Recap: The healthy way to feed your kids | Rhiannon Lambert and Dr. Federica Amati

0:00Hello, and welcome to Zoe Recap, where each week we find the best bits from one of our podcast episodes to help you improve your health. Today we're tackling the challenge of feeding our children. Getting kids to eat a balanced meal can often feel like an uphill battle, especially when they're surrounded by eye-catching marketing campaigns that aim to lure them into unhealthy habits. So how can busy parents help their children build a better relationship with food? In this episode, nutrition experts Rhiannon Lambert and Dr Federica Amati share straightforward strategies to guide your children away from processed foods and towards a lifelong love of healthy eating.

0:41What's the problem with children's food?

0:43Dr Federica Amati:The first thing is that there is this relentless food advertising aimed at children that is of unhealthy foods. So there was a report that was recently published by Bite Back 2030, who are this charity trying to help reduce the amount of adverts aimed at children for unhealthy foods. And they found that on average, UK children are exposed to 15 billion junk food adverts per year. And the US is presumably even higher. Yes. And so the US, we haven't got the number, but it's presumably even higher. And the issue here is that we are surrounded by foods that we know don't support children's health.

1:18Dr Federica Amati:So it's much easier to access those. But they're also being heavily advertised. And anyone who has kids, if you watch TV with adverts in it, they will want the thing. My kids the other day happened to find a channel that had an advert for a chicken roasting pot. Oh, gosh. Which is not... And they were like, mommy, can we have one of those? That is literally the example of advertising working its magic, right? So the problem is that we're not protecting our kids in the UK and the US. And so they're exposed to these adverts. They're exposed to a lot of ultra-processed foods and, frankly, junk food.

1:51Dr Federica Amati:And it's actually a really precious time in life, as we'll get into, where we can have a massive impact on their health and well-being and happiness with their daily food choices. So it's just not set up for us to succeed at the moment. I mean, it's also where parents are going to for the information because we're bombarded by this media storm of packaged goods, really, that are appealing. They're visual, they're bright, they're colourful. It's everything a child would want. Why would they not want something with a cartoon image? And I know there's some legislation now that's cracking down on that sort of display and how you display foods to children.

2:26But let's be honest, I think there's a stat 24 % of adults now go to social media for health advice. They're going for their kids' advice, how to build lunchboxes, how to tackle everything. And less than 2 % of nutrition information on TikTok, for example, is accurate. Less than 2%. Less than 2%. That's rather terrifying. It is, isn't it? And talk a little bit about ultra-processed food within this, because I think that's one of the things that we've touched on on a lot of podcasts here about this sort of general growth in ultra - processed food. But we've always been talking about adults. What's been happening with children?

2:58Dr Federica Amati:Well, unfortunately, the numbers are a bit worse for children. So we know that over half of calories in the UK and the US come from ultra processed foods. It's really crept up. It's roughly about 65 % for most adults now. And when we look at children, we see that it's up to 72%. And what's really quite scary is that it's the very young infants, so like under the age of two, three, and then teens who are bringing these numbers up. So it's a really scary statistic. But it's also not hard to see why when you go to the supermarket and the children's food aisles, The shelves are stacked with these ultra-processed pre-packaged snacks and foods that, as Rhiannon said, they're marketed as being ideal for weaning, ideal for learning how to feed yourself, like contains a piece of kale, whatever.

3:45Dr Federica Amati:The way they're advertised actually makes them sound like they've been designed to help parents on the weaning journey with their children to create like a healthy relationship with food. But they are actually just ultra-processed foods that have been nicely packaged for convenience. We're living in a world right now where children are more used to opening a pouch or a packet of crisps than they are peeling a banana. That's where we are. And it's been really recent that this flood of ultra-processed foods has arrived for children. It's been in the past five to ten years, and we absolutely need to reverse that.

4:21And there's a lot of nuance to add to even that conversation, because if you look at the gender divide of roles in the household, if you look at the way that the workforce has changed, childcare support systems, the time, you know, parents are time poor. I've got a two-year-old, a four-year-old. I'm a nutritionist and sometimes I struggle to find the time. And if I'm the educated person that struggles, how is somebody that does not have access to what is nutritionally correct, doesn't have the time? They're struggling. They're trying to work all hours because women are expected now. There's a huge, huge conversation and an almost overwhelming system that's in place now that isn't helping people make better choices.

