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Isolder74
2012-01-28, 09:03 PM
Link (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2092071/Stacey-Irvine-17-collapses-eating-McDonalds-chicken-nuggets-age-2.html)


Sick teen says she's eaten only McNuggets
By Lisa Collier Cool
Jan 26, 2012

When the kids are wailing, the boss wasn’t happy with your presentation, and the kitchen is anything but pristine, what mom hasn’t thrown up her hands and given in to demands for chicken nuggets? Like, three times a week?

Maybe Mom should tell the kids: Be careful what you wish for.

Read about celebrities who dealt with eating disorders.

This week 17-year-old British factory worker Stacey Irvine was rushed to the hospital when she collapsed, struggling to breathe. During the exam, doctors were stunned to learn that Ms. Irvine had never in her life eaten fruit or vegetables; instead she had eaten almost nothing but fast-food chicken nuggets since she was two years old.

Her mother, Evonne Irvine, told reporters she had gone to great lengths to try to feed her daughter more nutritious food, at one point even trying to starve the girl, but it hadn’t worked. Stacey responded that, once she started eating nuggets, she “loved them so much they were all I would eat.”

Learn to grow your own fruits and vegetables.
What’s so bad about nuggets?

They would be bad enough if they were merely chunks of chicken that had been breaded and deep-fried in oil. One documentary describes McDonald's nuggets as chickens “stripped down to the bone, and then 'ground up’ into a chicken mash, then combined with a variety of stabilizers and preservatives, pressed into familiar shapes, breaded and deep fried, freeze dried, and then shipped to a McDonald’s near you.”

Aside from chicken and oil, those “stabilizers and preservatives” are said to include dimethylpolysiloxane, a form of silicone also used in cosmetics. Another additive is tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), a form of butane. According to one report, chicken is only about 50 percent of a McNugget; the remainder is a mixture of corn-derived ingredients, sugars and synthetic substances.

If a four-piece serving of Chicken McNuggets carried a nutrition label, at first glance it wouldn’t seem too scary: 190 calories, 12 grams of carbs and 12 grams of fat. But consider that more than half of those calories (56 percent) are from fat—and protein accounts for a mere four percent. Add a whopping 360 mg sodium, and its image as “the more nutritious fast-food snack” fades.

Read about 15 surprisingly healthy fast food picks.
What’s the worst that can happen?

Aside from collapsing and gasping for air, as Stacey Irvine did? Doctors also discovered that the veins in Ms. Irvine’s tongue were swollen and she was diagnosed with anemia. Further, such a high salt intake can increase a person’s blood pressure (which ultimately can put them at risk for a stroke or heart attack).

McNuggets are low in nutrients everyone needs, such as calcium, fiber, vitamins, antioxidants and healthy fats, so a steady diet of nuggets means missing out on the health benefits of those ingredients.

Find out which vitamins you really need.
So what’s a parent to do?

If your kids are hooked on nuggets, experts offer these suggestions for steering them towards healthier eating:

* Serve a variety of healthy foods at home to prevent “picky eater” habits from forming. Taking them grocery shopping, teaching them to find and choose foods, and involving them in meal planning tells them you want to prepare meals they will enjoy.
* Set realistic goals. If the child bristles at eating a side portion of veggies, make a game to get him to take one bite of the new-tasting food.
* Make your own chicken snacks at home, using healthy dipping sauces like marinara sauce, yogurt or mustard. If you must bread the nuggets, dip them in an egg, roll them in cornflake crumbs and bake, don’t fry.
* If you’re eating out, cut out half of the trans and saturated fat by ordering a grilled chicken sandwich instead of nuggets. Order for your child from the adult menu, or share your sandwich with her, so the nuggets issue doesn’t come up.
* Be consistent and firm, but encourage and praise the child every time she tries a new, healthier food. And be a good role model—don’t expect children to eat healthy when one or both parents snack on salty chips or fatty, processed foods.
* Keep healthy foods in the meal, even when you give in and allow your child to order nuggets. Serve it with a side salad, fruit, or a slice of whole-grain bread.


Bolding mine. What?

I'd like to say something else to start but, "No, duh." is the only thing that immediately comes to mind.

You know this girl makes Veruca Salt not look spoiled. How can parenting ever get to this kind of point?

The mother claims she's tried to get her to eat something else but I have to wonder. How hard did she really try? It doesn't sound like she put that much of an effort into it.

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll
2012-01-28, 09:15 PM
There's a point, I think, where, as a parent, you have to NOT give in, even if it means you feel like crap about it. I mean, when MY parents were kids, they would have to eat every single thing on their plate, whether they liked it or not, or else they weren't allowed to leave the table. If her parents had the iron in them to actually exert their will on their kids, she'd be fine.

Pokonic
2012-01-28, 09:19 PM
..... Poof that out there, there are simply some parents who never realy take there time to actualy explain what the word "nutrition" means.

Mando Knight
2012-01-28, 09:21 PM
Happened to see an episode of one of my sister's TV shows that featured people like that... it happens. And people like them are mind-boggling, but they're people who've done it that way for years (the seventeen-year-old did it for one and a half decades), and so normality is just as alien to them as their ways are to us...

Pokonic
2012-01-28, 09:32 PM
Happened to see an episode of one of my sister's TV shows that featured people like that... it happens. And people like them are mind-boggling, but they're people who've done it that way for years (the seventeen-year-old did it for one and a half decades), and so normality is just as alien to them as their ways are to us...

Still, said someone should at least have someone close to them who could snap them out of there nuggity craze, or at least get a clue from others that eating a single product is not good for ones body!

Traab
2012-01-28, 09:38 PM
Things like this are why I got so pissed every time id see my mother or sister bend to the whims of my baby niece as she would declare what she would and would not eat. It is not the place of a child to make those decisions, it is the job of the parents to make them eat what they are supposed to eat. I doubt very much that she "starved" her daughter. Missing one meal then caving on the next doesnt count as starving. If she got hungry enough, she would eat it. Make up a meal that will keep for a long time, then tell her she gets nothing till everything on the plate has been eaten. No child will be able to hold out long enough to do real damage to themselves. Any time they complain about being hungry, point to the plate of food you want them to eat. Of course, if you wait till they are a teenager it gets a hell of alot harder.

Lord Seth
2012-01-28, 09:39 PM
Well, at least I can look at my not-particularly-great diet and say "it could be worse."

Whiffet
2012-01-28, 09:45 PM
Okay, yeah, there's no way the mother tried hard enough. I'm sure the kid put up a huge fight every time (at least, I hope... :smalleek:) and I'm sure the mother would get extremely exhausted from this, but that's pretty normal. Every kid will pick something to fight against, something where parents just can't give in. It's part of the job.

So she knows nothing but McNuggets? Wow, she's missing out on so much.

