Headache all day, finished work, picked up the kids, the phone rings, half an hour to training, everyone's hungry – how about some sausage and macaroni? Recognize the situation?
You shouldn't feel guilty about the kids eating meatballs. But try to serve vegetables too. Peas or similar that you might have in the freezer, says Lotta Moraeus.
Early Habits
Swedish children, both 1.5-year-olds and 4-year-olds, consume more meat and charcuterie than is considered healthy, mainly in the form of sausage. This is revealed by the National Food Agency's review "Riksmaten small children" which, as the name suggests, examines what the youngest in the country eat. The study also compares with 2003, when the eating habits of 4-year-olds were last reviewed.
Generally, children eat a bit better now than then. It was a fairly expected result. We see the same things as studies around adult diets, which is interesting because it shows that eating habits are established early.
Should you then feel guilty if it becomes too much sausage and macaroni during the week or a large bag of candy on Saturdays?
No, but it's about working on eating habits in the long run. To establish a habit. If you've tasted a lot when you were little, it's much easier to continue with it, says Lotta Moraeus.
Okay with Saturday Candy
She also points out that all responsibility should not be placed on parents.
Society must help. If fish had been cheaper compared to charcuterie products, for example, more people would probably have eaten it more often during the week.
Besides too much red meat, sugar is the other major villain in the diet of the youngest.
All 1.5-year-olds consume too much free sugar, i.e. added sugar. But there the recommendation is zero. Among four-year-olds, 43 percent consume too much, says Lotta Moraeus and continues:
But it's quite smart to limit it to one day, because then it doesn't push out other nutrient intake in the same way. It's also pedagogical and an easy thing for children to understand that it's limited to just Saturday candy.
