over 30? you grew up eating what adults ate. now kids eat chickn fingers. pizza. mac n cheese

[Liberal_in_LA]

Death to the chicken finger

Cut up a fresh, bone-in chicken breast and you’ll notice that it naturally separates into two distinct parts: a larger, teardrop-shaped lobe of flesh — the piece of meat that you probably think of when someone says “chicken breast” — and a more narrow piece sometimes referred to as a “tender.” The chicken finger originated in the need to find something to do with that tender, explains food historian Gary Allen in a short history of the convenience food published online five years ago. Chicken fingers, Allen says, were seldom seen before 1990 or so, but by the end of the 1980s, fear of saturated fats turned many North Americans away from beef and toward chicken. Increased demand meant billions of additional chicken breasts were processed — but what was the industry to do with the tenders? The answer is on children’s plates. We can look at Allen’s mini-history of a mini-food as a metaphor for how cuisine has come to be divided in contemporary North America: The prime cuts go to the adults while the less healthy morsels — dressed up in extra salt, fat and sugar and processed almost beyond recognition — end up on the kids’ menu, both in the family restaurants that traffic in such fare, and at home. -

For a generation, many North American parents have indulged children’s picky eating tendencies by sticking them in an endlessly repeating loop of chicken fingers, burgers, pizza, plain pasta, mac and cheese, and grilled cheese sandwiches. Anyone who has sat down for a meal with youngsters over the past 25 years will recognize this list of typical “kids’ foods.” Pushed out of the picture, to varying degrees for different children, are fruits and vegetables and anything else that might challenge them, from spicy delicacies to unfamiliar proteins. To picture what this might look like to a visitor from almost anywhere else in the world, imagine we just mashed up some bread and cheese and mechanically separated chicken flesh together, called it Kiddy Chow, and bought it by the bag to rip open to feed the tots.

Mealtimes for children were quite different just a few decades ago. Over the past few months, I’ve spoken casually and in formal interviews with dozens of people about food and childhood. As a general rule, people who grew up in North America and are now over the age of 30 recall that when they were children, kids ate what the adults ate. Families usually dined together at the table. There might have been foods you didn’t like; depending on the rules of the house you might have been expected to try them or even finish them. Or you might have been free not to, as long as there weren’t too many foods you were refusing. Either way, it wouldn’t have occurred to you that an adult was going jump up from the table to prepare you something precisely to your liking. And if you didn’t eat, you might have to wait quite a while for the next opportunity: Studies show that North American kids snack more often and consume more calories than they did in the 1970s.
- See more at: http://news.nationalpost.com/the-kids-menu/#sthash.yrdDg2TK.dpuf

[undeterred]

1. We had 4 food groups, now there's only 3 - salt, sugar, and fat

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. and white flour

[Man from Pickens]

3. Beer is a food group

also, ketchup is a vegetable

[ProfessorGAC]

61. And The Downside is?

Well, not the ketchup part. I don't ever use that. But, beer as a food group doesn't seem to have a downside for me!

[NightWatcher]

4. My 4yo eats what we eat. She's loved sushi since she was tiny

She will eat mac and cheese but hates chicken fingers (unless it's grilled and high quality).

[Habibi]

5. Yep, we ate what the adults ate

or we didn't eat.

(But there were always a few coins to buy sweets with, which could be hidden in one's pillowcase.)

[Liberal_in_LA]

9. picking up pizza, Chinese food, burgers wasnt common when i was a kid

We basically ate what are parents ate although spaghetti casserole was one of mom's go to recipes when she made hammocks or something we didn't like

[WorseBeforeBetter]

21. Ha, Sloppy Joe's and pizza-burgers were my Dad's.

We usually had pizza or Chinese Friday nights because both parents were pooped from the work-week. Fast food and sodas were rare. We lived in an area with excellent seafood, and took full advantage. That was probably the biggest dining splurge.

I gotta hand it to my mother, there was a hot meal every night, and she worked full-time once we kids were past kindergarten.

[dilby]

6. Hmmm, my 10 year old eats everything, my 12 year old is a little more picky but wont touch fast food

I had my kids this weekend so took them for Indian on Friday night and my son and I both had goat which was absolutely fantastic, my daughter was not as adventurous as my son and stuck with the chicken curry. On Saturday I took them for sushi which they both love, and they eat the funky stuff most kids would avoid like urchin, raw shrimp, fried shrimp heads, raw scallops all the best stuff. My daughter has become a little bit of a sushi snob where she compares everything to the sushi had in Japan.

[mrs_p]

7. My nearly 4yo doesn't really like meat

And I don't want to make her eat it. Otherwise, unless it is spicey, we try to eat the same thing and at the same time. We are very worried of falling into the trap of making special meals for her. The pediatrician warned us as soon as she started eating real food.

[Liberal_in_LA]

10. and it is a trap.

[Arugula Latte]

18. My daughter has never eaten meat either.

I get her aversion to it; I haven't eaten red meat for 30 years. The planet doesn't need more meat eaters either. (Sometimes she eats a bit of white fish.)

[BrotherIvan]

35. This book was extremely helpful for a friend whose son would only eat white rice

and all of his baby teeth had cavities. The trick is to get them while they are young, before two if possible. But even for your four year old it can be done. Adults modeling eating the food is the first step. And then having a plan to introduce new foods. The French have an idea that a child has to be exposed to a new food many times before they can incorporate it. I read the book myself and really enjoyed it and learned a lot about healthy eating as the French really emphasize lots of fresh vegetables.