Xondoure
2012-01-28, 10:37 PM
There is a certain point where picky eaters will be picky eaters and all the parents can do is put food on a plate whether the child will eat it or not. This is waaaaaay past that line. If she was running into these sort of obstacles she should have seen a nutritionist. It's sickening just reading about it.

tensai_oni
2012-01-28, 10:44 PM
1. This belongs in Friendly Banter I think.

2. This is a dietary abomination, but the "what is on the plate must disappear" approach is hurting too. Sometimes you just do not feel hungry. And even if all meals in your house are perfectly balanced, sooner or later you eat out and then you are conditioned to eat everything from your plate, even as you eat unhealthy or super-sized rations. Obesity follows.

I still hate picky eating. But being a picky eater is more about attitude than eating preferences.

Goosefeather
2012-01-28, 11:03 PM
How can she know she wouldn't like other foods without even trying them? :smallconfused:

I can understand not wanting to try new things; as a child, I was the same (four foods were accepted, anything else would be rejected, be it before or after actually eating it!), but my parents persisted and now I'm happy to eat pretty much anything (being a poverty-stricken student might help there!)

Still, having such a monotonous diet for FIFTEEN YEARS... To be honest, it makes her come across as an unimaginative, boring person. How can anyone be so lacking in curiosity as to not even try new things even once in a while?

Whiffet
2012-01-28, 11:04 PM
2. This is a dietary abomination, but the "what is on the plate must disappear" approach is hurting too. Sometimes you just do not feel hungry. And even if all meals in your house are perfectly balanced, sooner or later you eat out and then you are conditioned to eat everything from your plate, even as you eat unhealthy or super-sized rations. Obesity follows.

Yeah, that's a bad idea. There's other ways to discourage picky eating. My parents told me I had to eat the vegetables first and try a little of everything. I'm sure people here have other methods to share, too.

The more I think about this, the more horrifying it sounds. At first I mostly thought about the health implications, but what about life experiences? Trying new foods gets kids ready to try other new things. Variety spices up life and lets you discover wonderful things, but you have to be willing to try something different.

Traab
2012-01-28, 11:15 PM
1. This belongs in Friendly Banter I think.

2. This is a dietary abomination, but the "what is on the plate must disappear" approach is hurting too. Sometimes you just do not feel hungry. And even if all meals in your house are perfectly balanced, sooner or later you eat out and then you are conditioned to eat everything from your plate, even as you eat unhealthy or super-sized rations. Obesity follows.

I still hate picky eating. But being a picky eater is more about attitude than eating preferences.

There is a wide range of behavior between "Eat every bite of everything i give to you" and "Go ahead, eat whatever you like, no matter how much damage it does to your health, im such a spineless jellyfish i cant make my own child do something." Its one thing to put a well balanced plate of food in front of a kid and they leave some of their veggies. Its another thing entirely when they refuse to eat anything decent and you pander to them. You are the adult, they are the child. Get them in the habit of eating what you give them young, and it will stick with them. They dont have to clear their plate, so long as they are getting enough of the stuff that matters. My niece is 10 years old, and for as long as she could make her preferences known she has completely controlled her own diet. She will refuse to eat anything not on a narrow list of foods, but thankfully there is enough decent food mixed in with the garbage that this nugget scenario wont happen.

Its all I can do to keep the scowl off my face as I watch my sister or my mother try to get her to try new food only for her to absolutely refuse to consider it, and they instantly cave in and get her a &^%$ corn dog or something. When I watch her, she eats what I give her because she knows otherwise she gets nothing. Im willing to bend a bit on things, like say, she dislikes some vegetables and likes others, so i will give her that instead of trying to cram a veggie she hates down her throat. But if she tries to give me some line of garbage about how she doesnt like chicken, or beef, then I shrug and let her know she wont eat anything else until she eats a specific amount of what i want her to eat. I wont let her get three helpings of the one side dish she likes while the main course rots on her plate. Are you hungry? Then eat what i give you. She gets stubborn about it? Then she doesnt get to use the computer or watch tv/play games. Let her sit there with nothing to do but think about how hungry she is. She always gives in before bed time.

Admiral Squish
2012-01-28, 11:19 PM
...I simply can't beleive this. I can't honestly believe that in 17 years, that this girl didn't eat anything but chicken nuggets. She'd have gotten scurvy LONG before she made it to 17. This is just some stupid publicity prank.

As for the 'eat everything on your plate'... Well, at my house, mom made the food, and you ate the food. You didn't eat the food, you went hungry until the next meal. You didn't have to eat everything, but if you wanted more of the good stuff, you had to eat all of the vegetables first.

Dark Elf Bard
2012-01-28, 11:22 PM
Happened to see an episode of one of my sister's TV shows that featured people like that... it happens. And people like them are mind-boggling, but they're people who've done it that way for years (the seventeen-year-old did it for one and a half decades), and so normality is just as alien to them as their ways are to us...

tensai_oni
2012-01-28, 11:30 PM
@Traab

Indeed. This is my point exactly, that the best diet lies between two extremes. Glad we are in agreement.

H Birchgrove
2012-01-28, 11:32 PM
To some degree, I was a "picky eater" too. I didn't like raw carrots (didn't mind boiled carrots) and fish; the latter often still makes me physically ill, with some exceptions. (I can eat pickled herring and "fish balls" without trouble. I like the taste of boiled salmon but it still makes me ill.)

But no vegetables *at all*? Only McNuggets? What in blazes? :smallconfused: :smallyuk:

I'm surprised she didn't get beriberi, scurvy and/or any other nutrition disorder(s). I hope she at least drank some fruit juice and milk. At least the parents could have given her vitamin and mineral pills, though that's an expensive substitute.

I hope both she and her parents have learned a lesson and now will eat properly. I recommend wok.

PS. I shouldn't be surprised over how much crapola there is in McNuggets. But I am. I actually thought they were somewhat better than the hamburgers. :smallyuk:

Hiro Protagonest
2012-01-28, 11:44 PM
PS. I shouldn't be surprised over how much crapola there is in McNuggets. But I am. I actually thought they were somewhat better than the hamburgers. :smallyuk:

A while back there was a TV show about a British chef coming here and doing the same thing he did in Britain, trying to get kids to eat healthier foods. One time, he made chicken nuggets in front of the youngest elementary students, like 6-8 years old, he said in an interview portion (you know how some of these shows have occasional flips from the main part to a relevant portion of an interview) that it worked like a charm back in Britain. The process described in the article was the exact process. When he was done, he asked who wanted those chicken nuggets he just made. Every kid raised their hand.

An Enemy Spy
2012-01-28, 11:47 PM
How is it even possible to have never eaten a single fruit or vegetable? I mean, really?

