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Having one cigarette a month won't do anything, either.
You advocate that as a treat?
You understand the metabolic hell that is unleashed when you eat a big Mac?
Why don't you explain it? At 550 calories, it's hardly the worst thing you could eat.
Warning: if this "metabolic hell" is comparable to the "metabolic hell" unleashed when you eat an organic raw smoothie made with kale, spinach, carrot, 3 apples, a pear, 25 blueberries, 5 strawberries, coconut milk, and agave nectar, then your point will be moot.
Sorry but every dietitian in the world will disagree with you, EVERYONE would function better with 5 or 6 smaller meals vs 3 larger meals. You avoid the lows and highs with the sugar/carb rush and your body metabolizes food better that way. Plus, a child's stomach is about the size of their fist...they simply can't take in enough food 3 times/day to sustain healthy development.
Been there, done that. I function much better on 2 meals a day. I know a lot of people who do. The advice that you have to eat more meals is rubbish, because it simply ignores people like me who have tried both and find 2 meals a day orders of magnitude better. The advice-givers start with a conclusion and ignore everything to the contrary. I'll start listening to them when they start listening to me, you know?
Stomach volume seems like a non-issue because there are very calorie-dense foods that can keep you going the whole day. If you eat cereal, then sure you'll need to eat several times a day -- there isn't anything in cereal. If you eat pork belly, brown rice, and vegetables, you won't need to snack.
There's wiggle room, obviously. I wouldn't deny my kid a snack if he needed it. I understand kids have picky tastes and a lot of energy and might not finish a full meal, and it's not worth traumatizing them over that -- just eat what you can and have a snack later. I get it. I just ask that we at least entertain the idea that eating snacks all day isn't the optimal way to do it, that it shouldn't be the goal.
snacks are not bad. treats are not bad. sugar is not bad. If all of it is consumed in moderation, it will not kill you. It will not cause diabetes. Eating healthy is great, but eating good dessert every once in a while is an enjoyable part of life. Why deny yourself or your kid when it won't bring any real harm if it isn't done in excess?
Except, having a Big Mac as a treat when you get straight A's in school doesn't cause cancer, or turn you into a food snob who believes that "sea foam" is a food category. Enjoying a single-serving-sized bag of Ruffles salt and vinegar at a birthday party isn't going to rot your lungs, and it doesn't have any particular "cool factor" nor is it a gateway to worse things, like (OMG) ice cream.
People who enjoy big macs, don't normally go through 20 of them a day - like people who smoke do with cigarettes. In fact, most people who enjoy big macs, likely don't even have ONE a day. I like Big Macs, and even when I was a kid, I didn't have more than one a month, which was a *TREAT* in our house.
You're turning a topic about *TREATS* into scare-mongering about smoking? Really? Is that what you get out of the discussion? That enjoying a treat will cause cancer and that kids need to be traumatized against it?
No, the occasional Big Mac treat won't give you cancer. Neither will a cigarette once in a blue moon, hell probably not even some recreational drugs.
So sure, if your kid lives and breathes for that Big Mac and that's what they want to celebrate their report card - by all means, go nuts. That's not at all what I'm talking about.
What I'm saying is that allowing "junk" and "treats" in no way precludes having conversations about healthy food choices and all comes with it - the realities of our food supply, what goes into processed food, etc. I'm not sure why you're denying that there are problems with the commercial food industry, I thought by now it was a well known fact
The problem is not having that Big Mac, but thinking that it's an equally good choice as, say, a homemade grass-fed sirloin burger with some real cheese, etc. Again it's not about calories, it's about food quality.
And chances are that if kids have been exposed to good tasty food from infancy, they won't particularly enjoy it. I don't personally know a single grown up right now who truly enjoys Macdonalds food, even though we enjoy plenty of not-so-healthy snob...who knows, I might be proven wrong, but somehow I doubt that my kids will grow up to love it given that it's not a place we ever go into.
No, the occasional Big Mac treat won't give you cancer. Neither will a cigarette once in a blue moon, hell probably not even some recreational drugs.
So sure, if your kid lives and breathes for that Big Mac and that's what they want to celebrate their report card - by all means, go nuts. That's not at all what I'm talking about.
