ZOE Science & Nutrition - Kids and junk food: simple ways to break the habit with Rhiannon Lambert & Dr. Federica Amati
Episode Date: October 24, 2024As adults, food shopping can be a minefield. But when it comes to feeding your kids, the stakes are even higher. Our food environment is rife with misinformation. Brightly coloured labels on packaged,... often ultra-processed foods promise high protein, high fibre and low calories. The additives, emulsifiers and mountains of added sugar are hidden in the small print. So how can parents navigate this confusing landscape? Today, we hear from two of the UK’s most-trusted nutritionists (and both parents of small children) on how to keep your kids eating well. Rhiannon Lambert has authored four books, including recent Sunday Times bestseller The Science of Plant-Based Nutrition. Half a million people follow her for nutrition advice on Instagram. ZOE’s Head Nutritionist, Imperial College London lecturer and bestselling author of Every Body Should Know This, Dr. Federica Amati, joins Rhiannon for today’s conversation. 🥑 Make smarter food choices. Become a member at zoe.com - 10% off with code PODCAST 🌱 Try our new plant based wholefood supplement - Daily 30+ *Naturally high in copper which contributes to normal energy yielding metabolism and the normal function of the immune system Follow ZOE on Instagram. Timecodes: 00:00 Food shopping is a struggle 01:53 Quickfire questions 04:10 What’s the problem with children’s food? 10:05 Why more kids are at the dentist than ever before 12:32 Can you trust food labels? 19:35 How to improve your child’s lunchbox 23:55 Stress-free ways to keep your kids healthy 25:48 Healthy kids food on a budget 29:05 Make your home a healthy food environment 36:23 Healthy breakfast ideas for kids 39:52 Should you give your kids cereal? Rhiannon's latest books: The Science of Plant-based Nutrition The Science of Nutrition Books from our ZOE Scientists: The Food For Life Cookbook Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector Mentioned in today’s episode: Bite Back 2030 Report 'Are food giants rigging the system against child health?' ZOE’s famous pancake recipe Our episode on emulsifiers with Dr Federica Amati | Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify Have feedback or a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know here. Episode transcripts are available here.
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Welcome to ZOE Science and Nutrition, where world-leading scientists explain how their research can improve your health.
As adults, food shopping can be a challenge.
But when it comes to feeding your kids, the stakes feel much higher.
Our food environment is rife with misinformation.
Brightly coloured labels on ultra processed foods promise high protein, high
fibre, low calories. The additives and the mountains of added sugar are hidden in
the small print. Making healthy food for your children shouldn't be a losing game.
There are secrets to making food nutritious, appealing and convenient.
Because from one parent to another, I know you don't have the time.
There's also evidence that childhood holds golden windows of opportunity,
where nutrition makes a bigger impact.
So nailing these tips could be a huge win for everyone.
impact. So nailing these tips could be a huge win for everyone.
Two of those experts are with us today.
Rhiannon Lambert literally wrote the book on the art of building a healthy lunch box. Rhiannon is one of the UK's leading nutritionists.
She's known for her evidence-based approach to food and her latest book,
The Science of Plant-Based Nutrition, is a Sunday Times bestseller.
Rhiannon is joined by Dr. Federica Amati.
Federica is head nutritionist here at ZOE,
a scientist at Imperial College London,
and author of the bestselling book,
Everybody Should Know This.
You'll finish today's episode feeling confident
to face the challenge of feeding your kids healthily.
Rhiannon and Federica, thank you for joining me today.
Thank you for having us, Jonathan. I'm so excited.
Can't wait.
So we have a tradition here, Rhiannon,
which we always start with a quick-fire round of questions.
Love it. Bring it on.
Brilliant. So the rules are simple.
Yes or no, or if you absolutely have to a
one sentence answer, but there's a lot of penalties. So we like to see yes or no. You
up for it? I am. All right. I'm going to start with Rhiannon. Can I give my child food that's
healthy and that they will eat? Yes. For my kids meals to be healthy, do I need to prepare
everything from scratch? No.
Federica, are children eating more ultra-processed food than adults?
Yes.
Is there an age during childhood when nutrition will have a larger impact?
Yes, ages.
Can I lower the risk of my child developing obesity?
Yes.
And Rhiannon, you have a whole sentence for this one.
What's the biggest misconception about healthy eating for children?
That it's simple and that it's laid out for parents to access.
That is a huge misconception.
It's far from simple.
It's become complicated because of the mass media marketing around it.
The answers to the questions are both quite positive, but also a little scary.
And actually, it's interesting.
I was thinking about this podcast this morning.
So I have a daughter who's five years old and I have a son who's 16.
And so a decade ago my son was basically the same age as my daughter.
I hadn't started Zoe, I hadn't met my co-founder, Professor Tim Spector.
And as a result, I didn't really know anything about food
and I definitely wasn't spending any time thinking about food.
I didn't really know anything about food and I definitely wasn't spending any time thinking about food.
And I now realize that I fed my son total junk while thinking in general I was doing
quite a good job and giving him a good diet.
So slightly terrifying as I think about that.
And now I take my daughter's diet and her health very seriously and I think about this
impact on her gut microbiome.
And honestly, I think it's a minefield.
I think it's incredibly difficult, I find, to find this right balance of trying to get
her to eat well, but also not making her really stressed about things and also just the challenge
of getting her to eat anything that I think might be good to eat and realizing that basically
sort of surrounded by all this delicious ultra processed food.
And so it's not surprising that this is what she wants to eat.
So maybe we could sort of start at the beginning.
What's the problem with children's food?
Well, I think you've touched on a few things there, Jonathan.
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.
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,
so 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, God.
She's not. And they're like, Mommy, can we have one of those? That is literally the example
of advertising working its magic, right? So the problem is, 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. 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 colorful.
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.
But 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 lunch boxes, 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?
Well, unfortunately, the numbers are a bit worse for children. So we know that over half
of calories in the UK and 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 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 prepackaged 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.
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 the past five to 10 years,
and we absolutely need to reverse that.
And 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, child care 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.
And what is this ultra processed food doing to my daughter's body?
So, well, we know, for example, there's a lot of interest at the moment around research and emulsifiers, right? So we know that about 95% of baked goods like buns and croissants
and breads in supermarkets contain at least one emulsifier. Most of them contain two or more.
And what we're starting to see is that emulsifiers eaten every day in various types of foods
actually do disrupt the gut microbiome and they can potentially lead to
higher levels of inflammation. And all of these things contribute to a higher risk of basically
being unwell, whether that's from the gastric symptoms, so having IBS or suffering with symptoms
of indigestion, things like this. But further down the line, when you have increased inflammation in
the gut for a long time, that's when you run into a higher risk of things like developing obesity, type 2 diabetes, and of developing
autoimmune conditions, right? So we want to protect our children's gut health. Ultra-processed
foods don't help us to do that. But also what's really important, and I think this is a really
big red flag for us, ultra-processed foods, especially for children, are very often very
high in added sugars. And the classic example of this is flavored children's yogurts. Some of them
contain like an unbelievable amount of sugar. When you look at the back of pack, these tiny
parts contain like teaspoons and teaspoons of sugar. And what we can see in the UK and
the US is that there's this really massive rise in cavities. So children under the age of seven are having their teeth removed under general anesthesia
because of the added sugar in their diet.
More now than ever before.
This is interesting because I feel as though, I'm in my late 40s,
I feel like one of the things that shifted actually is,
you know, we were all drinking full fat Coca-Cola when I was, you know, eight or something, right?
Like there was before really that shift was just starting away from full sugar drinks
to sort of all of these artificial sweeteners.
So I'm rather shocked that sort of 40 years later, we're actually getting worse cavity.
So the sugar is just sliding away now.
Under five year olds as well.
In the UK, it's under five.
There's a quarter of children that have problems with their teeth under five.
From the food they're eating?
From the food system.
And this is the thing, it's a huge red flag.
How can children this young have cavities so early?
And it's exposure to constant added sugar.
Coca-Cola, at least you know what you're getting with Coca-Cola, right?
But so many children's foods have added sugar,
including pasta sauces, including savory snacks.
So there's foods that have added sugar to make them more palatable for children because at the end of the day, ultra processed food companies
want us to buy more and more of these snacks for our kids. So we're now in a place where
there's added sugar everywhere. It's directly affecting children's teeth, like oral health,
before you see the longer term impacts on their health later in life. And there's also
this really clear relationship between ultra processed food consumption
and high sugar consumption
and how they're able to manage at school, for example.
So behavioral issues, not being able to sit still,
all these things are related, correlated with,
have a relationship with the dietary quality
that children have.
And having a diet that's really high
in ultra processed food for children, it's just not supporting what they're supposed to be doing which is growing and learning
and socializing. So it's a dangerous spot to be in for the health of our future, what will be
future adults right? Because another thing to note is that ultra processed foods are a metabolic
challenge for our bodies. Now in adulthood, when we have these metabolic challenges, you know, we're aware that we
need to look after our metabolic health as adults.
We're aware that we should really try not to become overweight.
We're aware that we should keep an eye on our bloods, go to the GP and make sure our
blood pressures are not rising, things like this.
But for children, constant metabolic challenges is also disrupting their metabolic health. They also need us to feed them with
foods that will help them to have a really healthy metabolism as they go into adulthood.
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Okay, back to the show.
Just before we move on, I'd love to talk about labels for a minute, Rhiannon.
Because I think that we see this across everything in the grocery store, but I think we see it
even more for the kids' food where it says like low sugar or high protein or all natural.
What should we make of these labels?
Claims are often very deceptive.
They're put there to sell a product.
We have to remember that.
And, you know, if you buy an apple, for instance,
you don't need it to have a claim that says,
hey, this is great for you.
This is a source of fiber.
But if you're picking up a packet of cereal for your child
and it's full of these claims,
high in protein seems to be the trendy thing as well,
still at the moment, high in fiber.
Perhaps that product is high in fiber,
but what type of fiber, what type of added protein?
A lot of the time companies put extra soil, less of thinning and different binders and
different ingredients to increase the capability of making a claim.
And every country has its own unique way of displaying these claims.
So it'd be different in the US, you know, you'll have a different way of categorizing
things, voluntary labeling as well with the, you know, you'll have a different way of categorizing things.
Voluntary labeling as well with the traffic light system, which we have over in the UK
and I think some other countries have as well where it could be red that means, you know,
high in sugar and orange, which is just on the cusp, probably not great all the time,
and then green, which is obviously good.
That's voluntary.
So you don't have to put it on every item.
It's really deceptive. And I actually advise clients in my clinic and my line of work
not to just go by the claim on a packet and always to read the ingredient list on the back
and check the salt, check the sugar, because high in fiber can still be high in sugar and high in salt.
Yeah, and I would add to that that actually if a product has a health claim on the front,
and especially when it's aimed at children, great for finger food, great to start learning how to
wean, ideal for ages four to six months, don't buy it. Because do you know what? It's almost 100%
going to be an ultra processed food that your child doesn't need. Because that marketing is
put there to encourage people to buy something that they essentially just don't need. The best
example for this is things like baby porridge, these baby rices that
for some reason are so pervasive, oh we have to start with that, that's the first weenie food.
Like literally said who?
But do you know why? I think it's because parents are scared.
Yeah, 100%.
I think there's such a vulnerability, like when you've just had a baby,
I remember that feeling it was lockdown and I can completely see
why people are pulled into that trap.
It appears safe.
It scares people, but I think that it's a double-edged sword because this kind of labeling
makes parents fearful of buying another product that doesn't have that safety mark on it.
And then they stick to the brand, like if it's got an organic in it or something, they
then think it's superior, and then they're loyal to that brand.
The other thing I'm struck by is how in the States and the UK, we're sort of very adrift
from a food culture where we just know what we're meant to do.
And I've been on holiday in Italy this summer.
And one of the things you see there is like, there's a very strong food culture, right?
They're actually very intolerant to new food because they like, they know exactly how it's
meant to be.
I know.
And that's like how their grandparents, grandparents did it.
And they're proud of it. And Federica with her Italian heritage is smiling and nodding with me
because she knows this is true.
But I'm struck that as someone who both grew up in America and then here,
generally, we don't have any confidence.
I think, as you quite rightly said, with our children, we particularly worry
about this, we particularly worry about them when they're younger because when
they're teenagers, you don't have that much control over what
they do, so you worry but there's nothing you can do about it. And so I feel that you
are particularly vulnerable then to like, I don't really know what to do. This is quite
complicated the first few years. And then there is this enormous amount of commercial
interest as you said, with people selling a lot of products.
Which is when the cycle starts. That's when parents get pulled into the ultra-processed
food system because of that reason.
And now we go a step further and say that the food companies know this and they have
targeted that group because it's such a vulnerable group.
It's so obvious how it's been machined when you look at it, when you really stand back
and look at that food aisle for the kids.
And it literally says safe for finger feeding, ideal for weaning, four to six months, six
to eight months, 12
months plus, mixture of vegetables. Now, I've worked with people one on one where their
children refuse to eat broccoli, for example, and it's because they've never actually touched
or felt or eaten a whole broccoli. And I've been at restaurants where I've seen couples
or parents or caregivers who prefer to feed their child from a pouch from their bag, then
let them try what's on the plate at the restaurant.
Yeah, it's a fear of choking there as well and different things.
I think parents just... There's no support for parents as there.
In the States, in the UK, there's no one saying,
right, you've just had a baby, you've come out of hospital,
I'm going to show you what happens at six months when you start weaning.
I would go as far as to say that we just all need to move back in with our grandmas.
Like, basically, if Nonna's around, she will say, six months when you start weaning. I would go as far as to say that we just all need to move back in with our grandmas.
Basically, if Nonna's around, she will say, absolutely not.
As families now, we do live in these smaller households.
We often lose touch with the rest of our family.
I think you're right, Jonathan.
It's the way that we live socially, culturally has impacted a loss of food
culture here and in the US.
And it's like, what we need to do is actually start to rebuild our own.
It doesn't have to be any particular type.
I mean, of course, I'm Italian, so for me, that's the best.
But it can be any food culture.
It can be your own made-up food culture.
But it's really finding what works for you and your household and your family
and letting you be the decider,
you be the person who brings this food into the household,
as opposed to looking to advertising essentially and food marketing to make those decisions for you.
And I think if that's the first step people take, it's a very powerful one and it will quickly change your basket.
Just one item a week, if they said it's small, like small challenges, but we're talking weaning.
I mean, if you progress the conversation forwards and if you're listening now and,
okay, you've already been there listening now and, okay, you've
already been there, you've done that, you've given your kids the pouches because you believe
they were safe, convenient options.
And I get it, sometimes they are great, convenient options, but the majority of the time, the
exposure is so key.
And it's not actually too late, it's more difficult, but it's not too late to start
when they're four, five, six, seven with food exposure.
It's just going to take longer and you have to offer things alongside things they already
enjoy.
So an element of you thinking, right, I'm a parent, I did raise my child in this way.
They go to school with a lunch box that is made up of packeted items like left, right
and center.
I've got a fruit juicy drink in there.
I've got one of those sugary yogurts.
I've got a whole packet of chocolatey items here.
I'm going to try and put in every day,
even if it's rejected for a certain amount of time,
I'm going to make the effort to put in a homemade
whole meal pasta salad option
instead of buying the packeted version I was putting in.
And it is going to be a bit painful.
I'm not going to sugar coat that.
Excuse the pun, but you know, I'm not going to sugar coat it. But it is possible, but it's going to take some grit. And as the parent
and the caregiver, it is actually up to us because no one else is going to help us do it.
Yeah. So I'd love actually, I think it's a brilliant transition point and actually switch from
this sort of horror show that you're sharing with us about this immense fraction, like three
quarters of all the food they're eating is ultraed food, this sort of food that didn't even exist
50 years ago, right?
So this profound change to, okay, practically what can we do to improve things?
Could you start with where we are and what could people really do to start to make a
change?
So with two in a hundred lunch boxes being nutritionally incomplete, what that means
with the stats we've got is that they're not hitting the, first of all, a protein, a carb,
a fat, a vegetable, you know, the food groups.
As a parent in your head mentally, every time you open that lunchbox, you have got to think
what is going to fuel my child for the day ahead.
And this is where Federica's love of everything fiber would come in, but you want fiber, you
want great quality carbs.
That doesn't have to be expensive.
That just means swapping your white pasta for your brown pasta, your white rice for
your brown rice.
And these are things that don't need fancy equipment to cook.
Shove it in a saucepan the night before, cook it, put it in your lunchbox for the next day,
mix it in with a frozen sauce you've made before the week before, you know, a tomato-y
sauce, a pesto sauce, whatever it may be.
Sometimes that might be a shop-bought version, but you know what?
Whole lot better to put it with the whole grain pasta than the white pasta.
And then you can work your way up to swapping out the sauces, because as we said, that is
a source of extra sugar and hidden additives that often come in bought sauces.
You've got your carb, hope everyone's visualizing their carbohydrate.
Then you move over to a palm-sized portion. So for a child, obviously slightly smaller of protein, that
could be chicken strips, it could be canned, well fish is going to smell in your child's
lunch box. But you know what, some kids don't mind that. And if you do boil an egg, please
don't do what I did and literally do it that morning because it stinks. And your child
is not going to be wanting to open up their lunchbox and have that eggy smell come out.
So prep it at least a few hours in advance, let it cool and then package it up.
Protein can be tofu.
It can be a can of beans.
You can roast beans the night before, turn them into crisps with olive oil or something.
I know what I'm saying.
Everyone's thinking, wow, this sounds a bit fancy.
But once you get into the habit of visualizing the protein, the carb, the vegetables,
which let's be honest, most kids don't want to just eat steamed broccoli at that age in
the lunchbox when they're at school. Hey, don't blame you. Try and chuck that stuff
into the pasta. Add the peas into the pasta. Add the sweet corn, add the carrots into that
main bit. Or do some veggie sticks with hummus. It's a classic. You can't go wrong. And then
the yogurts, try and go for the less sugary options. Go for the original state and then
give them a pot of something to add in. Even if it was an extra little bit of honey you
put in a lunchbox, maple syrup or a jam, that's less sugary to add that to the yogurt than
to buy a yogurt that's already sweetened. Let's go back to that 50 years ago.
We used to make things with minimally processed stuff.
We used to use butter, sugar, eggs, mix it in a bowl, you know, make something nice.
Nowadays, we've skipped that process and we've gone straight to the finished item,
straight to this emulsified, artificially sweetened version of everything in a pot.
Whereas if you just added, I think parents are scared of sugar yet they don't realize they're buying it. But if you actually put a bit of honey
in and then mix it into the yogurt, a child would love that. Or a few dark chocolate like
chips, dark chocolate chips, dark chocolate buttons. I'd rather your kid have a small
handful of those to add in, which is still better. And then they're still going to go,
wow, I love my lunchbox. And not everyone's got time to make fancy homemade bars and energy balls.
I mean, I love that kind of stuff.
But that's an example of a lunchbox that doesn't take as much time to prep.
And it's a lot of it's frozen, frozen peas you add in, frozen carrots, sweet corn into
the pasta.
So it can be done.
I hope that visual image has stayed with everyone for your lunchbox.
It sounds beautiful.
It sounds like quite a lot more work than I bought a bunch of stuff from the grocery
store and I threw it all in the box.
I can imagine people listening saying, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's part of the dream life
that I'd like to have, but I'm running around, I've got a full-time job, I'm looking after
the house and I'm trying desperately to feed my children.
Well, I don't know, I've just come out of summer holidays
when we're recording this, right?
So I have been packing packed lunches a lot
for all the various clubs, things, you know,
all the things the kids do in the summer holidays.
And honestly, it takes such little time to put this lunchbox together.
I actually timed myself doing it one day,
because I was like, this feels really good.
Like I got into a groove, right?
It took me seven minutes.
Children do get to have favorites, right?
So I find that, for example, for my kids, like my little one, she loves apples.
So packing a whole apple in her lunchbox is always going to go.
I mean, they love pasta, they're Italian.
Of course they do.
But they also love, you can get these really lovely flat breads
from the supermarket that aren't ultra processed or you can make them yourself at home in a pan
very quickly by just whizzing a batter up together. Honestly, like smoked salmon, bit of avocado,
they love that. Sometimes it's cheese with a bit of tomato, so quick and easy, just toast it in the
pan. So these things are often, once you get into the groove of it
and you have your natural yogurt, I couldn't agree more,
it's so, so easy to make natural yogurt delicious for kids,
however they prefer it.
And dairy alternatives, you know,
sour yogurt doesn't have to upsy for people with lactose intolerance,
so you're not eating dairy.
But always natural, it's just really a focus on buying the natural version of the yogurt,
not the flavored version.
And then just building these lunchboxes up, put something that they will love in there.
Give variety of fruits and vegetables as well.
Like I always put veggie sticks because they inevitably love them.
And sometimes they'll eat all the cucumber and no carrot.
Sometimes it's all the carrot, all the cucumber and the celery.
It depends.
But if you give children variety and you expose them to foods
and they have a choice, then
that day when they're at school, depending on how hungry they feel or on what they fancy,
they then have a choice to eat from.
But you know that what they're choosing from is good for them.
I've always said to parents, do you know exactly what's in your freezer or in your cupboards?
Because if they have one designated drawer at the top of their freezer, I think it's
quite useful hack for parents. And they fill it with those flatbreads they brought in the supermarket at the top.
So basically all the carbs in one shelf, the basis, you know, of all the meals they're
about to chuck in the night before to save time. And then they can say, well, they can
have a pita bread that day or a flatbread that day, then rice, then a pasta. And that
kind of builds the foundation of everything they're going to chuck in.
Yes. And I think another really good tip is, I love that freezer hack, I love freezers,
is actually sometimes children will eat really well if you just invest in a thermos.
So this changed the game for my eldest because she's not a huge fan of cold food, fair enough.
And so a little thermos and in that is where I would put the pasta with the greens, with
the peas.
She just absolutely is so happy with a little bit of thermos food because it's warm.
So that's another thing that for some children and for parents who just run out of ideas for things that taste nice when they're cold.
I think we should definitely touch on the ham sandwich equation because I don't know what it's like in the States.
Is it is it is that a classic over there ham sandwich?
Cooked meats of various
varieties are really important part of the diet. Yeah, staple. And I just think that's where so
many parents don't realize the extra salt comes in. They don't realize that
that type of meat in particular is completely ultra processed. It's gone
through so many stages to get to where it's at. And there are other options that
don't cost as much money, superior options to put in, in replacement of that particular meat.
What would you be suggesting?
You can get slices of chicken as well instead, or turkey if you're a meat eater. If not,
then think outside the box for your lunchbox. So this is what I, and it's also cheaper if
you smash up chickpeas into a base on a sandwich and you could add red pepper if your kid loves
that or some cheese. It can be dairy free options as well, of course. And it's really just thinking
not every sandwich has to just be ham and cheese because that's what they're used to
and they probably won't notice the difference of taste. But we have to be honest about the
fact that consumption of that particular item of food and that food group
processed meats basically
is just not healthy.
And to smash chickpeas is something you find
that kids often are willing, I haven't tried that.
You haven't tried it.
You have to, it's almost like essentially
putting hummus in a sandwich, right?
I think that's where you should start
and it saves you money because it's more cost effective
than buying meat in the first place.
And if they love it, why not try it?
Give it a few days, give or take,
they might not like the texture, that's okay.
But we've got to try these things. And you could try it at dinner one night, test if they, give or take, they might not like the texture, that's okay. But we've got to try these things.
And you could try it at dinner one night, test if they like it or not,
and you could do like a hot toasty sandwich instead.
I 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, you know, 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 food. So that's sort of been quite recently in the Zoe journey.
So if someone's listening to this and saying, well, that's fine, but like, my children basically are used to only these package of 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?
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 different with different age groups. You're totally right, Jonathan. So I think I've worked with teenagers as well and 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. 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-protein foods in my home.
No crust salts ever.
That is not healthy.
The other side of this coin is that I've seen some influencers online
really create fear amongst children.
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.
Exactly.
Same with the belly bugs.
Yes, my kids love it.
Yeah, yeah, the book.
I've got that as well.
Yeah, they're 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 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.
You know, so it's about.
But they know no more than maybe one or one a day
or whatever, because they know it's a lot of sugar.
Because you've told them.
We've told them that there's, for 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.
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,
Tarklet.
So she will sometimes say to me, first thing in the morning,
mummy, can I have some chocolate?
I'm like, 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.
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 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 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.
And 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.
My personal experience has been, it's this understanding about their microbiome that
has been by far the most transformational. And that's true for both my kids.
So 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
and is a way that it supports him getting stronger
and all the rest of it.
What's interesting is that 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.
And 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. 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.
And I think that when we think about meal times, 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 have to, we make time at the weekend.
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.
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.
They don't have much choice in life.
So often, their want for independence
comes through their choices with their food.
I work with people and they say,
my child would never eat broccoli or they would never eat sweet corn,
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 pimp 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 a 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.
You 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.
And slowly you are the, I think it's really empowering parents and giving
them confidence, you know, 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.
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.
It's simple as that.
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Can I move us on to breakfast now?
Oh, yes, breakfast.
And I was just thinking about an experience I had.
So I took my kids away to something called Center Parks.
So it's a sort of place you go away, it's very kids oriented, you sort of stay in some
accommodation and I went to like the little food shop.
It was quite eye opening to me because I'm in a different like grocery store from the
normal ones,
you sort of, you don't know where you're going
and you pay attention.
It's quite small.
And what I was struck by is about half this store
is basically full of breakfast cereal
and it's completely shocking.
So basically it's almost all for kids in this store.
All the row after row of cereals
that have massive health claims across all of them
about how, you know, there's like Cheerios telling you about
you know, the whole grains it has and like these Kellogg's things with like all the vitamins it has and just generally
they look like health foods that I should be giving my kids and I have listened to enough of these podcasts about
ultra-processed foods to know that they are not.
The fortification thing is like a double edged sword because it is so important for kids
that aren't getting those home cooked meals, that aren't getting parents that are nourishing
or thinking because they just haven't had the opportunity or they're not educated to
get a source of calcium in or iron in particular is so important if you're looking at iron
requirements. So when you see those on the packets, I wouldn't say that's the worst
thing in the world. I actually, I'm pro-fortifying foods that I think children consume for a
beneficial growth and development. But like you said, which one you pick, you can have
a fortified Frosty's cereal that's full of so much sugar, but it disguises, it kind of detracts from the actual problem with the packet,
which is the sugar and the salt and the additives.
So it's so deceptive, it tricks you, it tricks the consumer into thinking,
oh, iron, oh, calcium.
Whereas there's actually a blander version of that cereal,
probably further down the aisle, it still has that fortification.
That's one point to discuss.
Yeah, and I think it is a bit of a shocker when you look at children's breakfasts
generally.
Quite a lot of people find that giving children cereal first thing in the morning and then
going to school is quick, it's easy, you don't have to cook.
But there's really a few things to consider.
I think, first of all, it's very unlikely that your child will be satiated and actually have enough nutrition
from that bowl. It's interesting, if you look at the
packets themselves, the cereal companies have to put on that
it's part of a breakfast. They'll have like a bowl of
cereal plus an egg plus a piece of fruit. Then you're looking at
something that's a bit more like a meal. So I think the first
thing to say is I don't think demonizing breakfast cereals is necessarily the way to go,
but certainly don't consider them a full meal.
Also, you know, choose one that is blander.
Choose one that doesn't have the golden honey nut
crunchy crisp, because it's just honestly
like not helping at all.
So things like wheatabix.
So these are like the shredded wheats.
Things like- Brand flakes, brand flakes, they're
much more boring, 100%. But they actually, when you look at the
ingredient system, when you think about them in terms of
what they're offering nutritionally, it's a much better
picture than your honey loops and your fruit loops and your
frosties.
I was brought up to believe that you are meant to eat cereal for
breakfast. You know, I think growing up in the States, it's almost like, it's like a nutritional law
that you have to eat milk and cereal.
Breakfast cereal should not be your breakfast every day.
So even on the days where shreddies do feature on your breakfast, it's that plus a piece of fruit,
some yogurt or an egg, it cannot be just that.
And it really shouldn't be every day.
So there is breakfast.
Jonathan, as you know, I'm very passionate about breakfast
because it's the meal of the day
where we usually have the most control.
Why not make them something that you can both enjoy together?
Whether that is like a yogurt bowl with fruits,
with nuts, with seeds.
You maybe sprinkle some cherries as a topping to that
if you really have to.
But wraps, what about savory things like sandwiches?
Wraps, think outside the boxy things like sandwiches? Wraps.
Think outside the box. We're just engrained.
Eggs as well are a wonderful food for breakfast.
Dip your eggs in an apple, you're good to go.
But also, I love making, especially on the weekends, my children love pancakes.
Yeah, me too.
All children do.
There are so many ways that you can make pancakes.
Absolute nutritional powerhouses.
Yeah.
So like, I know we have one on our Zoe Instagram.
There's a really great recipe for
pancakes, but I personally just love putting banana, some oats, some eggs, blend them together.
Sometimes I'll put in a bit of cinnamon, sometimes I'll put a bit of pear in.
But I do the green veg, because I can get away with it. I'm just saying to parents listening
that mine are only four and two, so I can still hide vegetables in pancakes. You probably can't
do that, but I make green ones.
Well, I've made pink ones with beetroot. That went down an absolute storm.
And also, this is the age where smoothies actually can offer a real solution, especially for parents,
if you're really struggling to get your child to have a diversity of fruits at this age or vegetables.
Smoothies can offer really good addition to a breakfast.
But the real important thing with smoothies is to really good addition to a breakfast. But the real important
thing with smoothies is to remember what you're putting in. So have some kefir, have some
yogurt as a base in there. Carbohydrate.
Have some nuts in there. And it can't just all be super sweet fruits because then you're
just making a fruit juice. So really think of it exactly as you mentioned earlier, when
you're building a meal, are there carbohydrates? Are there healthy fats in there? Putting avocado
in your smoothie is one of the simplest hacks ever. It's creamy, it's quite bland, it doesn't change the taste.
So there's lots of other foods for breakfast for children.
Parents don't need to fear carbs either. I think there's two messages out there. They're
like, well, I want to give them cereal, but I've heard that now I shouldn't give my children
any carbohydrates in the morning to start the day, but actually it's our brain's preferred source of fuel.
And if it's the correct type of carb, I always say quantity and quality, the two Qs.
That's what you need to think of every time you go in the shop and you see bread or you see cereal.
Quality, quantity. That means whole grain, how much?
And children are growing, Jonathan.
So when parents are like, oh, I'm really worried about giving my child too much carbohydrate, right?
Where your child is, you know, growing normally and actually you don't have any cause for concern at the moment,
it's absolutely important for them to have enough carbohydrate to fuel their growth and their activity.
Children are way more active than we are.
Their energy requirements, they burn more than we do as adults at a certain stage of life.
So we actually have to give them so much food.
They do need to eat carbohydrates.
Funny, I see this with my son over the last year who's basically grown about six inches
and he basically eats twice as much as me. Enormous amount of carbs. There's like not
an ounce of body fat on him at this point because he's just like burning this and growing so fast.
So I totally see what you're talking about, which is that he clearly needs...
But it's so important Jonathan, because there are voices online that are telling people
to not feed their children carbs in the morning and give them bacon.
Please, don't give your children processed meat.
And saturated fats first thing in the morning.
Instead of carbohydrates.
Yeah.
It's wild.
I would love to switch now to trying to answer some more of our audience questions.
We had a very long list and this has been so fascinating that I feel bad that I've let it run a long time. We're not going to answer all of them. So
let's try and see if we can be quite punchy because otherwise I'm going to be in trouble
with all the listeners whose questions we don't answer. Maybe starting with Rhiannon.
If my child needs to lose weight, should I put them on a diet?
Not a diet, no, but you should start looking at the quality of their nutrition.
You started with a really complex question with so much nuance.
Relationships of food are everything for children growing up and you do not want to impact that.
But equally, if you've noticed your child needs to be looking at their weight, start
looking at the quality of their diet, the fiber content.
Look at that and seek advice and help and support one-to-one.
From a nutrition professional?
Yes, from someone that's registered.
The answer is no, but think about the quality of the food
because you do need to address it.
Flip side, if my child tells me she's not hungry,
should I force her to eat?
And maybe I can just extend that.
I mean, I definitely remember, you know,
grandparents where I was like, well,
you need to finish what's on your plate
and you're not allowed to get down unless it's all finished.
No.
Learning to honor your child's cues for hunger
and for satiety is really important.
When we deny that child's hunger or satiety,
they learn that their body signaling isn't correct.
So if a child says they are hungry,
believe that they are hungry and offer them a healthy food.
If they say they're full up, believe them and tell them, that's fine.
If you are hungry again, this is the food that is going to be available for you.
So that way we know that they are not using that signaling to try and switch the food necessarily.
It's really important that we honor those signals because children are very honest and transparent
with how they feel.
So recognize it, but don't just rush in and say, okay, here's this other meal, here's
this other meal.
Rhiannon, should my child have a cup of milk every day?
No, over the age of two, no, no need.
And actually, marketing was a huge role with this in the dairy industry, dare I say.
No, there's plenty of other nutrition sources of calcium
and things that you think you'd be getting
just from that food item alone.
My child craves sweet ultra-processed food.
Should I try to curb their craving?
How so?
I think what we mentioned,
so really building a home environment
where the choice of food for them
is as healthy as possible.
Knowing that they'll probably be able to access
the sweeter ultra processed foods outside the home,
start at home, give them lots of variety.
This is where baking at home could really come in handy
as well, make some cupcakes in 10 minutes at home
and see how they prefer those.
So try and find ways to offer foods that are enjoyable,
but that aren't harmful for their health basically.
And I think I've got a related one,
which I definitely feel and think about.
Rhiannon, should I get my child an ice cream when we're out?
So it depends how frequently you go to this one place
where the ice cream van is.
Let's say if you're going to the same park every single day or every weekend, it becomes a habit and therefore
you need to embrace, hey, that's where they're getting their ice cream that week and you
go with it and you let them enjoy that moment. However, if you go to this park every day
and this ice cream van is there every single day, that's a problem. And that's going to
be a really difficult one for your child because they won't understand why am I not allowed it on this day but I can have it on this day.
So you need to be very careful where your boundaries lie from the outset.
Having an ice cream a week is totally fine, one or two, but daily ice cream, not a good
idea.
Is anyone in your family struggling with getting their kids to eat healthily?
Why not share this episode with them right now? You can empower them with the latest scientific advice. I'm sure they'll
thank you.
I think this is a very live one. I think one of the things anyone who has children knows
is like as soon as you do something like twice, it's basically a routine and three times it's
like, well now that has to happen forever more, right?
And you've got the music on the ice cream. I mean, come on.
They're very smart. the ice cream men.
They're so enticing.
Actually, I make ice cream at home, but not like complicated.
It tastes great.
And I also make ice lollies just by putting the smoothie into a mold.
And then that way it's not about ice cream isn't allowed.
It's the quality of this ice cream isn't as good as the quality of the one we have at
home.
So we're going to have it at home.
So again, the conversation spins to ice cream isn't this like golden food that you can never have,
and it's more about quality. I think teaching children about quality is really important.
It is, because they'll know the difference.
What about grandparents? Does it matter if they indulge my kids and break all the rules
that I set at my house?
There's a theory that grandmothers hold massive power. I would highly recommend laying the ground rules with grandparents early on.
So it's going to happen that your mother-in-law or your mother or grandparent will come in
with like a tray of ultra-processed something.
Like I love my mother-in-law.
She's amazing.
My mother-in-law does the same thing.
She won't mind me saying, she's like, why haven't you given him chocolate yet?
Why haven't you given him this? I'm like, he's two.
Karate came in with this tray of the most ultra-processed cupcakes I have ever seen in my life.
Oh, I know.
Two of the ones?
Yes.
And I was like, thank you so much. And then not in front of the children,
in private, just be like, thank you so much. It's really thoughtful.
In the future, it would be great if you could bring XYZ. And listen, some people don't have
a great relationship with the grandparents and the family.
Some people do.
So if you have a good relationship,
talk to them with love and just explain,
this is what I'm trying to do with a nutrition.
I've heard this isn't great,
so I would love if you could do this.
Next time, could you bring XYZ?
And actually, you know, since then,
she's been bringing berries.
My kids love berries.
So great.
Well, there you go.
That's a nice conversation.
Now, what if you don't get on with the grandparents?
And I hear this all the time, and it is a dreaded thing, isn't it?
Where your friend's kids go to the grandparents' house and they plow them with Haribo.
Yes.
Yes.
Or with like, you know, barbecue-flavored crisps.
So, if that's the case, remember that once in a while isn't going to be problematic.
If that grandparent is looking after your child regularly, then there's going to have
to be a conversation about providing food.
And in some cases, with some of my clients,
they end up sending the food in for the child
to take to the grandparents
so that there's at least a good nutritional base.
But really, talking communication is key here.
So if you can just establish some ground rules
about the kinds of foods that you're feeding your child
and why, not putting any shame on their choices
or on their knowledge and education, but just bring that with love. And most of the time,
grandparents also want the best for the children.
It's the same as nursery settings though. I know we don't have time, but childcare settings,
it's so hard because the kids are exposed at ages nought to three, tons of sugar when
other parents bring it in and...
There are regulations for nurseries for food, so it's a wild west out there.
Thank you both so much. I'm going to try and do a quick summary and keep me honest.
I think we started with just the shocking statistic that three quarters of the food
that our children are eating is ultra processed food.
This is completely different from the food that any of us were eating 50 years ago.
That not just is it ultra processed, but there's an enormous amount of sugar that is hiding
in all of this food.
And I think I heard you say there are like 12 teaspoons of sugar in a lunch box, which
is sort of terrifying, right?
You would never add that if you're making it yourself and it's all hidden.
And the other thing you said is it tends to be hidden in the food
that makes the biggest health claims.
So you're saying you're walking down the aisle
of the grocery store,
you've seen all this food that says, you know,
high in protein or added sugar,
this thing that's great for, you know, five-year-olds,
whatever, and those are the things
that have the most sugar added into it,
as opposed to the food where we know about it.
But it's okay. There are things you can do. And we where we know about it. But it's okay.
There are things you can do and we talked a bit about lunch.
I think this idea that you can make one change at a time to steadily improve it I think is
wonderful rather than saying you've got to fix it all at once.
Some very practical advice like sort of swapping to brown pasta or brown rice is quite easy
shifts.
Mixing the veg into the main meal I thought was really smart.
It's like hiding it in the pasta.
It's a bit like what I used to do at school to hide the food before you threw it away,
but you're saying actually get it to eat them.
And I thought this brilliant hack that I hadn't heard before, which is
give them natural yoghurt, so like with no ultra processed food in it,
and then just allow them to put something really sweet and sugary in,
it's actually going to be much better than the yoghurt you were probably buying last week
that you thought was really good for them and was healthy, but actually wasn't. And this is, as Rhiannon just said, it's like fun as well.
For breakfast, your children do not need to eat cereal. It is okay for them to eat something else.
And indeed, I think, fascinating, Federica was saying, they may well not be getting enough energy
just from the cereal and the milk. So think about what else you can put around that is actually going to
be more like a regular meal and fill them up.
Then we talked about just the challenges, I think,
of getting your children to end up with a healthy relationship with
food and be able to manage these challenges around us.
Therefore, you shouldn't be trying to ban the things that are fun.
Absolutely, it's totally fine to have ice cream,
but you don't want to be in a situation where they're having ice cream every single day,
and you definitely don't want them to be having like the terrible ultra-processed ice cream every day
because you've created this habit.
So you're trying to find that middle ground.
And I think, you know, last thing that stuck in my mind was trying to give your children choices about what to eat.
It feels like that's come up in lots of things you said,
that they have so little control in life,
and actually this pushing against food
is partly just trying to have more control.
And so if you can give them more choices,
that's a bit I'm thinking about,
like it's almost like getting to pick at the buffet,
isn't it?
That's like, okay, like I get,
actually maybe I'm quite happy to eat some of these things,
rather than saying you've only got this one thing,
this is all you can have and making it into a huge fight.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Brilliant summary.
Wow.
Very good.
Wonderful.
Thank you so much.
I think that was fascinating.
I know we will have many follow up questions, so I hope we can tempt you back for a follow
up.
Part two.
Teenagers next.
Yeah, I can't wait for that.
We haven't even talked about menstruation.
No, we haven't.
We didn't do iron enough as well.
So many things.
Thank you so much. No, we haven't. We didn't do iron enough as well. So many things. Thank you so much.
Thanks, Jonathan.
Thank you.
I really enjoyed having Rhiannon and Federica on the podcast today.
I hope you learned something new.
My biggest takeaway is that school lunch can really empower my children to grow their own
relationship to food.
Now, if you listen to the show regularly, you already believe that changing how you
eat can transform your health.
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As always, I'm your host, Jonathan Wolff.
Zoey's Science and Nutrition is produced by Julie Pinero, Sam Durham and Richard Willen.
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See you next time!