After reading the book, the number one tip my friend took away for her three extremely fussy boys was no snacking. The author points out the North American kids (she is Canadian) snack all day long, so they aren't really hungry at mealtimes. The French do not snack at all. An American child is then only mildly hungry and will refuse new or adult foods. When my friend stopped carrying cheerios and crackers and let the kids get hungry for mealtime, they were more willing to eat what was in front of them. I saw the transformation and it was pretty cool. Their mealtimes went from WWWII type battles to more calmness and peace. It wasn't easy and it wasn't instant, but they did switch over from kid foods. I was happy to hear that because kid foods are not nutritious at all and she does not have time to be a short order cook for each child. It definitely is a trap.

http://www.amazon.com/French-Kids-Eat-Everything-Discovered/dp/006210330X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1424075126&sr=8-3&keywords=french+parenting+books

[Egnever]

8. I would call that a parenting problem

My kids get what is put in front of them. Admittedly they do get chicken tenders occasionally or pizza but that is for our convenience more than theirs.

[TBF]

11. Get off my lawn! nt

[Terra Alta]

12. I'm 33, almost 34

When I would stay at my great-grandmothers while my parents were working, I would eat what she cooked for me, or I wouldn't eat at all. I didn't mind, since her food was delicious.

My parents and grandparents were a bit more lenient, though.

[winter is coming]

13. Some kids still eat what their parents eat.

When my kid was a toddler, one of her teachers thought we'd accidentally sent the wrong lunch to daycare because it was a salad. Nope, our kid was and is a big-time salad eater.

[tammywammy]

15. My nephews eat what the parents eat.

Minor substitutions, like the oldest doesn't like sauce, so my brother would set aside some plain pasta for him.

[tammywammy]

14. I have a friend who's son is like that

Cheese pizza, chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, etc. He's 11 now.

I feel sorry for him.

[MrMickeysMom]

73. I have to ask...

Is he unhealthy? I know kids change a lot from that age, and I'm wondering how the hell he gets his antioxidants?

[tammywammy]

82. No, he's not unhealthy.

But you do have to wonder.

[surrealAmerican]

16. ... or your parents fed you spaghetti-os ...

... or "chef Boy-r-dee", or Kraft mac-and-cheese, or TV dinners, or any number of kids foods from the sixties, seventies, and eighties.

I am well over 30, and sometimes my parents fed me real food, sometimes not. I don't imagine it's a whole lot different now.

[Liberal_in_LA]

64. spaghettios was themeal we fixed for ourselves

[ProdigalJunkMail]

17. my kids eat what we eat... or they don't eat.

we cook ONE meal. everyone gets the same stuff. now, we realize there are some real problems with some foods for a couple of our little ones (one gags on green beans and the other won't eat grits) but we don't force those and offer an option... but it is just those couple of things... if i cook broccoli then we ALL have broccoli.

sP

[MineralMan]

19. Overstated. A lot of kids eat

what their parents eat. But a lot of parents eat crap and feed it to their kids too. I grew up in the 1950s, and had friends with parents who fed them crap then, too.

I was lucky. My mother clocked wholesome meals we all ate. My wife's cousin, who has young children cooks healthy meals for her family now, just like my mother did. I also know parents who never never cooked anything from scratch. Their kid eat fast food, just like their parents do.

This article paints with a brush that is too broad.

[Shrike47]

20. My kids ate what we ate. Of course, I like bologna sandwhiches

Too bad I can't eat them anymore.

[hollysmom]

22. that is nothing new, it is pushed by watching too much television.

growing up, my parents liked to eat out , so we learned to love the good stuff, but then we only watch a little televsion growing up, click forward 10 years and my brothers were born, when we all went out to eat, the would throw fits if they could not have hamburgers or spaghetti - and this is some of the best seafood restaurants.

They grew up in the same family with the same eating habits and ate what was put in front of them at dinner like all of us, but when we went out they would just ask for what they saw on TV. It was embarrassing. And if you said, fine don't eat , but you have to wait until we are done, they would throw a fit. We had to leave before eating what we ordered so many times. I say it was not my parents, it was their limited imaginations because of all the TV they wanted to watch.

[Brigid]

23. "Eat your vegetables."

-- My mother, back in the '60's and '70's. Sometimes followed by "Or no dessert."

"Eat it or wear it." -- My dad.

[csziggy]

87. Same thing for us in the 50s and 60s

We were expected to eat everything on our plate - if not, no dessert. No snacks ever. Three meals a day, vegetables at lunch and dinner - except when Mom was working and my older sisters made sandwiches for us.

My little sister got away with more picky eating habits, but not a lot since the rest of us kids would harass her for turning her nose up at good food or expecting Mom to cook special dishes just for her.

We seldom ate out - Mom & Dad couldn't afford it and didn't have time since our small town had few restaurants. Grandmother would take us to McDonald's as a "special treat" - which we never liked. McDonald's burger were nasty and none of us liked them.

[HockeyMom]

103. I only ate raw veggies as a kid

which included raw potatoes. I hated french fries, mashed, etc. My parents let me have that concession. Mom bought only fresh veggies, cooked them for her and my Dad, and left some raw for me. I suppose they figured raw is better than nothing at all.

