Today’s diet is worse than ever, dominated by processed foods containing insignificant amounts of nutrients. In addition, scientific research shows that the trans-fat, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, white flour, butter, nitrates, and concentrated sweeteners all contribute to the obesity, cancer causing cell development and increasing hyperactivity and ADHD in both children and adults.
As parents, we are responsible for providing the right type of guidelines and examples for our children during meal and snack times. But feeding children only the healthy foods, especially when they are extremely picky eaters or when we do not have time to prepare a well-balanced meal, seems to have distorted our expectation and labeling of what is deemed “good” food. When self-proclaimed false "healthy" foods mimic junk, we are encouraging our children to eat more junk. For instance, chocolate milk has more sugar than some chocolate bars and drinking it regularly teaches kids to like chocolate, not milk. Also, oatmeal breakfast bars taste more like cookies than oatmeal (and are usually less nutritious than oatmeal cookies).
These foods trick parents into teaching their kids these foods are healthy. Regularly eating any of these items will constrict rather than expand the range of foods your children will accept. Changes in nutrition have a greater impact on the structure and functioning of young, fast-growing bodies because more of the food is converted to build organs and tissues, whereas adults convert more to energy and store this as fat.
Full of saturated fat and fat-delivered chemical pollutants
Rich in trans-fat, salt, and carcinogenic acrylamides, which inhibit healthy nerve function and interfere with brain functioning
Rich in trans-fat, sugar, and other artificial substances
Pulls minerals out of the bone. Coffee, tea, chocolate, and other caffeinated drinks are acidic and lower the natural pH of the body and disrupt nerve function
Contain N-nitroso compounds that are potent carcinogens
Risk factor for stomach cancer, high blood pressure
Similar to caffeine, salt can lead to a depletion of the minerals needed to keep the neurons firing in a healthy manner and it interferes with a child's mineral balance and natural equalibrium
Research studies link consumption of large amounts of any type of added sugar (not just high-fructose corn syrup) to weight gain, dental cavities, poor nutrition, and increased triglyceride levels, which boost heart attack risk. Sugar also robs the body of vitamins, minerals, and enzymes and increases hyperactivity by preventing blood sugar levels from remaining stable.
Food colors (such as red, blue and yellow) and flavor enhancers, especially monosodium glutamate, also known as MSG, are all dangerous chemicals added to most processed foods and are known to be linked to Hyperactivity, Attention-Deficit Disorder (ADD), Asthma, Cancer and other medical conditions.
Should be given under supervision to children under 3 years old or to children who have swallowing problems because they can cause choking.
According to Joel Fuhrman, MD, board-certified family physician, specializing in nutritional medicine, parents are unknowingly feeding their children foods containing cancer-causing ingredients that fuel our adult cancer epidemic.
A recent study led by Harvard Medical School, as reported by Reuters Press August 18, 2005, lends support to Dr. Fuhrman’s book by finding that breast cancer may be a direct result of poor eating habits in childhood. Data from the study showed a significant risk factor increase based on the volume of French fries eaten as a child.
Children consume a large amount of products that may be genetically engineered. They eat a higher percentage of corn in their diet compared to adults, and allergic children often rely on corn as a source of protein.
Children consume a disproportionately large amount of milk. In the United States and elsewhere, dairy products may come from cows treated with the genetically engineered bovine growth hormone (rbGH).
The milk contains increased amounts of hormones and antibiotics and an altered nutritional content. According to a discussion paper on the public health implications of rbGH, published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, an “infant would be exposed to a dose of IGF-1, which was 12.5 times the recommended minimum.”
