like in the States. Is that a classic over there, a ham sandwich?
- [27:53]
Jonathan Wolf
Cooked meats of various variety is a really important part of the diet.
- [27:58]
Rhiannon Lambert
Yeah. Staple. And I just think that's where so many parents don't realize the extra salt comes in. They don't realize that that type of meat in is completely ultra processed. It's gone through so many stages to get to where it's at. And there are other options that don't cost as much money. Superior options to put in in replacement of that particular meat.
- [28:17]
Jonathan Wolf
What would you be suggesting?
- [28:18]
Rhiannon Lambert
You can get slices of chicken as well instead or turkey if you're a meat eater. If not, then think outside the box for your lunchbox. So this is what I. And it's also cheaper if you smash up chickpeas into a base on a sandwich. And you could add red pepper if your kid loves that or some cheese. It can be dairy free. Options as well, of course. And it's really just thinking not every sandwich has to just be ham and cheese because that's what they're used to. And they probably won't notice the difference of taste. But we have to be honest about the fact that consumption of that particular item of food and that food group.
- [28:52]
Dr. Federica Amarty
Processed meats, basically is just not healthy.
- [28:54]
Jonathan Wolf
And just smashed chickpeas is something you find that kids often are willing. I haven't tried that.
- [28:58]
Rhiannon Lambert
You haven't tried it? You have to. It's almost like essentially putting hummus in a sandwich. Right. I think that's where you should start. And it saves you money because it's more cost effective than buying meat in the first place. And if they love it, why not try it? Give it a few days, give or take. They might not like the texture, that's okay, but we've got to try these things. And you could try it at dinner one night, test if they like it or not. And you could do like a hot toasty sandwich instead.
- [29:20]
Jonathan Wolf
I suspect both of you have very well trained children who are used to eating really good diet and have been through this. And lots of people will be listening. And I feel it's a bit similar to the situation when with my son a few years ago who'd been, you know, fed an excellent diet of ultra processed food for a decade. And then I started to realize actually this food thing apparently is really important. And not only that, but I think I was thinking about the fact that actually even five years ago I wasn't really thinking about ultra processed food. So that's sort of been more quite recently in the Zoe journey. And so if someone's listening to this and say, well, that's fine, but like my children basically are used to only these packeted food. They're used to like white bread with a piece of processed meat. That's the only thing they're willing to eat. And if I give them any of this, they're just going to starve and they won't be able to function at school. So I can't do this. Are there solutions?
- [30:08]
Dr. Federica Amarty
I think this is a good place to say that it's different with different age groups. You're totally right, Jonathan. So I think it's. I've worked with teenagers as well and it's trickier when it's been a longer time and also when obviously teenagers have way more autonomy than children who are younger. So how do we help this change? I think Rhiannon's example of starting with one thing at a Time is really good, but I like to take a different approach in the home. So the way I think about it is if we could be our own health architects. Right. We can't really do anything quickly about our food environment. The UK and the US both need to have massive overhaul of policy of political will. There's a lot to do and that will take time, but let's keep doing it. In the meantime, what we do have control over is what we bring into our homes. So if at a very simple level, children at some point will spend time in the home before school, after school, on the weekends, in the evenings. So I always encourage people to make their home the best possible food environment that it can be. But that includes a healthy relationship with food. So this does not mean that you'll catch me making my own homemade butter and banning all ultra processed foods in my own. That is not healthy. The other side of this coin is that I've seen some influences online, really create fear amongst children. You know, you will never eat that because it contains xyz. And there's one influencer who actually gets his child involved in the videos to say why she doesn't buy. I mean, it's awful, to be honest. That is a very fast track to disordered eating. We have to create a healthy food environment in the home, including understanding the difference between certain foods and why we some foods more often and why we eat some less often.
- [31:53]
Jonathan Wolf
This is more about adding in more good things rather than demonizing the idea of any amount of food.
- [31:58]
Rhiannon Lambert
Saying, what feeds the belly bugs? That's.
- [32:00]
Dr. Federica Amarty
Yes, my kids love it.
- [32:01]
Rhiannon Lambert
Yeah, yeah.
- [32:02]
Dr. Federica Amarty
You know, they'll say it's, yeah, this is such a good book. So they literally, they'll know, mommy, I'm going to have my chicken. And that's gonna make me strong, my muscles are gonna be strong. And then they'll like eat, I don't know, I'll give them some ice cream and they'll be like, this ice cream is giving me energy and it tastes good. So it's.