[MissB]

24. We still eat dinner at the dining table with no

electronics allowed. We talk and we eat.

We also fight over the last piece of broccoli and the last piece of homemade naan. I still find it funny to say "don't take so much broccoli!"

I have one kid that recently went vegetarian. Since only about a third of our meals are vegetarian, he is expanding his cooking skills. I don't make more than one meal. It's a win/win thing though- he wouldn't try such new dishes unless he invests the time and energy, and I know that he will be able to feed himself with more advanced dishes when he leaves the house.

Both kids know how to cook lentils, quinoa and rice.

[betsuni]

25. What is most diabolical is the brand awareness.

A while ago on a news program, some American children were asked their favorite foods. Not only did they say mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, pizza, but which brand. Kraft mac 'n' cheese, McDonald's chicken nuggets, those Lunchables things, etc. Like living commercials.

When I was young we could do that with candy and snacks and breakfast cereal but not meals. it's cheaper to make things from scratch and our mothers were on a budget. My best friend's mother only bought generic stuff. There were no chicken nuggets. Salad did not come in a bag and dumping a box of something into a pan and heating it was not considered cooking. One did not buy frozen lasagna. It was still possible to live comfortably, if on a budget, on one salary per family and we were not brainwashed into believing cooking was too difficult and time consuming to even consider. But from television everybody knew the jingles -- "My bologna was a first name" and so on -- valuable space in my brains is taken up by advertising and now half the time I can't remember why I went into the next room. DAMN YOU CAPITALIST PIG-DOGS111!!!!!

It's like cake mixes. I grew up thinking that if you wanted to make a cake, you bought a mix. It didn't occur to me that it was even possible to make one from scratch. It's easy, what the hell. They tried to do that to bread, suddenly bread mixes were everywhere, but that didn't take hold as far as I can tell.

Eating out was rare, and there were many more non-franchise drive-ins or places where everybody ate the same thing. Sharing food is sharing culture. Americans certainly don't need any more encouragement to be stubborn and individualistic. I was watching a cooking show a while ago and a chef from India had to do a children's food challenge and he said "I feel bad for what children are subjected to. Chicken nuggets! It's a travesty."

[Initech]

34. I agree, and brand name awareness has got way worse in the last few years.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

26. A lot of people never learn how to cook either.

They do frozen stuff or fast food.

I had staredowns and verbal putdowns and arguments over my grandmother's horrible boiled-to-death cooking.She would whine about how I was just gonna starve to death. I didn't.

She only cooked greens, which were bitter and I refused to eat them. I was grown before I found out broccoli was good, because I had never HAD broccoli before I was grown.

Fortunately my mother cooked some good stuff that I have learned about. Better quality meat for one thing, and no boiled to death greens. I also had food allergies and stuff I just did not like, no matter how much they told me it was good. Yes I am a picky eater.

It never occurs to a lot of people to mix something up from a box and add to it to make it better, if that's what you need to do.

[dem in texas]

27. Raised my Kids in the 60"s and 70's

I fixed many a box of Kraft Mac n Cheese, but only for lunch (I didn't work them). Always had mac and cheese and carrot sticks. never ate it for our evening meal. We all ate the same thing for most of our meals. I agree that now kids eat terrible food. (adults eat some pretty junky food too, ever notice what people bring to work to microwave for lunch?).

I saw a show with Jamie Oliver and he was in West Virginia. The kids got chicken nuggets, pizza and French fries for lunch at school. When he asked the kids what they ate at for supper at home, they said chicken nuggets and French fries. Terrible!

[Jenoch]

68. I grew up in the 60s and 70s and was not

really aware of Kraft Mac n Cheese until I was almost an adult. My mother only made it from scratch. We did not eat pizza in those days either, there was only one pizza place in town and it was more of a bar than a restaurant. I do recall going yo restaurants and while I always ordered the seafood, my big brothers always had burgers.

[flvegan]

28. So this is about parents feeding their kids shit, is it?

"For a generation, many North American parents have indulged children’s picky eating tendencies by sticking them in an endlessly repeating loop of chicken fingers, burgers, pizza, plain pasta, mac and cheese, and grilled cheese sandwiches."

[Liberal_in_LA]

63. yes

[sundevil2000]

70. Exactly.

Are parents just lazy these day?

I grew up in the 70s and 80s. Both of my parents worked. But the 4 of us still managed to sit down to dinner together, with the tv OFF, at leaast 4 nights a week. Meat, potato and veggie. We ate what was served or we didn't eat.

Nothing wrong with occasional indulgences.

If finances are an issue...well, that's a different story.

IMHO, kids are coddled these days.

[snooper2]

72. No, the author of the article is lazy

[sundevil2000]

84. okay

if you say so

[Bettie]

29. Back in my day...Kids today....etc.

Same song every generation sings.

"Kids today" are going to hell in a handbasket for whatever reason.

"When I was a kid, not only did I walk twelve miles to school through waist deep snow, uphill both ways, but we only had gravel and grass to eat, and we were grateful for it. Oh, and there were only sticks to play with, and only really rich kids had sticks..."

In the end, just as always, some parents enforce very strict guidelines on their lives, some have none and most are in that middle ground where they are doing the best they can, with mixed results.

As a child in the 70's with two poor working (sometime) parents, we ate some homemade food, some boxed food. The only 'eating out' we could afford was McDonalds, so we got that sometimes too. I'm fortunate to be in the middle class and an at-home mother, so I can take more time with meals and such....and still they are kind of picky. They'll get better as they get older and their tastes mature.