Arminius
2012-01-28, 11:58 PM
There is probably some sort of mental disorder going on here. It is one thing to like chicken nuggets, but to not like anything else? I find it hard to believe anyone sane would eat nothing but chicken nuggets. It is not even about eating healthy. Am I reading this right, or is it implying that she also doesn't eat hamburgers, bacon, sausage, cake, hotdogs, pizza, or <insert tasty unhealthy food here> either? I can understand not liking vegetables, I didn't like them much as a kid either. I can understand liking unhealthy foods in general, I have such proclivities too, but to like nothing but chicken nuggets is just plain bizarre.:smallconfused:

Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll
2012-01-29, 12:01 AM
@Traab

Indeed. This is my point exactly, that the best diet lies between two extremes. Glad we are in agreement.

Exactly.


A while back there was a TV show about a British chef coming here and doing the same thing he did in Britain, trying to get kids to eat healthier foods. One time, he made chicken nuggets in front of the youngest elementary students, like 6-8 years old, he said in an interview portion (you know how some of these shows have occasional flips from the main part to a relevant portion of an interview) that it worked like a charm back in Britain. The process described in the article was the exact process. When he was done, he asked who wanted those chicken nuggets he just made. Every kid raised their hand.

Jamie Oliver, aye. Amazing chef. Also good-looking.

Coidzor
2012-01-29, 12:02 AM
...That doesn't make any sense. :smallconfused:

She wouldn't have been able to live to 17 if she only ate chicken nuggets. At the very least, scurvy would have cost her teeth and she'd have been unable to eat them anymore. Heck, shouldn't her iron deficiency between eating iron-poor chicken and being a woman have resulted in her dying or something?

An Enemy Spy: Bad Parenting and negative pressures in society... not to be underestimated what kinds of messed up kids they can create.

Like, "sexually reactive" children, for a particularly misanthropy inducing instance. :smallsigh:

H Birchgrove
2012-01-29, 12:04 AM
A while back there was a TV show about a British chef coming here and doing the same thing he did in Britain, trying to get kids to eat healthier foods. One time, he made chicken nuggets in front of the youngest elementary students, like 6-8 years old, he said in an interview portion (you know how some of these shows have occasional flips from the main part to a relevant portion of an interview) that it worked like a charm back in Britain. The process described in the article was the exact process. When he was done, he asked who wanted those chicken nuggets he just made. Every kid raised their hand.

But did he make those nuggets with the same ingredients as used by the food industry (to show how bad they are), or did he make *healthier* nuggets?

Friv
2012-01-29, 12:41 AM
According to the article that I read, she technically doesn't only eat chicken nuggets, but she eats chicken nuggets for at least one meal a day, and usually for more. She also eats french fries, toast, and crisps, and presumably drinks milk sometimes I guess?

Anyway, while the mom clearly should have sent the girl somewhere, she said she went as far as trying to starve her into eating more nutritious food, which seems kind of last-resort, and has been fighting to get her daughter to see a nutrition specialist.

Also, and this is a suspicion that I have based on the way that the article is constructed, so I could be wrong, I suspect that this "nuggets only" thing gradually grew out of control as the daughter got older and more difficult to manage. The girl says that "Mum gave up giving me anything else years ago", not "Mum gave up giving me anything else instantly and I've been eating only nuggets since I was two."

OracleofWuffing
2012-01-29, 01:20 AM
According to the article that I read, she technically doesn't only eat chicken nuggets, but she eats chicken nuggets for at least one meal a day, and usually for more. She also eats french fries, toast, and crisps, and presumably drinks milk sometimes I guess?
:smallconfused: Did she actually get some health out of school cafeteria food?

That said, I'm one to speak... The first thing that jumped to mind here was, "So, did she eat them with ketchup, mustard, honey, ranch, bbq, or no sauce?"

Pokonic
2012-01-29, 01:21 AM
:smallconfused: Did she actually get some health out of school cafeteria food?

That said, I'm one to speak... The first thing that jumped to mind here was, "So, did she eat them with ketchup, mustard, honey, ranch, bbq, or no sauce?"

Nah, she takes some home and liquifies them to use as a dip, silly!

OracleofWuffing
2012-01-29, 01:23 AM
...

...

...

Great, now I know what I need in order to wash down my KFC Double Down.

Oh my gosh this is so horrible.

factotum
2012-01-29, 02:28 AM
This article has clearly been exaggerated to make the news. As already pointed out, if she'd GENUINELY been eating nothing but chicken nuggets (and note it isn't specified these had to be McDonald's nuggets, they just used that as an example of how unhealthy they are) all her life, she'd have been dead years ago. Maybe she only ever ate nuggets for her main meal and had other stuff for breakfast and lunch?

_Zoot_
2012-01-29, 04:00 AM
Huh, in my house it was the quick or the dead. If I didn't eat the food, my Dad would, as well as that, we got a great range of food as my Mum is a fantastic chef and loves to cook interesting food. Well that might have been counter productive, as I now love to eat nearly anything that I can get my hands on, with the normal result of being over weight.

Oh well, C'est la vie. :smallbiggrin:

Coidzor
2012-01-29, 04:31 AM
...

...

...

Great, now I know what I need in order to wash down my KFC Double Down.

Oh my gosh this is so horrible.

...I now feel kinda queasy... :smallconfused:

The Succubus
2012-01-29, 04:35 AM
...That doesn't make any sense. :smallconfused:

She wouldn't have been able to live to 17 if she only ate chicken nuggets. At the very least, scurvy would have cost her teeth and she'd have been unable to eat them anymore. Heck, shouldn't her iron deficiency between eating iron-poor chicken and being a woman have resulted in her dying or something?

An Enemy Spy: Bad Parenting and negative pressures in society... not to be underestimated what kinds of messed up kids they can create.

Like, "sexually reactive" children, for a particularly misanthropy inducing instance. :smallsigh:


On the subject of bad parenting... I just had a 16 year old girl with hyperglycemia attack me today after my uncle's birthday dinner, throw a temper tantrum, scream in my ear with enough volume to potentially cause damage, pour glue on my hair on a leather sofa, take sharpie to my forehead, and then finally tear my shirt.

Because someone had sat on the side of the sofa where she had been sitting before going upstairs to eat and then coming back down to play ping-pong with her father. While there was still plenty of room on the couch.

Then, when I sat down on it and we played musical chairs to tease her obsession with that spot over the guy who had been principally antagonizing her, she went berserk. And after I grappled her and trivially overpowered her so that she was laying across my knee and I calmly pointed out that if she was going to be acting like an animal, we could take her to visit the poodles out in their kennel, she squealed and managed to get away, out the house, run around it, and go sobbing to her parent about all of this, at which point my aunt(whose house this was happening at) saw me and ordered me into the shower to get the sharpie off of myself and the glue out of my hair.

And when I finally quit the scene, the next thing she did was grab a pair of scissors and started trying to cut my best friend's hair. Then punched her own father when he took the scissors away from her.

And then finally her mom just asked my friend to give her the seat.

At which point he did because the alternative was to ask her in what way that giving in to such a temper tantrum was good parenting, especially when the girl was 16.

Holy s***, Coid! :smalleek:

That is a girl in dire need of help. It must have been difficult to resist the temptation to give her a clip around the earhole. So after the aunt got you cleaned up, did the mum and dad of this hellspawn actually apologise or offer an explanation for their daughter's behaviour?