- [32:18]
Rhiannon Lambert
But they know no more than maybe one or one a day or whatever because they know it's a lot of sugar.
- [32:22]
Dr. Federica Amarty
And you told them, you've told them that for the food. The most important food is there for their belly bugs, their muscles, their growth, their happiness. Children understand from a very young age what food can do for them. So for example, my youngest does love chocolate. Like in a way it's hilarious because my eldest doesn't touch it. And so I was like, wow, I've really got away with that. And then the second one arrived and she was literally like, chocolate. So she will sometimes say to me first thing in the morning, mommy, can I have some chocolate? I'm like, darling, no. What do we need to have first? She's like, breakfast first. And she's only four. Right. They do understand if you explain it to them with love and you don't demonize food and say it's bad, they understand. But build that home environment where the majority of the food, especially at eye level, children will open the fridge. Teenagers, definitely.
- [33:06]
Rhiannon Lambert
Teenagers will see everything.
- [33:07]
Dr. Federica Amarty
They will open cupboards, they will open drawers. What is the easiest food to find in your home? Is it nuts and seeds? Is it fresh fruit? Is it a fruit bowl? Is it yogurt? Is it eggs? Or do you have. I've seen drawers of the treat cupboards.
- [33:22]
Rhiannon Lambert
Yeah, there's always a treat drawer. It's a huge psychological thing.
- [33:25]
Dr. Federica Amarty
It's really odd.
- [33:25]
Rhiannon Lambert
People grew up with it. Every Friday night was their takeaway night, or every Saturday. These habitual habits. You have to reshape your home to combat those habitual habits. And you could try half, half. Like, if you've got a particularly difficult child that will only have that white bread sandwich, one side is the brown bread, one side is the white bread. This is what you're getting today. This is what I've made. Just look at the white side when you eat it. And do you know what? It's going to take a little bit of tough love. But equally, like you say, if there's nothing to grab, that chocolate bar they always have isn't in the drawer and it's replaced with a healthier. Well, still high in sugar, but cereal bar version. That's one switch that you've made. They will then start eating because you've bought it.
- [34:05]
Jonathan Wolf
My personal experience has been it's this understanding about their microbiome that has been by far the most transformational. And that's true, you know, for both my. So obviously my son is very grown up. He really controls what his diet is. He's got much more interested in his own physique. He's now bigger than me, like he's going to the gym. And so I think he is now much more interested in food as a way that it supports him getting stronger and all the rest of it. What's interesting is that both he and my little girl have really bought into this idea that I need to eat this food that is for my good bucks. And I think that is something that is totally different from the way that I thought about food as a child. Cause it has this idea that it's okay. It's not just, like, what my parents are bothering me about. It's this idea. I've got all of these, like, little things inside me. And it's a bit like having a dog or something. Right? Like, I've gotta feed it. That's been by far the sort of strongest argument for eating things that sort of matches up and that they seem to buy into rather than just. It's yet another thing where your parents are forcing you to do something and you just want to resist.
- [35:09]
Dr. Federica Amarty
And I think that when we think about meal times, Jonathan. So creating that space to share a family meal, I know that now it's much rarer. So when we look at research of how often people share family meals, it's like slightly falling off a cliff.
- [35:20]
Rhiannon Lambert
I can't do it during the week. You know, there's no way with my husband's job, my job, and my family dynamic, we can do it in the week. So we have to. We make time at the weekend.
- [35:28]
Dr. Federica Amarty
So it's nice to create that time. If it's once a week, that's still better than nothing. But in that family meal setting, giving children the choice to pick what they want to put on their plate. So actually just saying, like, here's some vegetables, here's some chicken, or some. Whatever meat you're having, or fish. So my household is a big salmon household. They love salmon, my kids. So do I. So put it out and let them serve themselves and just see what happens. Because quite often what they do is dictated by us. You're wearing this, you're going to school, you're seeing this friend today. This is, you know, they don't have much choice in life. And so often their want for independence comes through their choices with their food. You know, I work with people and they'll say, oh, my child would never eat broccoli, or they would never eat sweet corn. Or I've never seen them eat a bowl of pasta with tomato sauce before. But then you put them in a setting where they're sharing a meal with their friends, They've got a choice of what to eat, and they have a variety of foods to choose from, and they're eating everything.
