http://uk.news.yahoo.com/07092006/325/nake...ed-lunches.html

He's worked wonders for school dinners, now he's slamming parents for putting unhealthy food in packed lunches.

What do you think?

I must admit, Brandon doesn't eat really healthy packed lunches but with him it's an achievement to get him to eat anything!

Its one thing making school dinners healthier and better quality, but suddenly our school started jumping on the jamie Oliver bandwagon and became "experts" in nutrition, giving out cr*p out of date advice to parents. Already had them banning crisps and chocolate for break. I don't think the same ban extends to the teaching staff though. :rant:

Told our school that they can offer me advice but they cannot tell me what to put in my child's lunchbox or what snacks they can have for break. They gave me an out of date leaflet at the time recommending aspartame ;wall: and other stupid ideas ;wall: Their advice then made my kids diet worse not better, and undermine my choices as a parent.

I know of parents who know that their kids lunchboxes could be better, but they make sure they have a good breakfast, and and cook a proper meal at night.

I know of others who because of issues such as food phobia, have to give a certain lunch to get their kids to eat at all. Unless the schools are offering support to overcome these issues, then banning anything will leave a certain number of kids with virtually nothing to eat. Then they will have low blood sugar levels, which will make it more difficult to concentrate.

Its just not fair on parents to judge their children's diet on one meal in the day. When Jamie Oliver knows anything about nutrition for special needs, and when he improves his diet to the extent that it reduces his swearing to a level where I can even let my kids watch his programmes, maybe I'll take more notice of what he says.

Bet you're sorry you asked now :lol: Sorry, rant over :oops:

Talking about lunchboxes did anyone see you are what you eat this week?

I made the mistake of letting my kids stay up and watch it, because it was about her improving children's diets.

My kids saw the boy closing his lunchbox and refusing to eat what was it lettuce (used as bread) wrapped around sardines wasn't it? Got comments from the kids such as no wonder he didn't eat it, how embarrassing would that be in your lunchbox.

On the plus side, much as my kids might moan that I don't give crisps, and I use wholemeal bread, and only small portions of chocolate or cake, with lots of fruit, compared to sardines wrapped in lettuce, my rules look positively normal :lol:

Now a programme called Gillian meets Jamie...... that might be interesting :lol:

You know what Sue, I think you should write to him and tell him what you think. Lets see what he makes of your arguement :lol:

At Brandons school they brought in a healthy menu and basically banned crisps, biscuits and anything else not classed as healthy. Brandon however wouldn't eat the dinners at all, so they asked me to put him on to packed lunch.

He's been taking packed luch for a while now and at least I know he's taking something that he likes and will eat. He's not one for change and the only sandwiches he'll eat day in day out are chocolate spread, he also has a bag of crisps, usually Quavers, a drink of cordial, a biscuit and either an apple or a banana. Not ideal I know but I'd rather he eat junk with a bit of healthy stuff thrown in then not eat at all. Roxy on the other hand has decided to go healthy, through her own choice she's started having packed lunches with tuna or ham sandwiches (wholemeal bread) cordial and a couple of different fruits.

I'm glad I didn't see that programme, I can't say I know anyone who would want to eat sardines wrapped in lettuce :blink:

Quote "if you're giving your young kids fizzy drinks, you're an a***hole and a tosser," Oliver said.

"If you give them bags of crisps, you're an idiot. If you aren't cooking them a hot meal, sort it out." unquote

Well according to him very occasionally I'm an a***hole and a tosser, and occasionally I'm an idiot. But I'd rather my kids ate the odd junk food in front of me, than loads behind my back.

There are parents who don't know how to cook a meal from scratch because their own parents never taught them. My Mum taught me, and I am teaching my own kids. My eldest went to uni being able to rustle up a spaghetti bolognese, a roast dinner, chops, stews, casseroles etc. Whether he chose to do so or went to the chippy wasn't the point, but at least he had a choice.