Jayngfet
2012-01-29, 04:43 AM
I find it amazing that no one else has noticed that she started eating them at 2 years old.


That's kind of a bad start.

Coidzor
2012-01-29, 05:29 AM
Jayngfet: Yeah, I didn't think 2 year olds were ready to chew non-soft foods, and chicken nuggets with their hard, ablative exterior coating never struck me as soft.

More you know, I guess? :smallconfused:


Holy ****, Coid! :smalleek:

My life is weird, I must admit. I even cause street lights to turn off by walking by them. On the other hand, a completely different aunt of mine causes wristwatches to cease functioning via prolonged skin contact. So it might just be that my family tree got up to some juju with Cthulhu cults back in the day or something.

Well, her mother actually offered to wash my hair off in the sink for me after she recovered from being flabbergasted. To her mother's credit on that account, she did recognize that this was pretty bad behavior and called the daughter on it at that point, it's mostly the bit where it happened and the bit where she actually struck her father and they just gave up and asked my friend and cousin to acquiesce to her inflexible and aggressive seating demands.

I can't recall for certain if her mother apologized, but I think so. Rather fond of the mother, but I still can't quite fathom how anything at all child-related to her happened, especially with the mother being either a pediatrician or a general practitioner.

After that point I didn't see her again, as the rest happened while I was in the shower. After I got out of the shower, my 2 cousins, her little brother, and my friend stayed upstairs visiting with my younger cousin's new(to me anyway) pet rat and watching how I met your mother and then showing him the youtube video of Neil Patrick Harris singing "It's not just for gays anymore" from the 2011 tony awards when he didn't believe that NPH was gay. And then I waited until I was sure that my aunt had stopped discussing belly dancing for fear of overhearing anything traumatizing to slink down, say my goodbyes, and get on down the road as it had become about 10 PM before I'd realized it.

I think part of the whole freakout thing might have been linked to her newish diet and not really wanting to eat/feellng able to eat what was for dinner.

As for giving her a cuff on the ear.... The last time I gave her a clip on the ear, she was in the single digits and I was under 15, and I think it caused her to develop a crush on me, which was awkward and lead to me being made fun of and teased about it by my parents and the other adults. Also, kind of horrifying, as I was like twice her age for a fair bit of that time.

As it was, I tried to get her in a headlock after I got rather... incensed when my shirt got torn, but just ended up with her sprawled across the couch on top of myself and my cousin who is her age. Kind of awkward and uncomfortable to have a 16 year old girl on top of me and not really having a way to get her off of us due to not having a place to leverage or grab. :smallyuk:

...Wow I feel old now. And talk too damn much. :smalleek:

Fri
2012-01-29, 06:39 AM
Just want to say that scurvy is actually hard to get if you eat the tiniest amount of fresh food at all. I think, something like a slice of tomato from a burger a day is enough to prevent scurvy. You'll still have other problems, but not scurvy. And anyway, anything get fortified with vitamins these days, vitamin water, fruit juice, cereals, milk, butter, so in developed world, getting vitamins are rather easy.

Brother Oni
2012-01-29, 07:47 AM
Still, having such a monotonous diet for FIFTEEN YEARS... To be honest, it makes her come across as an unimaginative, boring person. How can anyone be so lacking in curiosity as to not even try new things even once in a while?

While Factotum is probably right in that the story's been jazzed up to make better news, you won't believe how fussy English people can be about their food. :smalltongue:

Aotrs Commander
2012-01-29, 08:30 AM
To play devil's advocate for a moment, there are some children you just can't reason/cojole/punish into eating what they don't want to. As a child, I refused point-blank to eat vegatables - still don't - and there was simply no way of making me, arguably without tying me down and forcing me. Sanctions just made me more determined not to, and as they could barely get me to eat, period, in the first place, since I always though it was nothing more than a timesink when I could have been playing... (Rationalising didn't, in fact, help, as I was bright enough to understand the reasoning and not care anyway. Mum says my eating habits only improved (i.e. I stopped being skeletally thin, not that I started eating vegetation) after my baby sister died and she'd told me she as worried about my health.) So.

However, I was never quite that bad (there were plenty of other things I did eat, baked beans, potatoes, cerial, fruit etc). And it is rare to find someone as sheerly bloody-minded as me! (Notably, my sisters aren't even slightly as picky as me.)

The fact this girl started on nuggets at two and then on is a sign than the parents perhaps could have done more.

Traab
2012-01-29, 09:28 AM
Jayngfet: Yeah, I didn't think 2 year olds were ready to chew non-soft foods, and chicken nuggets with their hard, ablative exterior coating never struck me as soft.

More you know, I guess? :smallconfused:



My life is weird, I must admit. I even cause street lights to turn off by walking by them. On the other hand, a completely different aunt of mine causes wristwatches to cease functioning via prolonged skin contact. So it might just be that my family tree got up to some juju with Cthulhu cults back in the day or something.

Well, her mother actually offered to wash my hair off in the sink for me after she recovered from being flabbergasted. To her mother's credit on that account, she did recognize that this was pretty bad behavior and called the daughter on it at that point, it's mostly the bit where it happened and the bit where she actually struck her father and they just gave up and asked my friend and cousin to acquiesce to her inflexible and aggressive seating demands.

I can't recall for certain if her mother apologized, but I think so. Rather fond of the mother, but I still can't quite fathom how anything at all child-related to her happened, especially with the mother being either a pediatrician or a general practitioner.

After that point I didn't see her again, as the rest happened while I was in the shower. After I got out of the shower, my 2 cousins, her little brother, and my friend stayed upstairs visiting with my younger cousin's new(to me anyway) pet rat and watching how I met your mother and then showing him the youtube video of Neil Patrick Harris singing "It's not just for gays anymore" from the 2011 tony awards when he didn't believe that NPH was gay. And then I waited until I was sure that my aunt had stopped discussing belly dancing for fear of overhearing anything traumatizing to slink down, say my goodbyes, and get on down the road as it had become about 10 PM before I'd realized it.

I think part of the whole freakout thing might have been linked to her newish diet and not really wanting to eat/feellng able to eat what was for dinner.

As for giving her a cuff on the ear.... The last time I gave her a clip on the ear, she was in the single digits and I was under 15, and I think it caused her to develop a crush on me, which was awkward and lead to me being made fun of and teased about it by my parents and the other adults. Also, kind of horrifying, as I was like twice her age for a fair bit of that time.