[laundry_queen]

36. I agree and disagree

Yes, we got crap for our lunches. Ugh, I HATED bologna and processed cheese. BARF. Breakfast was always cereal. Rice Krispies or cheerios or shreddies because those were the kinds without added sugar. However, no protein to be had. No wonder I was so hungry. And no one drank water. If you were thirsty, there was juice or milk. We had mac 'n cheese quite often, but my dad, trying to be healthy, would crack in a raw egg at the end before he put in the cheese powder. It was disgusting. And we ate out a LOT. My parents and sibling played a ton of sports so we were always on the go. Lots of McDonalds, concession food, buffets with the team after a win etc. So, I would say I didn't eat a very healthy or varied diet. When I was a preteen my mom started to get militant about eating healthy but her version was to serve nothing but raw vegetables for supper once a week and to buy only low-fat items.

I think, however, there IS a new parenting trend where people cater a little bit too much to their kids' food dislikes. I have an aunt who does this with her kids, will fix 3 meals, one for herself and one for each child because they all like different things. She will take 20 minutes to make her kids a snack because she'll start something and one kid will change their mind, "No, I don't want that now" and my aunt will put it back and ask them again what they want, and start another snack...sometimes she'll do this 3 or 4 times before her child makes up their mind. That just does not happen in my house, but I know many parents who do this.

My 2nd daughter hates broccoli, but I still serve it. If she doesn't want it, she is told she can go grab another vegetable and eat that, but she must have a vegetable. That seems to work for us. Or my youngest sometimes will decide she doesn't like a food she's tried many times before and I'll say, "Okay, you don't have to eat it all, but I want 5 big bites before you can go." And she'll do it. And then I make sure I serve it to her again the next time, instead of acting like "Oh, I forgot you don't like this, you don't have to eat this." Um no, she DOES have to eat it. And toddlers have to have food served to them something like 13 times before they'll try it on their own...so many people don't know this and make a big deal out of trying to get their kid to eat something new. And if the kid doesn't, they make a big deal out of their child hating new foods, "Oh, little Johnny is SUCH a picky eater! We've tried EVERYTHING" or worse, I know parents who seem to fabricate allergies. "Little Jane can't eat strawberries. She's allergic you know." "Oh, she's had allergy tests?" "no, they won't do allergy tests, she's too young. She once ate a strawberry and 3 days later had this rash. I just know it was the strawberries." It's like they enjoy having to work around their kids preferences and "allergies" because it makes them feel like better parents or something. My brother has a serious life threatening allergy to fish, and this whole, "Baby Suzy was acting strange after eating peanuts, she must have a peanut allergy" thing is so annoying. I've seen what a full blown anaphylactic reaction is and it's not "acting strange". And by withholding those foods they *think* their child may have an allergy to, they may be inadvertently creating an allergy. I just find it frustrating to see. It's like they feel left out if their kid isn't allergic to anything.

My youngest is actually quite good with many kinds of foods that the rest of the family doesn't like. Why? Because of her childcare provider when she was little. Our childcare provider was the best and was a vegetarian who cooked a large variety of really healthy meals from scratch every day for the kids' lunch. My daughter learned to love olives (no one in the family will touch those), tomatoes (I'm the only one who loves those) and even spicy foods. Her caregiver said if she balked at a food, she would just point out to her that everyone else was eating and liked it, and that she should give it a try. Peer pressure worked every time, LOL. I wonder if smaller families overall means kids don't get that experience of seeing everyone else enjoy a food, so it's not familiar to them, so they avoid it. Hm. Anyhow, yeah, I do think things have changed in some ways, but we sure did eat a lot of crap when we were kids too.

[Populist_Prole]

88. Great observations!

I know what you mean by fake "allergies". I think it's just a way for some parents to rationalize spoiling or indulging their kids. Heck, some adults pull this "I'm allergic to..." a ton of stuff, when what they really mean is "I have still have the limited pallette of a picky 6 year old".

[Major Nikon]

43. TV dinners with blue sauce, frozen sticks made from a fish like substance, ...

frozen pizza that tasted like shitty cheese and ketchup on cardboard (in fact I think it was), mash potatoes made from a box of flakes, sugar laden boxed cereal made from molded corn starch, Chinese food from a can, endless casserole recipes made exclusively from can foods, on and on it goes.

Anyone who waxes nostalgically for that shit either didn't live back then or forgot what people were actually eating.

[IDemo]

45. Building strong bodies 12 ways

Don't leave out the slice of 'Processed American cheese food'.

[TheKentuckian]

66. I hated that shit so bad I almost thought I didn't like cheese

When I said I didn't want anymore cheese my mother saw the error of her ways before it was too late.

I just didn't like oil presented in cheese like slices.

[Liberal_in_LA]

65. salad was.iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, and french dressing. now we eat spinach. kale

And other fresh veggies in our salads. So yes, some things have improved

[exboyfil]

81. Took me a while to switch out the iceberg for spinach

Now I prefer the spinach. I am now using it in place of brown rice for weight reduction. I find I am less hungry after eating a lower calorie salad of spinach, low fat cut of meat or poultry, and lots of vegetables over a bean, rice, and vegetable dish. Also save 200-300 calories on the exchange. It is an expensive way to eat (brown rice and beans are both low cost/calorie when compared to spinach and high quality cuts of meat/poultry).