What I'm saying is that allowing "junk" and "treats" in no way precludes having conversations about healthy food choices and all comes with it - the realities of our food supply, what goes into processed food, etc. I'm not sure why you're denying that there are problems with the commercial food industry, I thought by now it was a well known fact
The problem is not having that Big Mac, but thinking that it's an equally good choice as, say, a homemade grass-fed sirloin burger with some real cheese, etc. Again it's not about calories, it's about food quality.
And chances are that if kids have been exposed to good tasty food from infancy, they won't particularly enjoy it. I don't personally know a single grown up right now who truly enjoys Macdonalds food, even though we enjoy plenty of not-so-healthy snob...who knows, I might be proven wrong, but somehow I doubt that my kids will grow up to love it given that it's not a place we ever go into.
And what's wrong with being a food snob??
I think you've been in this thread from the beginning, so surely you've seen this "good food/bad food" meme debunked, and also a contributor to eating disorders.
What's wrong with being a food snob was summed up to me years ago, by an older and wiser woman physician. She said, "too much concern with what you're putting in your mouth"!
Not all calories are created equal.
Calories are in fact nowhere near the point of this conversation unless you talk about how most food in the typical American diet is calorie dense and nutrition poor.
Calorie restriction is the dumbest way to go about your business bc it misses the point entirely.
With a Big Mac, you will trigger an immense insulin spike (lots a sugar in it) and inflammatory cascades...and consume 550 calories of basically zero nutrients. The hormones and antibiotics in the meat are bad news for you, too. Your liver will go nuts and fatty deposits accumulate.
Not all calories are created equal.
Calories are in fact nowhere near the point of this conversation unless you talk about how most food in the typical American diet is calorie dense and nutrition poor.
Calorie restriction is the dumbest way to go about your business bc it misses the point entirely.
With a Big Mac, you will trigger an immense insulin spike (lots a sugar in it) and inflammatory cascades...and consume 550 calories of basically zero nutrients. The hormones and antibiotics in the meat are bad news for you, too. Your liver will go nuts and fatty deposits accumulate.
It does not begin or end with calories.
Y
Oh, really? I think that's just because I took the wind out of your sails by showing that McDonald's does have some fairly low-cal items. Weight gain/loss IS a matter of calories in/calories burned.
Now it's kind of funny that I'm coming off as a sort of McDonald's defender, b/c really, like most people, I can think of better places to spend my food dollar, and my favorite food there is the filet-o-fish, not a hamburger.
I see you did not download the nutrition analysis in the link I posted. So, here you go:
The chart isn't copying well, so I'll do the favor of doing it manually:
Calories: 550
Fat calories: 260 (OK, high end)
Fat grams: 29, 45% of daily value
Saturated fat: 10 gm, 51% daily value
Cholesterol: 75 mg, 25% daily value
Sodium: 970 mg, 40% daily value
Carbs: 46 gm, 15% daily value
Fiber: 3 gm, 13% daily value
Sugars: 9 gm
Protein: 25 gm (13-52 gm/day recommended per sex and age; 34 gm + for people 9 and over) Now most people wouldn't buy a Big Mac for a small child.
Their smoothies, by comparison are only 2-3 gm of protein. However, this is a food many parents would feel is much more acceptable.
Why are we talking about weight loss? Most active healthy kids with a decent diet don't need to lose weight, and it is possible to be thin and unhealthy.
The point is not the calories, it's the hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, artificial additives, processed fats and sugars, the pink slime and sub par disgusting 'meat' parts that go into processed meat products, etc etc.
My preference is for the French type of diet: small portions of good, deacdent food including butter and cream and white flour and chocolate - but all real, natural food. Calories and fat, yes, but sure beats out mickey D's.
Calories are not equal. There's plenty of calories in foods such as nuts, seeds, avocados, olive oil, however these are healthy fats and calories That are actually good for your body
No, the occasional Big Mac treat won't give you cancer. Neither will a cigarette once in a blue moon, hell probably not even some recreational drugs.
So sure, if your kid lives and breathes for that Big Mac and that's what they want to celebrate their report card - by all means, go nuts. That's not at all what I'm talking about.
But that's what this thread is about. It's about kids being deprived of unhealthy *treats.* It isn't about kids being deprived of a daily dose of nutritional crap. If they're eating it every day, it's not a treat. This thread is about treats.
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