Parents can take heart

Press, 22 October 1984, Page 11

Parents can take heart

Helen Brown

Heart Week was another hard time for parents. Experts said kids were overweight — and it was pretty obvious who was to blame. As with so many problems, from homosexuality to bed-wetting, we had done out bit to make things go wrong again. From the start we had pumped our kids with fatty foods and whole milk that would clog their systems and ruin their hearts for. life. It’s quite a burden — specially when we embarked on parenthood with the best of intentions. We read all the right books, tried to do the Right Thing, only to learn we had been endangering our children’s survival. When experts said the worst damage had been done, I tended to switch off, ignore all the advice and nurse my guilt in private. But during last week, I did find consolation in a

conversation with a dietitian. Changes of lifestyle during, the past 20 years are largely to blame for our nation of little fatties. These days, kids arrive home from school to flop in front of television with something to eat. In the early ’6os most kids ran outside to play — and bum up energy — simply because there was nothing else to do. Other elements, such as fear of letting kids roam the streets and instructions to hang around the house till Mum gets home from work, have led children of the 80s to have more sedentary, and less healthy lives. Conscientious parents often try to put their kids on diets which exclude sweet or fatty foods. But kids need both fat and sugar for growth and all that galloping they’re supposed to do. A few years ago when sugar was frowned on in a

big way, some parents stopped buying biscuits and handed out chippies and savoury snacks, instead. In spite of the noble effort, they were merely changing their kids’ intake from highsugar to high-fat

The smart dietitians today don’t single out particu-

lar foods as no-noes. Variety in a balanced diet is the thing. Good news for family cooks who have stuck with their instincts, and ignored years of scares and prohibitions.

It’s even possible to turn junk food into a balanced meal — if kids have fresh fruit with their fish and chips, or a glass of milk with their hamburgers. For overweight kids, it’s a matter of getting them to eat a little less of everything — and have more exercise. Jazzercise, swimming, cycling, or even just walking more are good ways to get small muscles moving. Children are heavier and taller than they were at the turn of the century. They mature earlier too.

If parents restrict diets, they must accept that their children will revert to’ an inferior standard. That seems a shame in this land of milk and honey.

The ability to spot food and “want it now” was fine in the Stone Age. That reflex had our ancestors bounding over the prairies, spear-in-hand. But now that food is ultra-available, people need to think twice before they step inside the shop with the mountain of bread rolls in the window.

The restaurants and fast food outlets that have sprung up know all about the uncontrollable response to attractively-displayed food. It’s up to consumers, children and adults, to stop and ask, “Am I really hungry?” before they bu y-.. . .

Like many parents, I spent a lot of Heart Week feeling guilty and depressed. That’s why it was reassuring to hear a more positive outlook — and advice moderate enough to follow without turning the kitchen into a laboratory and the livingroom into a gym.