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

75. My brother ate mustard sandwiches

Just two pieces of white bread with mustard on them. It's what he wanted. My mother hated doing it, but it was the only way she knew he'd eat his lunch at school.

After first grade, I wanted hot lunch. One dollar a day. I liked it most of the time.

[dem in texas]

83. Yes! Mustard Sandwiches on Mrs. Baird's Bread

I was a child of the late 40's and early 50's. My favorite snack was a mustard and bread sandwich. Spongy white bread and bright yellow mustard, just remembering makes me want one!

[3catwoman3]

31. About a month ago...

...at the pediatric office, I was doing a well visit on a preschooler. The mom had concerns about her daughter's eating habits. She told me all her daughter would drink was orange juice, and all she would eat was candy. The mom went on to say, "If I hide the candy, she finds it."

As politely and supportively as I could, I made the profound suggestion, "How about if you just don't buy any?"

It is not for naught that I have my master's degree in parent -child nursing -

[Populist_Prole]

86. I had to laugh!

Love the "duh!" factor but she somehow just doesn't get it.

My sister jokingly says to me her 5 year old son is going to have dentures by the time he is 10. she showed me his "candy drawer" in his bedroom, and it was chock full of the stuff. She said she was getting to the point she doesn't even want to keep candy in the house. I was like "Ya think!?". I mean, it's not like the kid can take their car into town, and the nearest store is miles away.

[3catwoman3]

91. There are times...

...when it requires considerable effort to maintain a professional demeanor. My brain screams out things that I could never, ever say out loud.

I often fantasize about coming back in my next life as a restaurant or movie critic so I could just say whatever the hell I thought without having to censor it. Might be fun.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

78. You're not that far off.

http://gastropost.nationalpost.com/adammcdowell

[sundevil2000]

85. Why does it matter if he has children or not?

nt

[sundevil2000]

97. I totally disagree.

Many people "teach" about things that they have never experienced or write about things that they have never experienced.

Surely you can agree that a constant diet of chicken nuggets, fries, pizza and mac n cheese is not healthy, nor is it "healthy" to give in to your childrens' whims just for the sake of convenience.

[sundevil2000]

106. Why else would a parent choose to feed their children this type of food

if not for convenience? It's a perfectly valid assumption.

I'm sure that there are exceptions, such as illnesses, that should be taken into consideration, but...what other reason would a parent purposely feed their kid this stuff everyday?

And I do have children.

[sundevil2000]

111. I'm sure that the author of this article wasn't writing

about TJ's or Whole Foods or organic nuggets/mac n cheese.


I'm just going to agree to disagree with you on this...

[Arugula Latte]

107. See my post #90

[bhikkhu]

33. Growing up in the early 70's wasn't much different than now

For breakfast it was cereal, unless I wanted eggs or pancakes, which I cooked myself. My kids have cereal now, but they both know how to make eggs if they want, and every now and then our schedules coincide and I'll cook up a batch of pancakes.

For lunch we fended for ourselves, usually PB&J, baloney sandwiches, salad, or yogurt. Nowadays no baloney - the kids watched a thing on how it was made and won't touch it, but we always have sandwich stuff. More often they'll heat up some leftovers from dinner, but there's always salad and yogurt around.

Dinner growing up was meat and potatoes of some variety, and some kind of vegetable. But at an early point my mom got tired of tossing uneaten vegetables and stopped cooking them. Now meat and rice of some variety is the norm at our house, with potatoes only occasional. I also got tired of tossing uneaten veggies so I don't cook them much.

Now the kids are teenagers and my work is very busy, so two or three times a week I'm too worn out to cook (especially if I get home and the kitchen is a disaster zone), so I leave them to forage sometimes. Not ideal, but they need to learn to take care of things themselves a little better. We stopped sitting down at the table as a family years ago, during a bad time with their mom when dinner-time became "air your grievances" time.

[mainer]

38. Interesting. "Chicken tender" is the pectoralis minor muscle

(Which in and of itself is no less healthy than the rest of the chicken breast -- it's the preparation that dooms it.)

I didn't know it referred to a specific part of the breast. I always assumed "chicken tenders" were made up of the entire breast that's been sliced into smaller pieces.

[Ykcutnek]

39. Portion control is the biggest problem.

I've lost nearly 140 pounds without touching a salad.

[MannyGoldstein]

40. .

[marions ghost]

41. Make vegetables taste good

mix them with pasta, incorporate in soups, stir fries, etc. Make fruit smoothies.

Give kids "food adventures" where you cook something different, but still simple, not too many exotic spices.

Growing up on Pizzas, McNuggets and sodas is just sad. Bad health as an adult is inevitable.

[shanti]

50. yes

until i was about 45-50, i thought i was healthy and had a cast-iron stomach....until i didn't. now it's GERD and diabetes it does catch up to ya.

[marions ghost]

105. It does

--and that's what young people need to hear. Nobody in this instant gratification culture understands how much what you do to your body in those first decades affects the later decades. To older friends and relatives who have abused their bodies in some way long term--(and most of us have) whether it's smoking, bad food, no exercize, drugs or alcohol, not addressing high stress levels, workaholism, -- etc etc...try not to beat yourself up and get hung up on regrets. Live a new way.

with ya

[Renew Deal]

42. And hot dogs

[eppur_se_muova]

44. Book rec: Salt Sugar Fat

http://www.powells.com/biblio/9781400069804

Definitely worth a read; check out the reviews at the link.