As it was, I tried to get her in a headlock after I got rather... incensed when my shirt got torn, but just ended up with her sprawled across the couch on top of myself and my cousin who is her age. Kind of awkward and uncomfortable to have a 16 year old girl on top of me and not really having a way to get her off of us due to not having a place to leverage or grab. :smallyuk:

...Wow I feel old now. And talk too damn much. :smalleek:

Heh, dont worry, you arent alone with odd things. I am related to moses i think, because 9 times out of 10, when I walk to the edge of a street, traffic parts around me. Its like im walking on a path through the woods, i dont have to slow down or speed up. Even on busy main roads its like a bubble opens and closes behind me traffic wise. makes me wish I was being pursued by an army of thugs or something. I could clean up the crime rate of my city overnight! :smallbiggrin:

MLai
2012-01-29, 12:38 PM
To play devil's advocate for a moment, there are some children you just can't reason/cojole/punish into eating what they don't want to...
My Dad was in the Special Forces (was, as in retired now). When he's around, you can bet I ate everything. There's no such thing as a child who can't be made to do something.
Though I was never a fussy eater (except raw tomatoes) as a kid, so it wasn't a big thing.


Heh, dont worry, you arent alone with odd things. I am related to moses i think, because 9 times out of 10, when I walk to the edge of a street, traffic parts around me. Its like im walking on a path through the woods
How is this weird? Sounds like drivers just don't want to hit you, while muttering under their breaths that they wish they could.

Tiki Snakes
2012-01-29, 12:46 PM
Yeah, Scurvy and other nutritional things are really a lot less likely than people seem to believe. Probably because of all the things with bits and pieces thrown in to sound healthier, but at the end of the day the human body deserves a little more credit than it usually gets regarding topics like this (and especially when people are talking about proper nutrition).

Sure, you should get your 5 fruit and veg a day. And yeah, eating nothing but crud all day every-day will do bad things to you. But as misses chicken nuggets proves, you'd might be suprised.

Coidzor
2012-01-29, 01:12 PM
But as misses chicken nuggets proves, you'd might be suprised.

Which is a bad thing anyway. As it enabled her to get to this point without having to learn proper nutrition, even in passing.

Traab
2012-01-29, 02:03 PM
My Dad was in the Special Forces (was, as in retired now). When he's around, you can bet I ate everything. There's no such thing as a child who can't be made to do something.
Though I was never a fussy eater (except raw tomatoes) as a kid, so it wasn't a big thing.


How is this weird? Sounds like drivers just don't want to hit you, while muttering under their breaths that they wish they could.

No they arent slowing down or anything, its just, there is almost always either a totally clear main road, or enough of an open space for me to safely walk across without ever once seeing a brake light or a horn honking. The second im across, traffic returns. Its very odd. The gap is no different than one you would stand at the side of the road and wait for. I just almost never have to wait.

Dark Elf Bard
2012-01-29, 02:06 PM
Scuuurrrrvvvvvvvvy!

Douglas
2012-01-29, 03:06 PM
I had a roommate once who knew someone who had gotten scurvy (to the point of hospitalization) from eating nothing but Ramen Noodles for a month.

Tiki Snakes
2012-01-29, 03:10 PM
Which is a bad thing anyway. As it enabled her to get to this point without having to learn proper nutrition, even in passing.

Oh, entirely.

Of course, the alternate hypothesis on why she's not got a peg leg due to scurvy is worth considering.

She always washes her Chicken Nuggets down with a nice helping of good ol' Grog.

Eldan
2012-01-29, 05:01 PM
The surgeon general recommends sulphuric acid to prevent scurvy.

True story, if you live in the right century.

Traab
2012-01-29, 05:43 PM
The surgeon general recommends sulphuric acid to prevent scurvy.

True story, if you live in the right century.

Thats just to make the leeches let go.

Aotrs Commander
2012-01-29, 06:08 PM
My Dad was in the Special Forces (was, as in retired now). When he's around, you can bet I ate everything. There's no such thing as a child who can't be made to do something.

Unless you're actually suggesting using physical violence to force the issue (or the threat thereof), I will have to politely disagree.

While I have no problem with parents giving children a sharp tap if they've been naughty, "eat this or you'll get a hiding" seems a step rather beyond the line of what's acceptable behavior, regardless of how military your background is.

(People have said to me, "if you were in our house, you'd have eaten it or gone hungry". Which misses the point I DID. You could barely get me to eat AT ALL, let alone eat something I didn't like. If I was told I had to eat it or stay there until bedtime, I sat there until bedtime.)

Not everyone is the same, and are there are always a few outliers, and I pretty much define "outlier" by any definition...

I was otherwise an extremely well-behaved child, but nothing and no-one then or now, is going to tell me what I eat. There are some things I just WILL NOT do, no matter who you are. (Oh, and juust in case anyone thinks I'm displaying the attitude of a rebellious teenager, I should probably state I'm thirty-two...!)

AtlanteanTroll
2012-01-29, 06:15 PM
:smallconfused: Did she actually get some health out of school cafeteria food?

... *stifles laughter* *fails*

Though, I suppose she doesn't live in the US, so maybe she did. Remember kids, Ketchup is a vegetable.

Arminius
2012-01-29, 06:28 PM
... *stifles laughter* *fails*

Though, I suppose she doesn't live in the US, so maybe she did. Remember kids, Ketchup is a vegetable.
Not just ketchup, pizza is totally a vegetable (http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/18/us-usa-lunch-idUSTRE7AH00020111118) too.:smallwink:

Brother Oni
2012-01-29, 06:32 PM
While I have no problem with parents giving children a sharp tap if they've been naughty, "eat this or you'll get a hiding" seems a step rather beyond the line of what's acceptable behavior, regardless of how military your background is.

I think it depends on the age of the child and cultural background on whether it can be regarded as acceptable behaviour.
I agree with MLai but with a caveat - there's no such thing as a child who can't be made to do something, provided you start early enough.


If I was told I had to eat it or stay there until bedtime, I sat there until bedtime.)


No offence intended, but may I suggest that your parents didn't start early enough?
I had issues making my son eat due to a short attention span because of his age, but after some portion size adjustments and discipline, he now clears his plate.

Aotrs Commander
2012-01-29, 06:55 PM
I think it depends on the age of the child and cultural background on whether it can be regarded as acceptable behaviour.

Yes, that is very true (and what generation you're from can also make a difference). I also know it's a very touchy issue for people, so I'll not belabour the point.


No offence intended, but may I suggest that your parents didn't start early enough?
I had issues making my son eat due to a short attention span because of his age, but after some portion size adjustments and discipline, he now clears his plate.

I was the first child, granted. I think it probably has more of a biological underlying cause, too, as well as my quite remarkable stubborn bloody-mindedness!

I have, ever since day one, been plagued by colds and catarrh (to the point they eventually operated to take my adenoids out at eighteen, which helped somewhat). This has left me with virtually no sense of smell (and I have never noticed the lack - and sometimes, it's more of blessing than a curse), with the ramifications of that. There is also a condition in which the taste buds do not mature properly, damned if I can remember what it is called (read it somewhere once), which might also be a factor. Anyway, the point is, my sense of taste is probably not the same as most mortals, for whatever reason. I find vegetables taste absolutely vile - alchohol too (and I can taste it in drinks on the vanishingly rare occasions I've had to drink it); I don't like spicey foods either - though as most spices are vegetable in nature, this is perhaps self-evident! (Though you would be quite fairly correct if you called be an auto-condimentor with regard to tomato sauce.) Anyway, all that probably has some bearing on it as well, in combination with all the other factors. (It's rarely ever that simple in the real world!)