- [36:25]
Rhiannon Lambert
And you can pimp them up, right. Like pizzas. If you put them on the table, you can add extra toppings to a pizza.
- [36:30]
Dr. Federica Amarty
So creating food together is one wonderful.
- [36:32]
Rhiannon Lambert
That's the next layer.
- [36:33]
Dr. Federica Amarty
Yeah.
- [36:33]
Rhiannon Lambert
I think if you've live listed chocolate as a good example, but crisps or potato chips or you know, however you address it, you cannot say to a child, we're just not going to have those. Again, you know, some the psychology, like you said of those particular items. But there are lesser of two evils in those camps. When you look at the ingredient lists on the back and actually you should say, right, well we're going to have this particular brand, your favorite one maybe once every week instead of having it in the house every day. So you don't need to go cold turkey and be like, I'm never going to have this in the house ever again. Just be strategic. It's the weekend, you can have this. But actually for the rest of the week this isn't going to be in our cupboards. Now this week this is the option instead. And slowly you are the. I think it's really empowering parents and giving them confidence, you know, really holding their hand and just saying like you just said, put it down on the table. Yeah, they will come back because they will be hungry.
- [37:27]
Dr. Federica Amarty
I mean our job is to provide the best food environment we can. And their job is to exercise their freedom to choose what to eat. But if we're creating a healthy food environment, then the choices they have are healthier, as simple as that.
- [37:43]
Jonathan Wolf
The show you're listening to right now that's providing you the latest evidence based health and nutrition information from the world's top scientists. Well, making it takes a lot of time. We think it's well worth it all in the name of improving your health. All we ask in return is this. Send a link to this podcast to someone you think would benefit and if you haven't already, click Follow this podcast wherever you're listening right now. Okay, let's get back to the show. Can I move us on to breakfast now? Yes, breakfast.
- [38:15]
Rhiannon Lambert
Me too.
- [38:16]
Jonathan Wolf
I was just thinking about an experience I had. So I took my kids away to something called. So it's a sort of place you go away, it's very kids oriented, you sort of stay in some accommodation. And I went to like the little food shop. It was quite eye opening to me cause I'm in a different like grocery store from the normal one. So you sort of, you don't know where you're going and you pay attention. It's quite small and what I was struck by is about half this store is basically full of breakfast cereal and it's completely shocking. So basically it's almost all for kids in this store. All of these row after row of cereals that have massive health claims across all of them about how, you know, there's like Cheerios telling you about, you know, the whole grains it has and like these Kellogg's things with like all the vitamins it has and just generally they look like health foods that I should be giving my kids. And I have listened to enough of these podcasts about ultra processed foods to know that they are not.
- [39:13]
Rhiannon Lambert
The fortification thing is like a double edged sword because it is so important for kids that aren't getting those home cooked meals, that aren't getting parents that are nourishing or thinking because they just haven't had the opportunity or they're not educated to, to get a source of calcium in or iron in particular is so important if you're looking at iron requirements. So when you see those on the packets, I wouldn't say that's the worst thing in the world. I actually, I'm pro fortifying foods that I think children consume for a beneficial, you know, growth and development. But like you said, which one you pick? You can have a fortified frosty cereal that's full of so much sugar, but it doesn't, it disguises, it kind of detracts from the actual problem with the packet which is the sugar and the salt and the additive. So it's so deceptive. It tricks you, it tricks the consumer into thinking, oh, iron or calcium. Whereas there's actually a blander version of that cereal probably further down the aisle. It still has that fortification. That's one point to discuss.
- [40:14]
Dr. Federica Amarty
Yeah. And I think, you know, it is a bit of a shocker when you look at children's breakfasts Generally quite a lot of people find that giving children cereal first thing in the morning and then going to school is quick. It's easy, you don't have to cook. But there's really a few things to consider. I think first of all, it's very unlikely that your child will be satiated and actually have enough nutrition from that bowl. It's interesting if you look at the, the packets themselves, the cereal companies have to put on that it's part of a breakfast. They'll have a bowl of cereal plus an egg plus a piece of fruit. Then you're looking at something that's a bit more like a meal. So I think the first thing to say is I don't think demonizing breakfast cereals is necessarily the way to go, but certainly don't consider them a full meal. Also, you know, choose one that is blander. Choose one that doesn't have the golden honey nut. Crunchy. Crunchy because.