5:03I suspect both of you have very well-trained children who are used to eating really good diet and have been through this, and lots of people will be listening. And I feel it's a bit similar to the situation with my son a few years ago who'd been fed an excellent diet of ultra-processed food for a decade. And then I started to realize, actually, this food thing apparently is really important. And not only that, but I think I was thinking about the fact that actually even five years ago, I wasn't really thinking about ultra processed foods. So that's sort of been quite recently in the Zoe journey.

5:33So if someone's listening to this and saying, well, that's fine, but like my children basically are used to only these packeted food. They're used to like white bread with a piece of processed meat. That's the only thing they're willing to eat. And if I give them any of this, they're just going to starve and they won't be able to function at school. So I can't do this. Are there solutions?

5:52Dr Federica Amati:I think this is a good place to say that it's different with different age groups. You're totally right, Jonathan. So I think it's, I've worked with teenagers as well. And it's, it's trickier when it's been a longer time. And also when obviously teenagers have way more autonomy than children who are younger. So how do we help this change? I think Rhiannon's example of starting with one thing at a time is really good, but I like to take a different approach in the home. So the way I think about it is if we could be our own health architects, right? We can't really do anything quickly about our food environment.

6:28Dr Federica Amati:The UK and the US both need to have massive overhaul of policy, of political will. There's a lot to do and that will take time, but let's keep doing it. In the meantime, what we do have control over is what we bring into our homes. So at a very simple level, children at some point will spend time in the home, before school, after school, on the weekends, in the evenings. so I always encourage people to make their home the best possible food environment that it can be but that includes a healthy relationship with food. So this does not mean that you'll catch me making my own homemade butter and banning all ultra processed foods in my home.

7:07Dr Federica Amati:That is not healthy. The other side of this coin is that I've seen some influencers online really create fear amongst children. You know, you will never eat that because it contains XYZ and there's one influencer who actually gets his child involved in the videos to say why she doesn't buy. I mean, it's awful, to be honest. That is a very fast track to disordered eating. We have to create a healthy food environment in the home, including understanding the difference between certain foods and why we eat some foods more often and why we eat some less often. This is more about adding in more good things rather than demonizing the idea of any amount of bad things.

7:41Saying what feeds the belly bugs. Yes, my kids love it. Yeah, yeah, the book. I've got that as well.

7:46Dr Federica Amati:Yeah, that's such a good book. So they literally, they'll know, mommy, I'm going to have my chicken and that's going to make me strong. My muscles are going to be strong. And then they'll like eat, I don't know, I'll give them some ice cream and they'll be like, this ice cream is giving me energy and it tastes good. But they know, no more than maybe one a day because they know it's a lot of sugar. Because you've told them. You've told them that the food, the most important food is there for their belly bugs, their muscles, their growth, their happiness. Children understand from a very young age what food can do for them.

8:17Dr Federica Amati:So for example, my youngest does love chocolate, like in a way, it's hilarious because my eldest doesn't touch it. And so I was like, wow, I've really got away with that. And then the second one arrived and she was literally like, chocolate. So she will sometimes say to me, first thing in the morning, mommy, can I have some chocolate? I'm like, darling, no. What do we need to have first? She's like, breakfast first. And she's only four, right? They do understand if you explain it to them with love and you don't demonize food and say it's bad, they understand, but build that home environment where the majority of the food is especially at eye level.

8:47Dr Federica Amati:Children will open the fridge. Teenagers definitely will. Teenagers will see everything. They will open cupboards. They will open drawers. What is the easiest food to find in your home? Is it nuts and seeds? Is it fresh fruit? Is it a fruit bowl? Is it yogurt? Is it eggs? Or do you have, I've seen drawers of snacks. The treat cupboards, yeah. There's always a treat drawer. It's a huge psychological thing. It's really odd. Because people grew up with it. Every Friday night was their takeaway night or every Saturday. These habitual habits. You have to reshape your home to combat those habitual habits.

9:17And you could try half-half. Like if you've got a particularly difficult child that will only have that white bread sandwich, one side is the brown bread, one side is the white bread. This is what you're getting today. This is what I've made. Just look at the white side when you eat it. And do you know what? It's going to take a little bit of tough love. But equally, like you say, if there's nothing to grab, that chocolate bar they always have isn't in the drawer. And it's replaced with a healthier, well, still high in sugar, but cereal bar version, that's one switch that you've made. They will then start eating because you've bought it.

