I enjoyed the article and feel the same when I see my children's friends and peers eating these processed foods.  I do not buy processed foods and make meal for my family at home from scratch every day.  I have never had a problem with my children eating healthy food as that is all they have on offer in our home.  We have not denied sugary foods for parties but that is the only occasion that they are offered and we provide healthy alternatives as well.  My children are rarely ill and have never had dental problems, the oldest is 11 and goes to the dentist every 6 months for checkups.  I have found it very difficult to have my children's friends over for sleepovers as they turn their nose up at the food on offer, but we have found ways to make good food hide in what seems to be processed, and it has worked to some extent.  Fussy children is an excuse not to parent, a toddler will eventually eat when they are hungry and the only thing on offer is fruit and veg, I have never found any child will starve rather than eat whats on offer.

Thankyou for your article as it helps me to feel that I am doing the right thing by my children when I say 'No'.

i totally agree. although from my experience, parents who feed their kids junk, are also feeding themselves junk and don't have the knowledge to allow for healthy choices. its a very sad thing, and I feel when poor food choices are inflicted on children that this is a form of child abuse. we have this little girl in my sons soccer club. she is obese and can barely run. she is left behind and isnt invoved in the game because she is so unfit and her body prevents her from keeping up with other kids her age. its so sad to watch because i know these childhood experience will shape her personality and her future. as always, excellent article!

Great article Lui,

My kids were brought up without junk food in the house. Josh was a solid baby so it was always thought that his diet was bad. Once he started walking the weight fell off.

We can't have any junk food in the house as Josh has many allergies most of them being stuff that is in junk food. I am constantly shocked about what some kids have in their lunch boxes at Josh kinder. The other day the kinder teacher had to speak to the parents about the fact that coke is not allowed in childrens drink bottles, i nearly fell over.

once again great article

xoxoxox

I totally agree even though we do have junk food once a week (usually). Junk food should be a treat not every day foods.

Watching some of the shows ( jamie Olivers school dinners are among a few I've seen) which shows this exact issue. In Jamies show parents were buying maccas and giving to the kids at lunch time rather then make them eat the healthy food Jamie was preparing, it was sickening.

I'm lucky my kids love healthy foods all though Lachie has developed an obession with maccas, so we won't be buying it for a while till he gets over it.

Excellent article!

Raven

 Excellent article as always Lui.. Both my kids will choose vegies & fruit over junk food any day.. They laugh at lexi in IGA..she was crying when we were leaving & one old lady said oh buy her a lollipop, the guy at the checkout said its not a lollipop she wants, she didnt get her apple!! it was an apple she was crying for..silly mummy forgot because we had lots at home but thats her treat for being good while shopping.(they seem to find it funny a kid doesnt want junk??)

 We do eat crap occasionally but not very often.. Brad could of had anything for his b'day dinner macca's,. fish n chips etc but chose chicken on a skewer & rice!!

I make my own nuggets, southern fried chicken(its baked though & tastes way better!!) Brad loves them but lexi would prefer raw vegies 

If you only have good nutritional food at home to offer your kids then that is what they will eat...when Ari is told at the grocery store she can have a treat she will head right for the fruit.  She knows the answer to anything we consider junk is no, she won't even ask for it.  Sometimes she will pick up a head of broccolli to munch on, why, because she loves her veggies and really loves the green one (she says this herself).  Its the same with our little boy, we offer only good-for-snacks and home made meals 99% of the time...so that is what he is used to now as well and he is learning his likes and dislikes...we do not offer any chips, soft drinks or candy...so they don't expect or want it.

Its all about what yoy teach to your kids, healthy eating habits and what you offer them to eat.  If you don't offer the junk, they won't want it and won't miss it!  We don't deny Ari anymore we let her make the choice and she doesn't even look at the junk food...so something stuck.

LOL...would like for you to check out my grocery cart, don't give me a hard time about the little bit of chocolate okay...its mine and I don't share!  (ha ha ha)!

Its so true!

I admit they do have fast food but no often and when they do its usually the chicken treat, roast chicken variety which is better then most. I wont eat maccas it makes me sick just looking at it. I swair that one time i went there (with friends) i had some nuggets.... the next week i was craving them!!!!!! They must put something in them!!!! gross >.<

I made our own chicken nuggets the other day, they taisted sooo good!!!! Well a bit bland but great for kiddies, next time mite put a little bit of flavour for us adults. But it was lovely chicken breast with breadcrumbs... how it SHOULD be!!!!! And we had salad with it ;) Going to do fish fingers next time! yummy!

I have watched on t.v when the kids will ONLY eat sweets..... Poor kids, why did they get the choise when they were a baby? the 1st things my kids got were vegies!!! No custed, no fruit (till later) no crap >.< They are spoilt by family members now but I dont mind cause they eat healthy stuff so well.

Amber thought for a while she mite be able to get away with not eating so she could just eat snacks but i jsut fed er which ever meal she didnt eat when she said she was hungry next. Its NOT hard!!!! 2 second tantrum now will save HUGE ones later on!!!!

Great article!

I also dont understand how ppl can say kids wont eat vegies :O Vegies are awesome! they are bright they are more colourful then lollies! my kids favourits snacks are carrot sticks and celery sticks (miss bug has a habbit of stealing the whole celery after shopping and running into her room and munchig on it- and has once stolen a capsicum from wollies and eaten it whole while i shopped!!)

Take aways are good for a treat, when your feeling lazy n cant be bothered, but not every night, Im guilty of buying nuggets and fish fingers (i bought them a fortnight ago and they havent even been opened) but theres nothing better then a healthy meal with meat vegies and mashy tatoe !!!! It even makes you feel better when your run down