[Capt. Obvious]

46. My 11 year old has the same diet I did in college

Ramen noodles, frozen Celeste pizza, and Campbell's chicken noodle soup.

[Major Nikon]

47. I still like Ramen

Nongshim Shin and Indomie Mi Goreng are quite good.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/top-rated/grocery/2620099011

[Liberal_in_LA]

62. salty diet

[jeff47]

48. Yes, I grew up eating the mac-n-cheese, chicken tenders and pizza they ate.

Just because the "grown ups" were eating it doesn't mean it was healthy.

[shanti]

49. i was born in the 50's

and we kids wouldn't have dared to suggest eating something other than what mother prepared. (well, except for fried oysters, which i hated. they didn't mind that i didn't eat them, because it was more for them!) the answer to getting something else to eat was always, "i'm not a short-order cook!"

if mom made liver, we were required to eat it and couldn't leave the table unless we did. dad would drape his belt over a chair as a reminder

as a family, we rarely went out to dinner, but when we did, it was usually pizza, japanese, or sizzler. sodas were never in the fridge - but i made up for lost time as an adult there, heh. it was mostly milk to drink, occasionally some juice or koolaid.

i raised 4 sons and they either ate what i made or made themselves a sandwich. it was pretty much a full time job keeping their bellies full, and i didn't have a lot of money, so lots of PBJ, kraft dinner (mac n cheese), and hamburgers. my youngest did get a lot of chicken nuggets and fries though because it was quick and easy.

[libdem4life]

51. Went vegan after reading John Robbin's expose book and so did my hubby and son. Then he got to

be five and Little League started.

Mommy vans went to McDonalds for after-game treats...that was the social thing. So, at 5, my son learned what a cheeseburger was. We still ate mostly vegan, then went vegetarian (dairy products OK) then went to what is now called Flexitarian. Love that word...means some ham in beans, or sausage in lentils or fast food sans their awful salads, etc. Pretty much everything, but the meal is still planned around a grain or veggie.

He's grown, but now we're starting to read up on the gluten-free information. Highly recommended...paradigm change...beware.

[theboss]

52. What Neverneverland did you people grow up in?

I'm 41. I ate Chef Boy-ar-dee three days a week as a kid. And my grandmother made the best grilled cheese sandwiches on Earth. (The secret ingredient was butter).

I actually remember the day we switched to sugar-free Kool Aid, because my father realized that a 1/8 a cup of sugar in every glass was probably a bad thing. That was a dark day.

My kids eat like normal adults. (I make Thai at home which my mother seems to view as some kind of magic trick). And part of me thinks it's insane.

Wonder Bread and American cheese won us WWII. Or maybe it kept us from losing in Korea. I'm not really sure on the math here. I ate a lot of salt as a kid, you know.

[TwilightGardener]

55. My dad and his fried bologna sandwiches, white bread and mayo.

LOL. Our parents had pretty bad taste too.

[NickB79]

60. I grew up on a small family farm (1980-1998) where we grew or raised much of our food

Multiple vegetable gardens. Apple trees. Walnuts. Rhubarb and asparagus patches. Wild berries in the woods to harvest for jellies and jam. A flock of chickens for eggs and meat. A beef cow and a couple pigs butchered every year. Fresh milk from the holding tank every morning for breakfast. Hunting deer, squirrels, rabbits, woodchuck, ducks, turkey, pheasants, etc. The occassional suckerfish harvest at spawning time as they swam upstream, or sunfish from the local lake.

We ate our fair share of canned foods and grilled cheese (lots of it government-surplus, WIC or purchased with food stamps) but that didn't stretch the dollars far enough to get lazy about where the bulk of our food came from.

[TwilightGardener]

53. I'm 45, I grew up eating McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut as

a kid. My parents would get fast food/pizza once a week, usually Saturdays. My own kids ate (and still eat) fast food and pizza, of course--they're college students now, so I can't dictate what they eat anymore anyway. But they also have a pretty good appreciation for decent food from various cultures, because I did feed them "grown-up food" pretty often even when they were little. They got served fresh salmon sometimes instead of Mrs. Paul, chicken piccata instead of chicken nuggets. I didn't allow them to be picky, I don't cater to children. I have faith that as they age, their tastes will evolve into healthier stuff.

[pipi_k]

54. And people wonder why

there seems to be an uptick in cases of ADHD, behavior problems, and other things we didn't see a lot of when I was a kid (way more than 30 years ago)


We ate whatever mom made. We didn't get shit food made with chemicals.


And if we had fast food, it was MAYBE once a month, if that.

Even my own kids didn't get the special kid "food".


Diet is too important to ignore when we're talking about emotional and physical health.

[tabbycat31]

56. I didn't learn to cook until I was older

Growing up my meals were usually pretty terrible. I was a teen in the "fat is evil" 90s and everything we bought was the 'diet' version. Pepperidge Farm "Light Style" bread should be bought out by a cardboard manufacturer because that's what it tastes like. I had low fat cold cuts for lunch and they were nothing short of nasty. As a teen I wasn't really allowed to have anything that wasn't the diet version and hid food in my locker at school.

