[...] contributor to Babble’s The Family Kitchen, posted a piece today about discovering that a kindergartner in her elementary school was being sent with lunch consisting entirely of low-calori….  In it she says that “the little girl was able to describe the calorie-counts of each [...]

[...] Diet Food For Kids? [...]

I most definitely would NOT–agreed with you.

Growing bodies need healthy food. Healthy food for children is not diet food. Yes, we need to watch what our kids eat and make sure they get a balanced diet with lots of fruits, vegetables and protein but feeding them diet food isn’t the answer. The fact that this little girl already knows how to count calories is sad. Calories shouldn’t matter – especially children – if kids are eating a balanced diet and enjoying a healthy active lifestyle. Worst of all, she may be missing out on some essential fats if she isn’t allowed to eat “healthy fat” food like avocados, etc.

This is sad. And, it’s as sad as the photo that’s with it. The photo, much to the dismay of most, is of REAL food, not diet food. Diet foods are processed foods, and aren’t good for MOST people. The food in the picture is not diet food, but real food, and food that children should be eating with abandon. (And, food that adults should be eating with abandon, too.)

The most disturbing thing to me is the idea that SO many Americans believe that diet food is “healthy” food and are probably deluding themselves into thinking they will actually lose weight with aspartame and any other number of excuses for things like that.

But the deeper issue here is our little ones believing they have to measure up (or measure down as the case may be) to fit into someone’s idea of the perfect body.

Julie – Please enlighten me further on how choosing to feed children a cruelty-free diet is akin to feeding them fake foods. We eat real, whole, healthy food, but we intentionally eschew meat as a family for ethical reasons. I am offended by your remark – the two are COMPLETELY unrelated.

i agree with above posters — i don’t give my daughter that much in the way of treats (she’s only 1.5 years old), but i also don’t believe in “diet food”. teach your children to love fruits and veggies, whole grain breads, and whole, not processed, foods.

but to “julie” who commented above, how is this the same as raising your child as a vegetarian? one is teaching their daughter to count calories and worry about weight while still eating processed crap. another is teaching their children to eat vegetables and eat well. how is that even remotely relatable? i’m not a vegetarian, but i assume that if i were, my child would likely be as well, or close to it, since it would be something that i as a person would believe in.

sorry, but i think it’s way worse to feed your kids processed foods 90% of the time, diet or not.

Seriously, “diet” junk food = vegetarianism…? WTF???

I only keep skim milk in my house, and we also have fresh fruit like apples or bananas, in addition to low sugar yogurt and sugar free beverages. Diet food? nope. Healthy food? yep.

We as a family drink Crystal Light, skim milk, and water exclusively – no soda, and eat only low fat or fat free dairy products in addition to lean meats and produce. Why is that so wrong? Are there really more nutrients in full fat yogurt than fat free or is this a witch hunt for supposedly unhealthy additives like aspartame which have never been proven to be detrimental? And yes, we do it because they are ‘diet’ and have fewer calories and fat. Just because I’m conscious of my family’s health and weight, doesn’t mean my kids can recite the calorie counts of their food, but it does make them more conscious to the fact that there are healthy alternatives to the junk marketed to kids they encounter when I’m not around. Organic, whole grain, natural sugar coated frosted flakes are still frosted flakes. Just because it’s ‘natural’ and ‘organic’ doesn’t mean we should be eating it with abandon, either.

While I wouldn’t serve my child a ‘lean cuisine’, I certainly do look for juices with lower sugar/calories. I also choose to buy her ‘sweet’ snacks that have lower sugar/fat/calories. So yes, she gets the 100 calorie packs of yogurt covered pretzels or 100 calorie oreo cakesters…and I do have the low cal non fat yogurt. Does she know she is eating this…no. Does she know calorie counts…no. During the day she has her fruit, vegetables, proteins, etc as main meals. She does whole milk, I do 1%. I don’t know why its such a bad thing to cut where you can, especially on the empty calorie items. So call it ‘diet food’ if you want, I would just say that it is making better choices. No reason to fill your child up with calories that aren’t necessary. Whats wrong with Snackwell or low fat yogurt?

When you think about it meal serving sizes and calorie counts these days are outrageous. Lean cuisines offer those guilty pleasure items that could consist of an entire days calorie allowance for a child, or even an adult in both a reasonable portion size an calorie count, as do the 100 calorie count packages of cheeses, cookies and other snacks. Eating habits develop in childhood, and I think it is more outrageous that kids are taking in 1000 calorie meals in one sitting. Also on another note according to nutritionists after the age of 2 years of age children are supposed to transition from whole milk cheeses, yogurts and other products to lower fat options anyways because they no longer need to make up for the rapid brain growth of the first year. The can transition to getting their fats from unhealthy unsaturated fats, to good fats from vegetables and vegetable oils.

I don’t think diet foods like cupcakes are a good choice, but low fat yogurt or skim or low fat milk is fine in my book. Although children do need some fat in their diet, if children are going to get all the dairy servings they should then at least some of them should be low fat or skim options because if they are eating a balanced diet then the healthy fats they need should come from better sources such as poultry, fish, avocados, nuts, beans, etc. Teaching kids that healthier alternatives like low fat or skim milk are just as tasty and nutritious is important, without putting the emphasis on their weight or waistline, but rather on just keeping balance!