9:48My personal experience has been, it's this understanding about their microbiome that has been by far the most transformational. And that's true, you know, for both my kids. Also, my son is very grown up. He really controls what his diet is. He's got much more interested in his own physique. He's now bigger than me, like he's going to the gym. And so I think he is now much more interested in food is a way that it supports him getting stronger and all the rest of it. What's interesting is that, you know, both he and my little girl have really bought into this idea that I need to eat this food that is for my good bucks.

10:23And I think that is something that is totally different from the way that I thought about food as a child because it has this idea that it's like, it's not just like what my parents are bothering me about. It's this idea I've got all of these like little things inside me and it's a bit like having a dog or something, right? Like I've got to feed it. But that's been by far the sort of strongest argument for eating things that sort of matches up and that they seem to buy into rather than just it's yet another thing where your parents are forcing you to do something and you just want to resist.

10:52Dr Federica Amati:And I think that when we think about mealtimes, Jonathan, so creating that space to share a family meal, I know that now it's much rarer. So when we look at research of how often people share family meals, it's like slightly falling off a cliff. I can't do it during the week. You know, there's no way with my husband's job, my job and my family dynamic, we can do it in the week. So we make time on the weekends. So it's nice to create that time. If it's once a week, that's still better than nothing. But in that family meal setting, giving children the choice to pick what they want to put on their plate.

11:21Dr Federica Amati:So actually just saying like, here's some vegetables, here's some chicken or some whatever meat you're having or fish. So my household is a big salmon household. They love salmon, my kids, so do I. So put it out and let them serve themselves and just see what happens. Because quite often what they do is dictated by us. You're wearing this. You're going to school. You're seeing this friend today. This is, you know, they don't have much choice in life. And so often their want for independence comes through their choices with their food. You know, I work with people and they say, oh, my child would never eat broccoli or they would never eat sweet corn.

11:56Dr Federica Amati:Or I've never seen them eat a bowl of pasta with tomato sauce before. But then you put them in a setting where they're sharing a meal with their friends. They've got a choice of what to eat. And they have a variety of foods to choose from. And they're eating everything. And you can pick them up, right? Like pizzas. If you put them on the table, you can add extra toppings to a pizza. Oh, creating food together is wonderful. That's like the next layer, yeah. I think if you've listed chocolate as a good example, but crisps or potato chips or, you know, however you address it, you cannot say to a child, we're just not going to have those again.

12:27You know, some, the psychology, like you said, of those particular items, but there are lesser of two evils in those camps when you look at the ingredient lists on the back. and actually you should say, right, well, we're going to have this particular brand, your favorite one, maybe once every week instead of having it in the house every day. So you don't need to go cold turkey and be like, I'm never going to have this in the house ever again. Just be strategic. It's the weekend. You can have this, but actually for the rest of the week, this isn't going to be in our cupboards now this week. This is the option instead.

12:57And slowly you are the, I think it's really empowering parents and giving them confidence, really holding their hand and just saying like you just said, put it down on the table. They will come back because they will be hungry.

13:10Dr Federica Amati:I mean, our job is to provide the best food environment we can. And their job is to exercise their freedom to choose what to eat. But if we're creating a healthy food environment, then the choices they have are healthier. As simple as that. I'll leave you with one final thought. What if there was one simple habit that when repeated could change how you feel? for the better. I'd like to tell you about something that I do daily for my own health. It's called Daily 30, the gut supplement developed by our scientists here at Zoe. Daily 30 is made of over 30 hand-picked plants, including seaweed, fungi, and different types of fiber.

13:48It's a source of plant protein, omega-3, and vital minerals. You simply add a scoop to any meal once a day to support your health and increase the plant diversity in your diet. And unlike synthetic supplements, Daily 30 actually tastes great. It's designed to be enjoyed because when a habit brings you joy, you're far more likely to stick with it. So next time you feel like your plate is missing extra plants, do yourself a favor. Try Daily 30. It's a delicious and healthy habit that you'll feel good about and one that your gut will definitely thank you for. By the way, whenever we talk about Daily 30 as a good source of fiber, we're required to say that it contains four grams of total fat per serving.

14:29Obviously, that's all amazing healthy fats from plants. So order yours today at zoe.com slash daily 30. See you next time.