Also, it wasn't my attention span was short - it was more the opposite. Eating at the table was, as far was - and kinda still do, come to that, though not to the same extent - an expendature of time for no gain, in which I could have been doing something more interesting. (Notably, even now, when I eat, I either read or watch TV or DVDs or something, so I'm utlising the time in what I consider to be useful fashion.)

Though as I recall, Mum said my not-eating-at-all problems were also improved when they let us serve our own portions as well, so that sort of thing definately helps much more generally.

Goosefeather
2012-01-29, 06:58 PM
While Factotum is probably right in that the story's been jazzed up to make better news, you won't believe how fussy English people can be about their food. :smalltongue:

Being an English ex-fussy-eater myself, I can believe it... up to a point! This story takes the biscuit though, even if the girl in question refuses such baked goods :smalltongue:

comicshorse
2012-01-29, 07:28 PM
. There is also a condition in which the taste buds do not mature properly, damned if I can remember what it is called (read it somewhere once), which might also be a factor. Anyway, the point is, my sense of taste is probably not the same as most mortals, for whatever reason. I find vegetables taste absolutely vile - alchohol too (and I can taste it in drinks on the vanishingly rare occasions I've had to drink it); I don't like spicey foods either - though as most spices are vegetable in nature, this is perhaps self-evident!

Strange coincedence a friend was just telling me that kids taste everything as being much more bitter than adults do in order to ensure they don't eat bitter and therefore possibly posionous food until they are old enough to recognise the foods for themselves

Goosefeather
2012-01-29, 07:36 PM
Strange coincedence a friend was just telling me that kids taste everything as being much more bitter than adults do in order to ensure they don't eat bitter and therefore possibly posionous food until they are old enough to recognise the foods for themselves

I've heard something similar before, though I can't remember where. The examples given were coffee and alcohol (specifically beer). For example, one of the arguments against alcopops is that, by sweetening alcoholic drinks, they make them more palatable to young teenagers, naturally leading to problems.

Whiffet
2012-01-29, 08:10 PM
Not just ketchup, pizza is totally a vegetable (http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/18/us-usa-lunch-idUSTRE7AH00020111118) too.:smallwink:

And french fries. :smallwink: Those are totally vegetables.

Xondoure
2012-01-29, 08:24 PM
My Dad was in the Special Forces (was, as in retired now). When he's around, you can bet I ate everything. There's no such thing as a child who can't be made to do something.
Though I was never a fussy eater (except raw tomatoes) as a kid, so it wasn't a big thing.


How is this weird? Sounds like drivers just don't want to hit you, while muttering under their breaths that they wish they could.

Yeah that's not true at all. And anyone who says otherwise hasn't had to deal with a truly picky eater. Best parents can do is leave nutritious food on the table and know that at a certain point the kids have to be responsible for their own needs.

Psyren
2012-01-30, 12:21 AM
Some parents are quite simply not ready/fit for the job. If people are unwilling to rein in their children's self-destructive impulses, they shouldn't have any.

AtlanteanTroll
2012-01-30, 12:39 AM
Heh. When I was about six, my parent were encouraging me to eat some vegetable or something I absolutely refused to sample. If I didn't eat it, my dad would eat my desert. And my parents almost literally never make desert. Maybe twice a year.

Dad liked his damn desert. :smallcool:

:smalltongue:

MLai
2012-01-30, 02:52 AM
But yeah, if you had a medical condition that altered your sense of taste, I can see if your parents gave you leeway due to that.

Aotrs Commander
2012-01-30, 07:45 AM
Strange coincedence a friend was just telling me that kids taste everything as being much more bitter than adults do in order to ensure they don't eat bitter and therefore possibly posionous food until they are old enough to recognise the foods for themselves

Yeah, that sounds about right... And I do have sweet tooth (though that may be entirely unrelated).

(Conversely, I still stick to the rules for sweets laid out all those years ago by my parents: two sweets after each meal, or as eventually, collated into six sweets per day. I use the complex mental system of equivilents (Mars bars et all count as six, eight Smarties count as two sweets etc etc). My Easter eggs are infamous for lasting sometimes until August...)

Brother Oni
2012-01-30, 08:05 AM
This has left me with virtually no sense of smell (and I have never noticed the lack - and sometimes, it's more of blessing than a curse), with the ramifications of that. There is also a condition in which the taste buds do not mature properly, damned if I can remember what it is called (read it somewhere once), which might also be a factor.


I suffer from something similar - I have a severe HDM allergy, which means my nose is almost constantly bunged up, virtually giving me a permanent cold.
As anybody who's had a severe cold will testify, you lose your sense of smell and your sense of taste, so I tend to judge food on texture and strong tastes (marmite, mustard, etc).



Also, it wasn't my attention span was short - it was more the opposite. Eating at the table was, as far was - and kinda still do, come to that, though not to the same extent - an expendature of time for no gain, in which I could have been doing something more interesting.


It depends on your culture and lifestyle too. Some families use the meal time to chat and catch up on each others' day, so it's not as much a waste of time.
I don't mind either way, but putting a DVD or TV programme on usually results in my children watching it and forgetting to eat.



Though as I recall, Mum said my not-eating-at-all problems were also improved when they let us serve our own portions as well, so that sort of thing definately helps much more generally.

That's perfectly fine when you're old enough to serve and pick for yourself (provided it's reasonably balanced). When you're small (under 5s), you should really have your food intake controlled by your parents.


Yeah that's not true at all. And anyone who says otherwise hasn't had to deal with a truly picky eater. Best parents can do is leave nutritious food on the table and know that at a certain point the kids have to be responsible for their own needs.

I'm with Psyren on this - parents have a duty of care to their children, including enforcing beneficial things that they don't like doing.

Once the children are old enough to know and understand about better nutrition, acceptable behaviour, etc, then I'd agree with you, but until then parents should have the final say.

Adlan
2012-01-30, 10:02 AM
They would be bad enough if they were merely chunks of chicken that had been breaded and deep-fried in oil. One documentary describes McDonald's nuggets as chickens “stripped down to the bone, and then 'ground up’ into a chicken mash, then combined with a variety of stabilizers and preservatives, pressed into familiar shapes, breaded and deep fried, freeze dried, and then shipped to a McDonald’s near you.”

Aside from chicken and oil, those “stabilizers and preservatives” are said to include dimethylpolysiloxane, a form of silicone also used in cosmetics. Another additive is tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), a form of butane. According to one report, chicken is only about 50 percent of a McNugget; the remainder is a mixture of corn-derived ingredients, sugars and synthetic substances.