Jamie Oliver's attitude is going to wind a lot of people up. And a meal doesn't need to be a cooked one to be healthy. As for fizzy drinks, many people are buying stuff with aspartame and without added artificial colourings etc because they think its reasonably healthy. When the supermarket he advertises for stops selling the c*ap, he can take the moral high ground with me, but not before. Its good up to date information parents want, not being made to feel like they are useless and stupid.

Instead of badmouthing parents maybe he could hold a workshop in a school and invite parents to come in and learn a bit about nutrition, particularly about packed lunches. Then maybe breakfasts etc. Or is that planned for his new series? Teaching us parents not to be such a***holes, tossers and idiots? (Gawd I'm getting cynical :lol: )

Maybe when parents get more respect and a lot less abuse things will change, but until then I'm not taking any notice of someone who makes Gillian McKeith look like Mother Theresa. :lol:

When my son was younger is was a white bread ham sandwich, every speck of crust removed, a yoghurt and occasionally an apple, but it had to be perfect, every speck of peel removed. Every day.

Today he had ham and tomato wholemeal roll, a yoghurt, some grapes, a small treat size choc, and a muffin (homemade by my daughter in law) made with fresh blueberries. Tomorrow he will have something different. Too much carb? Yes. Did he enjoy it? Yes. Did it fuel his day? Yes. Do I give a stuff what Jamie Oliver or the school thinks? Definately not. :D

I've been incredibly lucky that I found out what was causing his eating problems.
But I've been where a lot of parents are now, with kids going hungry if they don't get their "safe" food.

Its the blanket judgements, with no idea of what issues some people face, that get me. Last thing I needed back then was being made to feel I was some sort of failure or stupid because I couldn't get him to eat what passed as healthy by the nutrition police. (And what was "healthy" then isn't all considered healthy now).

I want to be able to pack my children's lunchbox without worrying what the school nutrition police think. I want my children to pick something from their lunchbox that they want to eat for break in full view of the staff, instead of sneakily eating it when they think they can get away with it, because its "banned" at break. If we are not careful we will be teaching our children that certain foods should be eaten on the sly, because they are "bad" foods. And I want my kids to learn to eat healthily by my example, on the basis of good advice given to me, and not by them being given the impression that I'm a naughty parent who feeds them rubbish.

I don't want some governor or teacher peering into my child's lunchbox to do some box ticking exercise because of Jamie Oliver either. And I certainly don't want my kids weighed for some study or other.

I think I'm getting round to saying there are just other ways of achieving what they want without winding me up. ;wall:

:oops: Maybe I should move this to spit it out and move on :lol:

I cant stomach any of her so called recipes. I am interested in the nutritional value of foods, but it has to be enjoyable otherwise what is the point.

As for Jamie Oliver attacking packed lunches, what needs to happen is to look at what is available for parents to put in their kids lunch boxes. It is damn hard trying to find things for your child which are not only nutritious but which dont leave them feeling like social outcasts with their funny food.

I am only too aware of how lucky I am that Jen will eat literally anything (apart from kippers :lol: ) today she took a chicken drumstick from yesterdays roast dinner, and a cold corn on the cob, amongst other things. She loves it. However, my middle, daughter Rachel is another matter. She is a non vegetable eating vegetarian, although she is improving in tiny incremental stages. I constantly worry over what she eats, not just in her lunch box but at dinner time too.

James's pack lunch used to consist of a sandwich, a piece of fruit an energy bar and a yogert. As far as I am concerned I was making sure he got a good variety of the basic food groups that were important to him. As he's got older he nowe takes salads instead of the bread but only cos he doesn't eat it.


I would love to see what Mr Oliver chose to throw down his neck when he was a child. Did he go home and call his own mother an idiot or and A***hole? I think not.

What Jamie Oliver has seen is an opportunity to get his name at the top of all of these new changes, although after a conversation with Gemma about what some kids used to take to school for lunch (A six pack of crisps) There is clearly a need for change in the diets of SOME children.
All this media attention has my eldest son really worried. We've only just got him over asking me how much salt I add to his meals (Which I rarely do while cooking) but all the media hype around that frightened the life out of him and he was convinced it was going to kill him.


As for teachers making decisions about what our our kids eat, I used to be a chair of governors and so spent a lot of time in the staffroom. You should see what they throw down their necks at breaktime. I have yet to meet a teacher who wasn't a chocoholic. Maybe Mr Oliver and his know it all atitude should start there if he wants to impliment change.

And.....thinking upon the same lines. They tell our kids about the risks of smoking over and over. Why is it most kids can name which teachers at their school smoke and which don't? Maybe a bit more leading by example is in order.

the kids no who smoke cause you can smell a smoker a mile away dar especially can smell a smoker and goes mad if a smoker comes near him my kids take what i can get them to eat at school and its not always healthy but i do try to get the healthy things into them at home as for dar he wont take packed lunch and wont eat school dinners so he gets choc and sweets out the vending machine and when this becomes unavailable he will have nothing he doesnt believe what he eats is bad for him his point of view and only his point of view we all talk rubbish apparently then he says well i dont care anyway what do u do with a kid like him oh well never mind
take care
sarah xx

Now there's a thought - Jamie Oliver being filmed going through a certain supermarket's shelves and telling the supermarket bosses that they are idiots, a**eholes and tossers to be selling crisps, fizzy drinks etc. :blink:

No doubt the supermarket bosses will take what he says on board on behalf of their idiot, a**ehole and tosser customers and remove them :D

But I aint taking any bets he'll do that and I aint holding my breath :lol:

School sent a letter home on Friday saying that there's now a total smoking ban at school even in the playground. As most of the parents smoke it will be interesting to see what happens on Monday morning!

Gosh, I am stunned Sandra. I have stood in our school playground day after day over the last 7 years, and I have NEVER seen a single parent smoking. It hadn't even crossed my mind until you wrote that.

It's terrible Sam, I'm glad they've introduced it as I'm sick of dodging the flicked ash especially with the pram. It really wouldn't suprise me if they weren't all hanging round outside the gate with their fags now.

I can't believe people smoke in a children's playground either, and I am a smoker. Whats wrong with waiting five minutes and lighting up after you have picked them up or dropped off.

At our Nursery we are not allowed to smoke anywhere on or near the premises, which means I have to use 5 minutes of my ten minute break walking around the corner to light up, by the time I get there I am on my way back! I would actually be embarrassed as hell to be 'caught' smoking by one of the parents, it's a disgusting habit and the last thing I want is the children to see me doing it!

As for Jamie Oliver, I am still pissed off at him for his school dinners, where he tarred the entire nation with the same brush, my kids school has always had a really healthy menu and at Nursery we are much better than the crap he turned out as healthy on his programme. I was that incensed that he hadn't done his reasearch properly I wrote a letter to our local radio station, which actually got us featured for healthy menus but oddly didn't prise Jamie from the woodwork to accept the challenge of looking at them. He is a Twat. :rant: :rant:

Rant over!

Has anyone seen those stupid women on the news taking orders from the kids for fast food at lunchtime. I was sickened when I saw this and honestly can't believe how utterly irresponsible they are being. Fair enough if they want their kids to live on junk but if my child was being catered for by these idiots there'd be hell to pay!

Yeah, pushing fish and chips through the bars in the playground! If they gave any to my child, I'd sue them. How do they know what allergies any of these kids have got, and how dare they feed someone elses child any type of food, let alone unhealthy junk.

Haven't seen it myself but I agree about the allergies, how dare they. What about those on restricted diets for religion too, I have one little boy at Nursery who would give his right arm for a ham sandwich, I hate to think if they turned up when he goes to school and offered him a bacon buttie.

Surely they can be arrested, to give something to a child without permission is some sort of invasive act isn't it? We need permission to feed them and give medicines at Nursery, or to apply creams, must be a law against it.