Mac and cheese was a rarity (my mom does not like dairy) and to this day I'll cook up a box of Kraft from time to time. Chicken was only served slow cooked in cream of crap, I mean mushroom soup (which I don't like to this day). Spaghetti was overcooked pasta with (way too much) cold Ragu sauce smothered on it (no meatballs or anything like that). Salad (which to this day I don't like) was a requirement as well as raw cucumbers (which make me gag). At least twice a week we had eggs (which I shudder at the thought of). Eggs are one of those things I wish I could like because I have a protein intake problem (and have since I was a kid).

As an adult, I discovered veggies can be good if prepared correctly. I love a bag of stir-fried mixed veggies prepared with an Asian sauce. I LOVE LOVE LOVE root veggies (I discovered watermelon turnips this year) and call beets a favorite. Today if I prepare spaghetti, I put ground turkey in a can of crushed tomatoes and mix it with olive oil, onion, garlic, and basil.

I don't eat salad, but I get about 2-3 servings of spinach a day in a green smoothie.

(I'm over 30 but only by a few years).

[d_r]

57. food historian Allen

didn't grow up in the south in the 80's

"Chicken fingers, Allen says, were seldom seen before 1990 or so"

Maybe where you were, pal.

http://www.guthrieschicken.com/story

[Jamaal510]

58. Neither of my parents drink V8, but I do

when I'm away from home instead of just eating veggies.

[NickB79]

59. My 4-yr old eats what I eat, or she doesn't eat

Just the other day she was telling me how delicious the baked pork/cabbage/chipotle pinto bean taquitos I made were, as she dipped one in sour cream. Or how she loves my shrimp-corn-potato chowder with homemade French bread, or my homemade chili, heavy on the beans and homemade salsa. She steals raw cabbage, kale and red peppers from the cutting board when I'm not looking, and can't get enough apples or green beans from the backyard in the summer and fall.

When she spends weekends at Grandma's, though, it's all canned corned beef hash, boxed mac and cheese, and Chef Boyardee. And then, because she's not borderline obese like so many other kids these days, and she's half Hispanic (where the social ideal is apparently plump kids that break a sweat when they run more than 20 feet), I get hell that she's not eating enough from my mother-in-law even though she's the perfect weight per our pediatrician.

Meh, I'll keep feeding her healthy foods as much as I can. She asked for her own garden plot this summer in the yard to grow herself a salad, and loves collecting eggs from our chicken coop for breakfast

[GreatGazoo]

67. A chicken tender is the same white meat as the rest of the breast

The author makes a poor argument if he can't come up with a better example than that. He also finishes by triumphantly feeding his kids pig jowls. 4 ounces of pig jowls have 740 calories, and 708 of those are from fat. So that is 95% fat. 4 oz of processed breaded chicken tenders are 263 calories, 169 from fat, so a savings of 563 calories form fat. ( Without the breading 4 oz of chicken tenders is 124 calories, 14 from fat. )

So it seems that he is really complaining that kids are picky eaters. Same as it ever was.

The good news is that as far as nutrition goes, the author is wrong. Statistically, the nutrition of what kids eat turned the corner about 8 years ago and it is creating challenges for the processed food industry.

Down -- sales of soda, breakfast cereal, milk, orange juice (fructose), cupcakes, white bread and fast food
Up - yogurt, water, kale, home cooking

http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/soft-drink-sales-decline-accelerates/292409/

http://time.com/money/3030959/guns-gum-soda-cereal-gluten-sales-drop/

[theboss]

69. My wife orders by kids apples on the rare occasions we get Happy Meals for them

I would have burned that restaurant to the ground with the heat from my tantrum if my parents had pulled that shit with me.

[Marrah_G]

71. My kids are in their early twenties and they ate what we ate

The result is 3 young adults who try new things, like almost everything and are surrounded by alot of friends who do not.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

74. I'm almost 40 and ate what my parents ate, for the most part, however....

.....hamburger patties and Mac and Cheese was still always my favorite homemade meal. Mac and Cheese is just damn good, although I can't see eating it by itself as dinner.

[Calista241]

76. One of my Mom's best meals was meat loaf and Mac and cheese

And I'm 39.

[KG]

77. mmm, pizza

[liberal N proud]

79. We never fixed special meals for the kids

Once they were weaned off the baby food - (pre-processed baby poop), they ate what we fixed. Granted somehow they don't like vegetables so much, not sure why. But they ate the same foods that we had on the table for ourselves.

[abelenkpe]

80. Really?

I'm over 30. Guess my parents ate Mac n cheese, chicken fingers and pizza. (Fish sticks and tater tots too)

These things are not the source of ill health or obesity. At least not for my family everyone is different. Everyone in my fam is thin and in good health. Maybe because those weren't the only things we ate?

Will say that I don't feed my own kids these foods but that's because I enjoy cooking and have easy access to fresh organic produce?

I do fix my kids what they want when they want it. Why not? They are both thin. I just want them to eat and eat something good. They need the calories.

[Arkana]

89. First of all, when did chicken tenders become "kid's food"?

They're the quintessential bar food (alongside burgers and pizza, two other foods maligned by the author), and there's even a restaurant in the Northeast (I forget its name) that has an entire menu comprised of them--fried with different spices, different sauces, etc.

And it seems to me that it's the branding that's the problem, not the foods themselves. Anyone ever dug into a fresh bowl of baked mac and cheese? It's almost better than sex, if you're particularly hungry.

Want your kids to diversify? Start cooking for them. Get them interested in better-tasting food.

[Erose999]

93. The GOOD kind - 8 bucks.

[Arugula Latte]

90. I was judgmental about this stuff until I had my second baby.

My first just ate what we gave him -- no problem. My daughter was the kind of baby who would seal her lips shut -- when she was 6 or 7 months old -- to vegetables and other healthy foods. It has been an ongoing battle for years, and, frankly, we've been worn down. It's not as easy as some people think if you have a kid who is off the spectrum on the stubbornness chart when it comes to eating. As I've found out over and over again, it is virtually impossible to FORCE someone to eat something.

I've had the super judgy, exasperated friend who said stuff like: "Oh, why don't you just tell her that the broccoli is little trees?" HAH! Good one. You think we didn't try every trick in the book, over and over?

To this day she has a somewhat limited diet, but she eats things like black beans, peanut butter and nuts, cheese, and hummus for protein, and eats quite a few fruits and a handful of vegetables.

[AtomicKitten]

92. My son was quite a challenge.

I instituted the "one bite" policy. Before summarily dismissing a particular food, he had to take one bite. I'd say half the time he realized the food was not horrible.

When we lived in Santa Cruz, we used to eat at Vasili's, a terrific Greek restaurant. Across the street was a McDonald's. Vasili's was gracious enough to allow my son to eat a happy meal while we dined there. One day when he was about 6, he ordered off the menu, a souvlaki as I recall, and never asked to eat at McDonald's again. Success!

[KamaAina]

95. There is a mac and cheese restaurant in Oakland.

That's all they have. Mac and cheese.

http://homeroom510.com/

Well, except for the mac and peas at the very bottom. That's more like it.

[Quantess]

96. Gross.

Eat to live, not the other way around.

[LWolf]

98. I am well over 30.

I like and will eat most foods, and love vegetables. I distinctly remember though, a time when I was 3 or 4 and didn't want to eat my cooked carrots (I loved them raw.) My mom left me at the dining room table by myself with instructions..."Don't get down from that chair until you've eaten every bite of carrots." I cried. I tantrumed. I wailed that I would throw up if I had to eat them. I felt like I was dying of boredom, but then, as always, I didn't take direction well. I don't know how long I was there; it seemed like hours, but probably wasn't too long, until the dog snuck into the dining room and I surreptitiously fed him my carrots, on by one, until they were gone. At one point, Mom looked into the room; the dog was hidden under the table, I had my fork in hand, and mimed vigorous chewing.

When my kids were growing up, most of our meals were home-cooked, but we ate fast food when we were keeping up with busy sports and hobby schedules; more than I did as a kid.

When my grandson was born, he spent his first 4 years with a neglectful and abusive mother. She fed him junk finger foods on the coffee table in front of the tv. When we finally wrested custody away from her, it took YEARS to get him to eat a home-cooked meal without a battle. He wanted hot dogs, burgers, fries, pizza, or yes, spaghetti-os, which she had him eating right out of the can with his hands. We had to start by serving the vegetable portion first, by itself. "When you've eaten all the vegetables, you may have some (whatever the main course was.) Today, as a teenager, he eats reasonably, but still loves the junk.

I think that whatever we are fed in our early years is what we will "like" and crave for a lifetime, even when we learn to eat differently. This has repercussions for the processed food industry.

[gollygee]

99. I'm 45 and grew up almost exclusively on PB&J

on Wonder Bread no less.

This is just a "those damn kids today!" post.

[Baclava]

100. ha ha ! I love these threads

I grew up in a rural area with a big garden as a wee kid. Memories of grinding veggies into relish that she canned. Bushels of tomatoes and corn on the cob. I ate what she cooked, period. Never ate a store bought pie and I never had a pizza or fast food burgers till my teen years.

What was the question?

[F4lconF16]

101. I thank my lucky stars that for the last couple decades

I had my dad cooking for me. He is a phenomenal cook, and makes good, hearty, healthy food. We all love vegetables--my brother and I would fight over the last brussel sprout (and no, I'm not joking). We were trained on new foods all the time. We didn't have to like it, but we had to try it. My current diet and health are directly representative of that, I think. Our approach to food makes a huge difference. This is why we need more supplemental nutrition programs, healthy school lunch systems, and heavy, heavy regulation of the food industry and it's advertising.

[tridim]

102. I broke up with a woman because she fed her kid (and herself) crap at every meal.

She and her child used to be thin, 20 years later they are both obese. Her parents are both thin.

It was so sad to watch.

[dilby]

110. I should note my mom was a terrible, terrible cook.

I actually did not get a decent home cooked meal till after my parents divorced and my father took cooking classes to learn how to be independent. My mom basically thought potatoes and corn were the only vegetables you needed to eat and everything she made was brown covered in brown gravy.

But that brings up a really good point, most of us who ate home cooked meals had a stay at home parent during that time period. Today both parents are working and there is barely enough time in the day to work and cook a good meal. When I have my kids on the weekends I usually take them out for dinner on Friday nights because I get off work at 5, get them at 6 and by then they are hungry. It is just easier to stop by a restaurant on the way home and get them fed, we usually do some form of ethnic food, Indian, Middle Eastern, Vietnamese, Japanese or Ethiopian on Friday nights. Then I cook for them Saturday and it's usually a beef dish since that is what they always want to eat when they are with me. Their mom is master of cooking pork and chicken but I am the cow whisperer.