My own highlights, but this article just irks me. By quoting a documentary (Supersize me, which It doesn't source), it suggests that McDonalds is using MSM (mechanically separated meat). AFAIR, supersize me when talking about MSM correctly identified the practice of the time, and due to the controversy, McDonalds now claims to be using only white meat (Meat having legal status, as a descriptor, it cannot include MSM).

It's a fear mongering article demonising the food with big, scary chemical words. For example, "tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), a form of butane."
is as chemically accurate and relevant as saying Vitamin C is a form of an L-Isomeric Acid. Technically correct, but not very useful. The important part of TBHQ is the HQ bit. But no one really encounters hydroquinnones outside the chemical industry, or some one reading what makes a good gin and tonic. Whereas Butane is more commonly encountered, and it's that sutff you run your little gas hob off. "Well, we don't want fuel in our food do we?" is the reaction they are trying to generate.

And I don't want to leap to the defence of McDonalds here. I don't eat any meat from there, I don't buy anything from there, and I generally hate battery farming and all the practices that makes McDonalds viable. But I also hate bunkum reporting.

The real issue here is not Fast Food, though that's a problem, it's the sedentary lifestyle we lead, the calorie's we consume over what we eat, and the lack of variety we impose upon ourselves. If this girl had eaten nothing but lamb chops, I doubt things would have been much different. Diet and exercise must both be used to keep you healthy.

Is a diet based around the Chicken Nugget unhealthy? No doubt. But it's not the chicken nuggets fault.

Which is why I'm glad to see the discussion mainly focusing around the girls responsibility and behaviour, and her upbringing.

Xondoure
2012-01-30, 12:56 PM
I'm with Psyren on this - parents have a duty of care to their children, including enforcing beneficial things that they don't like doing.

Once the children are old enough to know and understand about better nutrition, acceptable behaviour, etc, then I'd agree with you, but until then parents should have the final say.

Oh taken to the extremes given in the article it is appalling. But my sister, for example, always has been extremely picky. And worse, changes on whims so any food in her like category that is remotely healthy usually only stays there for a few weeks. Worried she wasn't eating enough she was taken to the nutritionist who told my mom to calm down, serve what she could and let nature do the rest.

In a house hold with less healthy eating habbits than mine does and slower metabolisms I can easily see this attitude becoming a near impossible barrier in a child's life. So yes, its the parents responsibility to make sure the child is eating well, and yes this must start from an early age but all too many parents won't be equipped to deal with this for whatever reason be it lack of access, poor education, or low income. And starting from that position is not going to end well.

Joran
2012-01-30, 04:42 PM
Jayngfet: Yeah, I didn't think 2 year olds were ready to chew non-soft foods, and chicken nuggets with their hard, ablative exterior coating never struck me as soft.

More you know, I guess? :smallconfused:


I have a 15 month old; we could probably feed her chicken nuggets if we wanted. Her gums are pretty strong and her front teeth could probably take a bite out of a nugget. But more than likely, we'd just tear up small bits for her to gum and then swallow.

She'd have a harder time with the Chik-fil-a nuggets, which are actually nuggets of meat rather than the preformed chicken nuggets from McDonalds.

Also, surprised this song hasn't come up with the topic.

Paul and Storm - Nugget Man (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55Vbg8gXz94)

Karoht
2012-01-31, 04:38 PM
...I simply can't beleive this. I can't honestly believe that in 17 years, that this girl didn't eat anything but chicken nuggets. She'd have gotten scurvy LONG before she made it to 17. This is just some stupid publicity prank.
I'm willing to suspend disbelief, merely for sake of discussion.
Lets pretend that she drank orange juice from time to time as well.



The mother claims she's tried to get her to eat something else but I have to wonder. How hard did she really try? It doesn't sound like she put that much of an effort into it.Alright, well, before we blame the mother particularly, lets look at all the inputs that seemed to have failed somehow.

1-Children's Television. I'm not sure how this child somehow never absorbed any information regarding the food pyramid, or any other 'show with a message' that occasionally discussed proper nutrition or even brushing one's teeth.

2-Educational System. They do entire units on proper nutrition. Usually they have kids write down what they eat for a week while doing this. Not one teacher didn't notice that chicken nuggets was the only entry? I find that kind of hard to believe. At the same time, those units don't really try and discourage poor eating, merely they attempt to encourage proper eating. They don't talk about the health negatives of something like eating nothing but chicken nuggets for an extended period of time. Partly because something like that just doesn't seem fathomable, and partly because telling kids about heart disease and strokes doesn't usually have much impact when they aren't old enough to understand what those actually mean.

3-Other relatives. I also find it remarkably hard to believe that not one other relative noticed or gave a crap. Did they not ever visit other relatives around holidays? I mean, Aunty and Uncle Awesome might be the most awesome of relatives, but most would be somewhat off put by the concept of warming up chicken nuggets when there is a beautiful roast turkey and all the trimmings sitting on the table at christmas, which they just spent all day preparing.
If I had asked my grandmother to warm up some nuggets on christmas day, I probably would have bludgeoned to death with a burning hot pan full of stuffing, let alone the lecture me and my mother would have likely received. But, my families reaction and someone else's family and their reaction really are two different things. My comment here is anecdotal at best. Just pointing that out.

4-Alright, lets talk about mom for a minute.
She tried to starve her kid? I fully believe that. How long? That's the question.
Did she try for a full day?
Did she try for most of a day?
Did she try for longer than a day?
Did a neighbor, friend, or family member find out and shame her?
Did the child threaten to call social services?
What other concessions did the mother grant the child? Was demanding what she wanted to eat a normal occurance? Did she demand other things? Did the mom cave to those pressures as well?
Did mom try other foods? Even stuff like a peanut butter and jam sandwich? Apple Pie? Anything? Even if it wasn't broccoli or spinach, there are other ways of getting nutrition into someone. I can't imagine this person only ate those nuggets, something else had to make it's way in. Not even spagetti? Kids love spagetti.
And there are ways one could dress up 'chicken nuggets' per se. Switch to Tofu/Veggie, don't tell the kid. Make Chicken Parmisan, it's basically one big chicken nugget with some stuff on it. Breaded chicken in salad.

5-Where's dad in all this? Was he in the picture at the time? Is he culpable in some way as well?

6-Sibblings? Did other sibblings or close family members also get similar concessions to demands? Was a preceedant set by someone else? Is there another relative we should know about who only eats hotdogs?

VanBuren
2012-01-31, 04:52 PM
And we don't know whether the girl is of particularly sound mind. She may have some disorder that has gone undiagnosed that contributed to this, though if this is the case then I have to wonder why some kind of evaluation never took place?

Isolder74
2012-02-10, 12:44 PM
I just change the link in the first post to an article actually about the girl. The original one switched into a anti-fast food rant.

Starwulf
2012-02-24, 12:20 AM
..... Poof that out there, there are simply some parents who never realy take there time to actualy explain what the word "nutrition" means.

