I don't know. I'm guilty of it if we're out and about during lunchtime. But that's not often, I'd say maybe once or twice a month. I don't give him fries though and I try to make the healthiest selections that I can from the menu. Like milk for his drink and apple slices or yogurt for his side. But at home he eats real food. It's easy enough then because I have to make three meals a day so it's no problem to just feed him what we're having. Only thing is for some reason Chu doesn't like any fruit but apples and bananas. And as far as veggies are concerned he only likes yams, corn, beans, peas, and cooked tomatoes (oh, forgot tomatoes were fruit, whatever). Now when he was a weenie little baby he liked everything. Come to think of it, does anyone have any tips on getting your one year old to actually eat more of a variety of fruits and veggies?

I believe that you are what you eat. If you eat crap, that makes you.....you get it. With the obesity epidemic rampant in children, i find it reprehensible to set them up for a lifetime of battling being overwieght by teaching them bad habits when they are young. Junk foods are "once in a while foods" in our house. I do not use french fries or cake as a reward, because I don't believe in using food as a reward at all. I think this leads to the situation where grown people begin to find comfort in food and turn to food when they are upset, angry , depressed, etc. My family enjoys all aspects of food-gardening, harvessting, canning, freezing, etc. I love cooking and my daughter enjoys cooking with me. But she has a healthy relationship with food. When we do have desserts, they are always home-made. Store bought desserts have so much more fat, sugar, and preservatives than anything you could make at home.

As for the vegetables, if Chu likes cooked tomatoes and maybe spaghetti sauce, you can always add cooked veggies to his spaghetti sauce. If he can visually detect an unsavory vegetable in his food, try pureeing them and adding them to foods you know he will eat. If he likes muffins, add some fruits to his muffins. Cook with applesauce replacing some of the fat and egg in a given recipe. Make him fresh fruit smoothies with a little bit of a variety of fruits in additioni to the ones he really loves. You could also make him zucchini bread and carrot cake or muffins. Cook rice in vegetable broth instead of water. If he likes scrambled eggs, then try adding a little bit of pureed cauliflower to them. he won't really notice their presence, and he will be getting a little bit of them into his diet. Lastly, don't worry too much about it. You can lead a horse to water, but cannot make him drink! All we can do is give them healthy options.

I agree, Tanya. Letting your child eat junk makes you a clunker of a parent.

hmm. im not sure on this one. i know i eat alot of fast food but i would never let my child have a happy meal or something more than once or twice a month

sillyakchick- not all people who eat fast food are obease? i eat fast food atleast 3 times a week (yeah i know its bad) and i dont gain any weight hardly at all?

i think its kinda harsh to say if you eat crap your crap.


moderation is the key to junk food or fast food.


i guess me and my kids are crap cause i ate junk food and fast food when i was pregnant.

I don't believe that I indicated that all people who eat fast food are obese. In fact, I don't believe I spoke of fast food at all in my post. There are some helthy fast foods out there.

Obesity, however, is not the only marker of an unhealthy individual. Believe me, if you continue to eat fast food three times a week, you are on your way to being unhealthy. (Of course, it depends on what you eat there)

I am curious, though. How will you justify only letting your child have fast food 2 times per month if you yourself are eating it three times a week? It would seem confusing to a child, perhaps, to have a "do as I say, not as I do" example to follow.

Sorry that was my stab at humor in trying to say "you are what you eat"

*edited to add

I did say that "Junk foods are "once in a while foods" ". I too have been known to eat junk food and the occasional french fry. And pregnancy trumps all because I would never ever deny a pregnant woman the pint of fish food ice cream from Ben and Jerry, a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos, or a Biggie Fries in her moment of need.

well i hate mcdonalds. i dont eat it alot. i like arbys and subway...wendys...i love taco bell :] no burger king...bleh i hate burger king
not a fan of sonic either

my goal is to definately cut back on fast food after the baby is born
not because i feel unhealthy but because it gets expensive.

i have a very balanced diet
i eat alot of fruits and veggies and rink alot of watre and orange juice. i eat good ans far as i know. so i think my diet kinda balances out either way

right now however i eat what i want
i stopped drinking soda my entire first trimester and now i drink a can or two a week of soda. if that.
i dont think im crap because i eat taco bell or whatever but yes there are some helathy fast foods too and i agree with that.

Knowing what we now know about fast food and processed foods, it is irresponsible to your own health to allow yourself or your children to consume them.

i need to change my diet before i have children, i want to be a good example.

ive had taco bell about 8 times in less than 2 weeks

its good!!!!

ME TOO..i swear i used to never eat fast food..i swore off of it, i started working at a mexican restaurant as a waitress, and i dont get off til like 11ish..then i go pick my bf up from work, and taco bell is on the way..and since i've had no dindin..taco bell starts calling my name and i just cannot refuse haha...i usually eat healthy though, i dont think its bad to let kids splurge every now and then, i remember numorous trips to mcdonalds as a kid and until middle school (those dang prepubescent years) i was in good shape..then u go through that "chubby phase"...well..some of us do haha

gah. i guess i'm crap cuz i had burger king for supper tonight .

i was just so worn out today and i needed a nap really bad. so by the time i woke up it was late and neither of us had eaten and neither of us wanted to go pick up groceries then cook them. if rich wasn't working such long hours all the time, i would be able to get to the grocery store more often, but i can't do it alone in my hugely pregnant state. i feel totally guilty about it but at the same time i am tired and it's hard to do anything right now so an easy meal trumps a healthy one sometimes.

Refer to rule #2, pregnancy trumps all!

yay!!

I don't see why every once and awhile it's bad? I think we eat out maybe 3 times a month, and that's not just fast food. I can see a person eating it every day, and a kid that's 6 years old and weighs 180 lbs. ( i watched a dr. Phil the other day about this lol) I know when we go out a fast food place my daughter will get apples insted of fries, cookie, or whatever. And we don't get soda. We grab a ice tea, or water. I don't see the harm in treating yourself, or your family out ot eat sometimes. I know for my house i don't keep chip, cookies, pop, or a lot of the crap foods.

I don't really like fast food so i very rarely eat it, i think this week was the first time i had something from McDonalds since before i was pregnant and even then it was a milkshake. Moderation is the key, i belive in tottaly depriving your children of certain foods but i wouldn't fill them up with pizza and sweets etc

did anyone watch that jaime oliver show when he went into schools and made the lunch ladies learn how to cook healthy food? and he made that one family eat only healthy foods for a while and their behaviour changed completely. i think that is a good enough reason right there not to give them junk food. like others have said, in moderation it's acceptable, but if you can get them into good habits early on in life, that's the best thing you can do for them. i just think it's tragic how some people abuse their kids with food.

Yep i was addicted to that show! the whoel time it was on i was wishing he's come to my school because in my school's attempt to go healthy they made the food have no flavour and his food looked so so good