- [41:06]
Rhiannon Lambert
And the cartoon on the front just.
- [41:08]
Dr. Federica Amarty
Honestly, like not helping at all. So things like Weetabix. So these are like the Shredded Wheats. Things like bran flakes. Bran flakes. They're much more boring, 100%. But they actually, when you look at the ingredient system, when you think about them in terms of what they're offering, nutritionally, it's a much better picture than your Honey Loops and your Froot Loops and your Frosties.
- [41:30]
Jonathan Wolf
I was brought up to believe that you are meant to eat cereal for breakfast. You know, I think growing up in the States, it's almost like, it's like a nutritional law that you have to eat milk and cereal.
- [41:42]
Dr. Federica Amarty
Breakfast cereal should not be your breakfast every day.
- [41:44]
Rhiannon Lambert
No.
- [41:45]
Dr. Federica Amarty
So even on the days where shreddies do feature on your breakfast, it's that plus a piece of fruit, some yogurt or an egg. It cannot be just that. And it really shouldn't be every day. So there is breakfast. Jonathan, as you know, I'm very passionate about breakfast because it's the meal of the day where we have usually have the most control. Why not make them something that you can both enjoy together, Whether that is like a yogurt bowl with fruits, with nuts, with seeds. Maybe sprinkle some Cheerios as a topper to that if you really have to. But wraps?
- [42:12]
Rhiannon Lambert
What about savory things like sandwiches? Wraps? Think outside the box. We're just great.
- [42:16]
Dr. Federica Amarty
Wraps as well are a wonderful food for breakfast. Like dip your eggs in an apple, you're good to go. But also, I love making, especially on the weekends. My children love pancakes.
- [42:25]
Rhiannon Lambert
Yeah, me too.
- [42:26]
Dr. Federica Amarty
All children do. There is. There's so many ways that you can make pancakes. Absolute nutritional powerhouses. So like we. I know we have one on our Zoe Instagram. There's a really great recipe for pancakes. But I personally just love putting banana, some oats, some eggs, blend them together. Sometimes I'll put in a bit of cinnamon, sometimes I'll put a bit of pear in.
- [42:46]
Rhiannon Lambert
I do the green veg because I can get away with it. I'm just saying to parents listening that mine are only four and two, so I can still hide vegetables in pancakes. You probably can't do that, but I make green ones.
- [42:56]
Dr. Federica Amarty
Well, I've made pink ones with beetroot that went down an absolute. And also this is the age where smoothies actually can offer a real solution, especially for parents. If you're really struggling to get your child to have a diversity of fruits at this age or vegetables, smoothies can offer really good addition to a breakfast. But the Real important thing with smoothies is to remember what you're putting in. So have some kefir, have some yogurt as a base in there, carbohydrate. Have some nuts in there. And it can't just all be super sweet fruits because then you're just making a fruit juice. So really think of it exactly as you mentioned earlier, when you're building a meal, are there carbohydrates? Are there healthy fats in there? Putting avocado in your smoothie is one of the simplest hacks ever. It's creamy. It's quite bland. It doesn't change the taste. So there's lots of other foods for breakfast for children.
- [43:43]
Rhiannon Lambert
Parents don't need to fear carbs either. I think there's two messages out there. Like, they're like, well, I want to give them cereal, but I've heard that now I shouldn't give my children any carbohydrates in the morning to start the day. But actually it's our brain's preferred source of fuel. And if it's the correct type of carb, I always say quantity and quality, the two cues. That's what you need to think of every time you go in the shop and you see bread or you see cereal. Quality, quantity. That means whole grain, how much?
- [44:08]
Dr. Federica Amarty
And children are growing, Jonathan. So when parents are like, oh, I'm really worried about giving my child too much carbohydrate right where your child is growing normally, and actually, you don't have any cause for concern at the moment. It's absolutely important for them to have enough carbohydrate to fuel their growth and their activity. Children are way more active than we are.
- [44:25]
Rhiannon Lambert
Their energy requirements. They burn more than we do as adults. Stage of life. So we actually have to give them so much.
- [44:33]
Dr. Federica Amarty
They do need to eat carbohydrates, please.
- [44:35]
Jonathan Wolf
Funny, I see this with my son over the last year who's basically grown about 6 inches, and he basically eats twice as much as me. Enormous amount of carbs. There's, like, not an ounce of body fat on him at this point because he's just, like, burning this and growing so fast. So I totally see what you're talking about.
- [44:50]
Rhiannon Lambert
Which is the right type, right?
- [44:51]
Jonathan Wolf
He clearly needs.
- [44:52]
Dr. Federica Amarty
But it's so important, Jonathan, because there are voices online that are telling people to not feed their children carbs in the morning and give them bacon. Please don't give your children processed meat.
- [45:01]
Rhiannon Lambert
And saturated fats first thing in the morning instead of carbohydrates.
- [45:04]
Dr. Federica Amarty
Yeah, it's Wild.
- [45:06]
Jonathan Wolf
I would love to switch now to trying to answer some more of our audience questions. We had a very long list, and this has been so fascinating that I feel bad that I've let it run on longer than I should. And we're not gonna answer all of them. So let's try and see if we can be quite punchy. Cause otherwise I'm gonna be in trouble with all the listeners whose questions we don't answer. Maybe starting with Rihanna. If my child needs to lose weight, should I put them on a diet?
- [45:31]
Rhiannon Lambert
Not a diet, no. But you should start looking at the quality of their nutrition. You started with a really complex question with so much nuance. Relationships of food are everything for children growing up and you do not want to impact that. But equally, if you've noticed, your child needs to be looking at their weight, start looking at the quality of their diet, the fiber content. Look at that and seek advice and help and support, one to one.
- [45:56]
Dr. Federica Amarty
From a nutrition professional?
- [45:57]
Rhiannon Lambert
Yes. From someone that's registered, the answer is no.
- [45:59]
Jonathan Wolf
But think about the quality of the food because you do need to address it. Flip side, if my child tells me she's not hungry, should I force her to eat and maybe I can just extend that? I mean, I definitely remember, you know, grandparents where I was like, well, you need to finish what's on your plate and you're not allowed to get down unless it's all finished.
- [46:17]
Dr. Federica Amarty
No. Learning to honor your child's cues for hunger and for satiety is really important. When we deny that child's hunger or satiety, they learn that their body signalling isn't correct. So if a child says they are hungry, believe that they are hungry and offer them a healthy food. If they say they're full up, believe them and tell them that's fine. If you are hungry again, this is the food that is going to be available for you. So that way we know that they are not using that signaling to try and switch the food necessarily. It's really important that we honor those signals because children are very honest and transparent with how they feel.
- [46:56]
Jonathan Wolf
So recognize it. But don't just rush in and say, okay, here's this other meal. Here's this other meal. Rhiannon, should my child have a cup of milk every day?
- [47:03]
Rhiannon Lambert
No. Over the age of two? No. No need. And actually, marketing was a huge role with this. The dairy industry. Dare I say no? There's plenty of other nutrition sources of calcium and things that you think you'd be getting just from that food item alone.
- [47:20]
Jonathan Wolf
My child craves sweet, ultra processed food. Should I try to curb their craving? How so?
- [47:29]
Dr. Federica Amarty
I think what we mentioned. So really building a home environment where the choice of food for them is as healthy as possible, knowing that they'll probably be able to access the sweeter, ultra processed foods outside the home. Start at home, give them lots of variety. This is where baking at home could really come in handy as well. Make some cupcakes in 10 minutes at home and see how they prefer those. So try and find ways to offer foods that are enjoyable but that aren't harmful for their health. Basically.
- [47:58]
Jonathan Wolf
And I think I've got a related one which I definitely feel and think about. Rhiannon, should I get my child an ice cream when we're out?
- [48:08]
Rhiannon Lambert
So it depends how frequently you go to this one place where the ice cream van is. Let's say if you're going to the same park every single day or every weekend, it becomes a habit and therefore you need to embrace. Hey, that's where they're getting their ice cream that week and you go with it and you let them enjoy that moment. However, if you go to this park every day and this ice cream van is there every single day, that's a problem. And that's going to be a really difficult one for your child because they won't understand why am I not allowed it on this day, but I can have it on this day. So you need to be very careful where your boundaries lie from the outset. Having an ice cream a week is totally fine, one or two. But daily ice cream, not a good idea.
- [48:48]
Jonathan Wolf
Is anyone in your family struggling with getting their kids to eat healthily? Why not share this episode with them right now? You can empower them with the latest scientific advice. I'm sure they'll thank you. I think this is a very live one. I think one of the things anyone who has children knows is like, as soon as you do something like twice, it's basically a routine. And three times it's like, well, now that has to happen forevermore. Right?
- [49:11]
Rhiannon Lambert
And you've got the music on the ice cream. I mean, come on. They're very smart. They're so enticing.
- [49:16]
Dr. Federica Amarty
Actually, I make ice cream at home, but not like complicated. It tastes great. And I also make ice lollies just by putting the smoothie into a mold. And then that way it's not about ice cream isn't allowed. It's the quality of this ice cream isn't as good as the quality of the one we have at home. So we're gonna have it at home. So again the conversation spins to ice cream. Isn't this like golden food that you can never have? And it's more about quality. I think teaching children about quality is really important.
- [49:41]
Rhiannon Lambert
It is, because they'll know the difference.
- [49:42]
Jonathan Wolf
What about grandparents? Does it matter if they indulge my kids and break all the rules that I set at my house?
- [49:50]
Dr. Federica Amarty
There's a theory that grandmothers hold massive power. I would highly recommend laying the ground rules with grandparents early on. So it's going to happen that your mother in law or your mother or grandparent will come in with like a tray of ultra processed something like I love my mother in law, she's amazing.
- [50:10]
Rhiannon Lambert
My mother in law does the same though she won't mind me saying. She's like, why haven't you given him chocolate yet? Why haven't you given this? And I used to came in with.
- [50:16]
Dr. Federica Amarty
This tray of the most ultra processed cupcakes I have ever seen in my life.
- [50:20]
Rhiannon Lambert
I know two are the ones. Yes.
- [50:22]
Dr. Federica Amarty
And I was like thank you so much. And then not in front of the children, not like in private, just be like thank you so much. It's really thoughtful. In the future it would be great if you could bring XYZ and listen. Some people don't have a great relationship with the grandparents and the family. Some people do. So if you have a good relationship, talk to them with love and just explain. This is what I'm trying to do with their nutrition. I've heard this isn't great. So I would love if you could do this next time. Could you bring xyz and actually since then she's been bringing berries. My kids love berries.
- [50:50]
Rhiannon Lambert
There you go. That's a nice conversation.
- [50:52]
Dr. Federica Amarty
What if you don't get on with.
- [50:53]
Rhiannon Lambert
The grandparents And I hear this all, all the time and it is a dreaded thing, isn't it? Where your friend's kids go to their grandparents house and they plow them with Haribo. Yes, yes.
- [51:02]
Dr. Federica Amarty
Or with like you know, barbecue flavored crisps. So when, if that's the case, remember that once in a while isn't going to be problematic. If that grandparent is looking after your child regularly, then there's going to have to be a conversation about providing food. And in some cases with some of my clients, they end up sending the food in for the child to take to the grandparents so that there's at least a good nutritional base. But really talking communication is key here. So if you can just establish some ground rules about the kinds of foods that you're feeding Your child. And why not putting any shame on their choices or on their knowledge and education, but just bring that with love. And most of the time, grandparents also want the best for the children.
- [51:41]
Rhiannon Lambert
It's the same as nursery settings, though. I know we don't have time, but childcare settings, it's so hard because the kids are exposed at ages 0 to 3 tons of sugar when other parents.
- [51:52]
Dr. Federica Amarty
Bring it in and there aren't regulations for primary, for nurseries, for food. So it's a wild west out there.
- [51:58]
Rhiannon Lambert
Yeah.
- [51:58]
Jonathan Wolf
Thank you both so much. I'm going to try and do a quick summary and keep me honest. I think we started with just this shocking statistic that three quarters of the food that our children are eating is ultra processed food. This is completely different from the food that any of us were eating 50 years ago. That not just is it ultra processed, but there's an enormous amount of sugar that is hiding in all of this food. And I think I heard you say there are like 12 teaspoons of sugar in a lunchbox, which is sort of terrifying. Right? You would never add that if you're making it yourself. And it's all hidden. And the other thing you said is it tends to be hidden in the food that makes the biggest health claims. So you're saying you're walking down the aisle of the grocery store, you've seen all this food that says, you know, high in protein or added sugar, this thing that's great for, you know, five year olds, whatever it is, and those are the things that have the most sugar added into it as opposed to the food where we know about it. But it's okay, there are things you can do. And we talked a bit about lunch. I think this idea that you can make one change at a time to steadily improve it, I think is wonderful. Rather than saying you've got to fix it all at once. Some very practical advice like sort of swapping to brown pasta or brown rice is quite easy. Shifts. Mixing the veg into the main meal I thought was really smart. You know, it's like hiding it in the pasta. It's a bit like what I used to do at school to hide the food before you throw it away, but you're saying actually get it to eat them. And I thought this brilliant hack that I hadn't heard before, which is, is give them natural yogurt so like with no ultra processed food in it, and then just allow them to put something really sweet and sugary in it's actually gonna be much better than the yogurt you were probably buying last week that you thought was really good for them and was healthy, but actually wasn't. And this is, as Rhiannon just adds, like, fun as well. For breakfast, your children do not need to eat cereal. It is okay for them to eat something else. And indeed, I think fascinating. Federici was saying they may well not be getting enough energy just from the cereal and the milk. So think about what else you can put around that is actually going to be more like a regular meal and fill them up. And then we talked about just the challenges, I think, of getting your children to end up with a healthy relationship with food and be able to manage these challenges around us. And therefore you shouldn't be trying to ban the things that are fun, right? Absolutely. It's totally fine to have ice cream, but you don't want to be in a situation where they're having ice cream every single day. And you definitely don't want them to be having like the terrible ultra processed ice cream every day because you created this habit. So you're trying to find that middle ground. And I think, you know, last thing that stuck in my mind was trying to give your children choices about what to eat. It feels like that's come up in lots of things. You said that they have so little control in life. And actually this pushing against food is partly just trying to have more control. And so if you can give them more choices, that's a bit I'm thinking about, like, it's almost like getting to pick at the buffet, isn't it? Yeah, it's like, okay, like I get. Actually maybe I'm quite happy to eat some of these things. Rather than saying, you've only got this one thing, this is all you can have, and making it into a huge fight.
- [54:54]
Dr. Federica Amarty
Yeah.
- [54:55]
Rhiannon Lambert
Yeah. Brilliant summary.
- [54:57]
Dr. Federica Amarty
Wow. Very good.
- [54:58]
Jonathan Wolf
Wonderful. Thank you so much. I think that was fascinating. I know we will have many follow up questions, so I hope we can tempt you back for a follow up.
- [55:06]
Dr. Federica Amarty
Part two.
- [55:07]
Rhiannon Lambert
Can't wait. Teenagers next.
- [55:08]
Dr. Federica Amarty
Yeah, I can't wait for that. Actually, we haven't even talked about menstruation.
- [55:10]
Rhiannon Lambert
No, we haven't. We didn't do iron enough as well. There's so many things.
- [55:14]
Jonathan Wolf
Thank you so much.
- [55:14]
Dr. Federica Amarty
Thanks, Jonathan.
- [55:16]
Jonathan Wolf
I really enjoyed having Rhiannon and Federica on the podcast today. I hope you learned something new. My biggest takeaway is that school lunch can really empower my children to grow their own relationship to food. Now, if you listen to the show regularly, you already believe that changing how you eat can transform your health, but you can only do so much with general advice from a weekly podcast. If you want to feel much better now and be on the path to live many more healthy years, you need something more. And that's why more than 100,000 members trust Zoe each day to help them make the smartest food choices. Combining our world leading science with your Zoe test results, Zoe is your daily companion to better health for life. So how does it work? Zoe membership starts with at home test to understand your unique body. Then Zoe's app is your health coach, using weekly check ins and daily guidance to help you shift your food choices to steadily improve your health. I rely on Zoe's advice every day, and truly it has transformed how I feel. Will you give Zoe a try? The first step is easy. Take our free quiz. To find out what Zoe membership could do for you, Simply go to Zoe.com podcast. Whereas a podcast listener, you'll get 10% off. As always, I'm your host, Jonathan Wolf. Zoe Science and Nutrition is produced by Julie Pinero, Sam Durham and Richard Willen. The Zoe Science and Nutrition Podcast is not medical advice and if you have any medical concerns, please consult your doctor. See you next time.