I just found this thread, and this post already calls out to me. My parents are the epitome of what you described. Growing up, my parents never once tried to get me to eat anything remotely healthy, more then happy to serve me packs of cupcakes, extremely sugary cereals, and pop-tarts for breakfast. For lunch(when I wasnt in school), I'd get 1 or 2 grilled cheeses, and ramen noodles. For an afternoon snack(every day, without fail), I'd get either more cupcakes + chips, or a candy bar + chips. Supper wasn't to bad, but not terribly healthy either, some kind of red meat almost every night, with mashed or baked potatoes, and corn/green beans. For a bedtime snack, I'd get a huge bowl of ice cream, with chocolate syrup, and, more chips.

This carried on for my entire time growing up, and, honestly, quite a bit past that, to the point where I eventually became diagnosed with diabetes(almost 5 years ago, in 2007), due to the fact that I just couldn't stop eating sugar at all times of the day. As a matter of fact, I still struggle with it, I was admitted to the hospital last year with a case of pneumonia, that the doctors say was fairly minor to start, but made worse(and unable to be gotten rid of), because my body was to busy trying to control my sugar, which was in the mid 400's. I ended up in the ICU(INtensive Care unit) on an IV drip for 2 freaking days, and had to watch as my wife brought my two daughters in(7 and not quite 3 at the time). The look of fear in my oldest daughters face was heartbreaking, and my wife later informed me that my youngest cried all night long the night I was taken to the hospital, refusing to go to sleep because "Daddy has to come home mommy, where's Daddy?".

I've since cleaned my act up completely, and am in the process of trying to get off my Insulin(a bit tougher then I originally thought, to be sure, but slowly coming along). I am, however, very thankful that even before all that, me and my wife were smart enough to realize that my eating habits were not good, and refused to allow our daughters to do the same. Of course, the issue is, my parents, who are now trying to do the same with my daughters what they did to me, ie: smother them in sugar. I've had countless fights with them over it, including(but not limited to) refusing them the ability to see their granddaughters, sneaking in and trashing their poptarts and cupcakes, and various other things, sadly to no avail(for a while, it appeared I was winning, but after a few months, they have gone back to their bad food buying, and I'm just out of energy for arguing and pleading).

The mother in the article obviously didn't care enough about her own children, or was severely misinformed as to what constituted a healthy diet for her daughter(much like my own parents), I can hardly imagine the decisions that led to allowing a 2 year old dictate what they will or will not eat. Both of my daughters tried that, and quickly found out they either ate the healthy stuff, or they just didn't eat, quite quickly. I feel bad for the girl, I understand how an accommodating parent can ruin you eating wise, especially since it started so early, by the time she got old enough to realize and care, the habits were far to ingrained to stop. Even now, assuming she's realized how bad off she is from her previous diet, I imagine she is/will be struggling a lot to change herself, much like I still struggle with my intense cravings for sugary snacks.

Solaris
2012-02-24, 01:59 AM
This is a dietary abomination, but the "what is on the plate must disappear" approach is hurting too. Sometimes you just do not feel hungry. And even if all meals in your house are perfectly balanced, sooner or later you eat out and then you are conditioned to eat everything from your plate, even as you eat unhealthy or super-sized rations. Obesity follows.

My father wouldn't let me leave the table unless I finished everything on my plate. I've only recently hit 155 lbs (at a height of 5'7" and a low body fat percentage). Let's not neglect the fact that, as thinking beings, we're in control of and responsible for our own actions. I, for example, feel little compulsion to finish a plate except when I'm real darn hungry.
(As an aside, I find a cold drink handy for reducing appetite.)

EDIT: I'm familiar with the science.

Dragosai
2012-02-24, 11:31 AM
Ah bad parenting, some people excel at it. I use to have a co-worker who once told us she lets her 6 year old daughter watch Family Guy and South park. The best part was she said that if she didn't let her watch she would cry......like that made it OK. My fellow co-workers and I were so stunned when we heard this we didn't even know what to say and just sort of went back to work.

Tyndmyr
2012-02-24, 12:41 PM
Ah bad parenting, some people excel at it. I use to have a co-worker who once told us she lets her 6 year old daughter watch Family Guy and South park. The best part was she said that if she didn't let her watch she would cry......like that made it OK. My fellow co-workers and I were so stunned when we heard this we didn't even know what to say and just sort of went back to work.

That seems like a bit more subjective of a thing. Family guy may have some adult humor...but I can see a case for most of that going over her head, and what doesn't being educational, sort of.

Eating nothing but nuggets is a bit more dramatically bad, as it literally will kill you.

Coidzor
2012-02-24, 04:57 PM
(As an aside, I find a cold drink handy for reducing appetite.)

Really? :smallconfused: Back when my dad was a kid they still had prescriptions for alcohol, and so the doctor they took him to when he had no appetite to speak of due to being sick all the time wrote him a prescription for half a glass of beer before dinner in order to give him an appetite. Even seemed to work, though the neighbours were apparently scandalized. :smallamused:

Err, wait. Are you meaning cold as in the literal temperature rather than the euphemism? :smallredface:

Brother Oni
2012-02-25, 05:41 AM
Err, wait. Are you meaning cold as in the literal temperature rather than the euphemism? :smallredface:

I think this is what Solaris means. :smalltongue:

For those not so familiar with the science, it's to bulk out your stomach so that the stretch receptors (and hence satiety feedback mechanism) tells you you're not hungry quicker, thus you eat less overall.

It's similar to the principle of chewing your food slowly - the feedback mechanisms take time to work, so by eating slowly, you're ingesting less food between the time where your stomach recognises it's full and your brain realising you're full and actually stopping eating.

grimbold
2012-02-26, 05:48 PM
this reminds me of the fattest 8 year old ever link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kQcirsJPd8)

in quite a few ways

Solaris
2012-02-28, 10:50 AM
I think this is what Solaris means. :smalltongue:

For those not so familiar with the science, it's to bulk out your stomach so that the stretch receptors (and hence satiety feedback mechanism) tells you you're not hungry quicker, thus you eat less overall.

It's similar to the principle of chewing your food slowly - the feedback mechanisms take time to work, so by eating slowly, you're ingesting less food between the time where your stomach recognises it's full and your brain realising you're full and actually stopping eating.

Bingo. I think the cold chills out my stomach and makes it say "I don't wanna!" faster than a warm drink, but that could just be in my head.

Brother Oni
2012-02-28, 12:07 PM
Bingo. I think the cold chills out my stomach and makes it say "I don't wanna!" faster than a warm drink, but that could just be in my head.

I think it's a bit of both.

The temperature drop would chill your stomach, causing it to contract slightly which in addition to the bulking effect, cause you to feel less hungry.
Over time, this would lead to a conditioned response in your head of "have cold drink = not as hungry".

That said, and I apologise if I have you mistaken with somebody else, but I believe you were, or still are, a serving soldier - aren't you used to wolfing down your food anyway? :smallbiggrin: