How do you raise a healthy eater?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh and be very careful what you say - please don’t use some of the language others have - that’s toxic, or that food is bad for you. Your kids may repeat that to other kids. What you say to your kids remember can be used to judge others and their families who may not have access to as much healthy food as you do. I like to say to my kids that our goal is to have a mix of foods - does this meal have a good mix? Having a lot of any one food isn’t great for us - if I just lived on broccoli it isn’t great either. Meals with a mix, snacks with a mix, that’s our ideal and we don’t always get there but it’s a way to say it without making it about good bad toxic all this language that demonizes things

Is going to be honest, I don’t give two s’s how my teaching my kid on food affects you. Some food is bad, sorry the truth hurts.

You’ve never been poor and it shows. I was poor as a child and my mom did the best to put healthy foods on the table. But sometimes my “lunch” was literally whatever we had at home and it wasn’t always a well balanced meal. Your child’s snide comment could truly hurt a kid who has NO CONTROL over their food intake when they’re young.

I am fortunate to be able to afford healthy food for my kids and they pack fruits and vegetables and home cooked foods for their lunches AND I also teach them to not judge others lunches. Sometimes one meal is just a snapshot of someone’s whole world, so keep your judgement to yourself. That’s all you have to do. Teach your kids to eat healthy and also to be kind.

Actually I have. But I didn’t eat crap. I’m not going to tell my kid little Debbie is a healthy thing to eat because it might hurt someone’s feelings. I don’t buy into this whole “there are no bad foods” nonsense. Research has objectively shown that certain foods ARE actually bad. We can mealy mouth around it with “sometimes foods” and “foods that make you emotionally happy” or whatever is acceptable these days but it doesn’t change facts.

[Anonymous]

My kids know that some foods are healthy and others are unhealthy. And that it’s a bad thing other parents are doing by giving their kids bad food to eat. However, we also tell our kids not to say unkind things to others, so they will keep that to themselves. I’ve also told them that we spend a ton on food and that most families don’t have the money to buy food like we do because healthy foods cost a lot more. So they should be very grateful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think part of it is persistence and part - luck. For the first part, you eat the way you do at home and you tell your kid that other people might eat differently, but that’s what we do at home. Involve your kids in food shopping, planning and prep as early as possible, teach them how to cook basic stuff.

My two oldest are young adults and live on their own with their respective partners. Both cook a lot, both eat reasonably healthy - I’d like to think I had something to do with that.

Now to the luck part. I rarely eat out or order delivery, most food in my home is cooked from scratch. But there are certain things and foods that I just don’t eat, and that’s that. It’s mostly a texture thing for me, I am picky this way and I doubt anyone could do anything about it. My mom tried, it didn’t go well.

We do involve him the kitchen because he enjoys helping us meal prep and bake. He is in daycare and tells us all the snacks his friends bring. I feel guilty at times like I’m depriving him of a fun childhood.

So make something equally great for him that is homemade and healthy. There are a lot of kids snacks where you can make a homemade version at home such as granola bars, muffins etc.

We do but he’s been asking for fruit snacks ( we do fruit leather instead), goldfish ( we do almond flour crackers instead), store bought freeze pops, ice cream, and pizza often. We try to limit a lot of this stuff while he is growing.

If you think your alternatives are any better, you're kidding yourself. Also, he's going to be eating the real deal at school/sports/camp/other people's homes soon enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh and be very careful what you say - please don’t use some of the language others have - that’s toxic, or that food is bad for you. Your kids may repeat that to other kids. What you say to your kids remember can be used to judge others and their families who may not have access to as much healthy food as you do. I like to say to my kids that our goal is to have a mix of foods - does this meal have a good mix? Having a lot of any one food isn’t great for us - if I just lived on broccoli it isn’t great either. Meals with a mix, snacks with a mix, that’s our ideal and we don’t always get there but it’s a way to say it without making it about good bad toxic all this language that demonizes things

Is going to be honest, I don’t give two s’s how my teaching my kid on food affects you. Some food is bad, sorry the truth hurts.

You’ve never been poor and it shows. I was poor as a child and my mom did the best to put healthy foods on the table. But sometimes my “lunch” was literally whatever we had at home and it wasn’t always a well balanced meal. Your child’s snide comment could truly hurt a kid who has NO CONTROL over their food intake when they’re young.

I am fortunate to be able to afford healthy food for my kids and they pack fruits and vegetables and home cooked foods for their lunches AND I also teach them to not judge others lunches. Sometimes one meal is just a snapshot of someone’s whole world, so keep your judgement to yourself. That’s all you have to do. Teach your kids to eat healthy and also to be kind.

Actually I have. But I didn’t eat crap. I’m not going to tell my kid little Debbie is a healthy thing to eat because it might hurt someone’s feelings. I don’t buy into this whole “there are no bad foods” nonsense. Research has objectively shown that certain foods ARE actually bad. We can mealy mouth around it with “sometimes foods” and “foods that make you emotionally happy” or whatever is acceptable these days but it doesn’t change facts.

Yeah. Agree. My husband grew up poor. As in his single mom was an immigrant, knew little English, and worked nights as a nurse aid. He never ate junk. He never even had fast food until well into his teens and never ate restaurant food. She cooked all the meals. They didn’t have meat with every meal. They ate tons of beans, rice, lentils, and eggs. Simple seasonal fruits and vegetables. Lunch would often be strained yogurt (that she made) wrapped in a piece of bread, maybe part of a tomato if they had some. The whole thing sentiment that poor people have no choice but to eat processed junk is a myth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh and be very careful what you say - please don’t use some of the language others have - that’s toxic, or that food is bad for you. Your kids may repeat that to other kids. What you say to your kids remember can be used to judge others and their families who may not have access to as much healthy food as you do. I like to say to my kids that our goal is to have a mix of foods - does this meal have a good mix? Having a lot of any one food isn’t great for us - if I just lived on broccoli it isn’t great either. Meals with a mix, snacks with a mix, that’s our ideal and we don’t always get there but it’s a way to say it without making it about good bad toxic all this language that demonizes things

Is going to be honest, I don’t give two s’s how my teaching my kid on food affects you. Some food is bad, sorry the truth hurts.

You’ve never been poor and it shows. I was poor as a child and my mom did the best to put healthy foods on the table. But sometimes my “lunch” was literally whatever we had at home and it wasn’t always a well balanced meal. Your child’s snide comment could truly hurt a kid who has NO CONTROL over their food intake when they’re young.

I am fortunate to be able to afford healthy food for my kids and they pack fruits and vegetables and home cooked foods for their lunches AND I also teach them to not judge others lunches. Sometimes one meal is just a snapshot of someone’s whole world, so keep your judgement to yourself. That’s all you have to do. Teach your kids to eat healthy and also to be kind.

Actually I have. But I didn’t eat crap. I’m not going to tell my kid little Debbie is a healthy thing to eat because it might hurt someone’s feelings. I don’t buy into this whole “there are no bad foods” nonsense. Research has objectively shown that certain foods ARE actually bad. We can mealy mouth around it with “sometimes foods” and “foods that make you emotionally happy” or whatever is acceptable these days but it doesn’t change facts.

Yeah. Agree. My husband grew up poor. As in his single mom was an immigrant, knew little English, and worked nights as a nurse aid. He never ate junk. He never even had fast food until well into his teens and never ate restaurant food. She cooked all the meals. They didn’t have meat with every meal. They ate tons of beans, rice, lentils, and eggs. Simple seasonal fruits and vegetables. Lunch would often be strained yogurt (that she made) wrapped in a piece of bread, maybe part of a tomato if they had some. The whole thing sentiment that poor people have no choice but to eat processed junk is a myth.

I don't know if you've experienced extreme poverty.

My first job out of college involved working with kids who had been in juvie. Some were in group homes, some bounced between relatives. But the whole concept of fresh fruit, lentils, all that it wasn't part if the conversation because no one was cooking for them. These kids were eating cheap stuff they could scrounge up from the gas station nearby. Ramen, sometimes uncooked straight from the pack, packaged foods, occasionally bananas. No one was really looking out for these kids. Their free lunch at school was the closest they got to a reasonable serving of food.

There's poverty and there's what some kids go through.

[Anonymous]

My kids are grown, but I read “Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense” when they were little and it was very enlightening. The highlights were to offer a variety of foods and not give up offering them if your kid doesnʻt like it. They might hate cauliflower today but love it next week so donʻt deprive them of the opportunity to rediscover it. Donʻt cater to your kids by making them separate meals with different foods. Never force kids to eat something or reward them with something they like (e.g. dessert) if they eat something they dislike (e.g. broccoli). As a previous poster mentioned, donʻt make a big deal about food and eating in general.

The best way to raise healthy eaters is to be a healthy eater.

[Anonymous]

I grew up poor but ate healthy because I was in a country where veggies basic fruits like apples and bananas were easily accessible. Nothing went to waste.
In America everything is so spread out. If can be hard to get to the grocery store so you get crap from 7-11 instead.
Education is failing too. People don’t learn how to cook simple cheap meals. It’s easier to buy lunchables on sale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh and be very careful what you say - please don’t use some of the language others have - that’s toxic, or that food is bad for you. Your kids may repeat that to other kids. What you say to your kids remember can be used to judge others and their families who may not have access to as much healthy food as you do. I like to say to my kids that our goal is to have a mix of foods - does this meal have a good mix? Having a lot of any one food isn’t great for us - if I just lived on broccoli it isn’t great either. Meals with a mix, snacks with a mix, that’s our ideal and we don’t always get there but it’s a way to say it without making it about good bad toxic all this language that demonizes things

Is going to be honest, I don’t give two s’s how my teaching my kid on food affects you. Some food is bad, sorry the truth hurts.

You’ve never been poor and it shows. I was poor as a child and my mom did the best to put healthy foods on the table. But sometimes my “lunch” was literally whatever we had at home and it wasn’t always a well balanced meal. Your child’s snide comment could truly hurt a kid who has NO CONTROL over their food intake when they’re young.

I am fortunate to be able to afford healthy food for my kids and they pack fruits and vegetables and home cooked foods for their lunches AND I also teach them to not judge others lunches. Sometimes one meal is just a snapshot of someone’s whole world, so keep your judgement to yourself. That’s all you have to do. Teach your kids to eat healthy and also to be kind.

Actually I have. But I didn’t eat crap. I’m not going to tell my kid little Debbie is a healthy thing to eat because it might hurt someone’s feelings. I don’t buy into this whole “there are no bad foods” nonsense. Research has objectively shown that certain foods ARE actually bad. We can mealy mouth around it with “sometimes foods” and “foods that make you emotionally happy” or whatever is acceptable these days but it doesn’t change facts.

Yeah. Agree. My husband grew up poor. As in his single mom was an immigrant, knew little English, and worked nights as a nurse aid. He never ate junk. He never even had fast food until well into his teens and never ate restaurant food. She cooked all the meals. They didn’t have meat with every meal. They ate tons of beans, rice, lentils, and eggs. Simple seasonal fruits and vegetables. Lunch would often be strained yogurt (that she made) wrapped in a piece of bread, maybe part of a tomato if they had some. The whole thing sentiment that poor people have no choice but to eat processed junk is a myth.

I don't know if you've experienced extreme poverty.

My first job out of college involved working with kids who had been in juvie. Some were in group homes, some bounced between relatives. But the whole concept of fresh fruit, lentils, all that it wasn't part if the conversation because no one was cooking for them. These kids were eating cheap stuff they could scrounge up from the gas station nearby. Ramen, sometimes uncooked straight from the pack, packaged foods, occasionally bananas. No one was really looking out for these kids. Their free lunch at school was the closest they got to a reasonable serving of food.

There's poverty and there's what some kids go through.

Ok well my suburban third grader is not going to be interacting with those kids to "shame" them about their eating, I can promise you that. So no worries!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh and be very careful what you say - please don’t use some of the language others have - that’s toxic, or that food is bad for you. Your kids may repeat that to other kids. What you say to your kids remember can be used to judge others and their families who may not have access to as much healthy food as you do. I like to say to my kids that our goal is to have a mix of foods - does this meal have a good mix? Having a lot of any one food isn’t great for us - if I just lived on broccoli it isn’t great either. Meals with a mix, snacks with a mix, that’s our ideal and we don’t always get there but it’s a way to say it without making it about good bad toxic all this language that demonizes things

Is going to be honest, I don’t give two s’s how my teaching my kid on food affects you. Some food is bad, sorry the truth hurts.

You’ve never been poor and it shows. I was poor as a child and my mom did the best to put healthy foods on the table. But sometimes my “lunch” was literally whatever we had at home and it wasn’t always a well balanced meal. Your child’s snide comment could truly hurt a kid who has NO CONTROL over their food intake when they’re young.

I am fortunate to be able to afford healthy food for my kids and they pack fruits and vegetables and home cooked foods for their lunches AND I also teach them to not judge others lunches. Sometimes one meal is just a snapshot of someone’s whole world, so keep your judgement to yourself. That’s all you have to do. Teach your kids to eat healthy and also to be kind.

Actually I have. But I didn’t eat crap. I’m not going to tell my kid little Debbie is a healthy thing to eat because it might hurt someone’s feelings. I don’t buy into this whole “there are no bad foods” nonsense. Research has objectively shown that certain foods ARE actually bad. We can mealy mouth around it with “sometimes foods” and “foods that make you emotionally happy” or whatever is acceptable these days but it doesn’t change facts.

Yeah. Agree. My husband grew up poor. As in his single mom was an immigrant, knew little English, and worked nights as a nurse aid. He never ate junk. He never even had fast food until well into his teens and never ate restaurant food. She cooked all the meals. They didn’t have meat with every meal. They ate tons of beans, rice, lentils, and eggs. Simple seasonal fruits and vegetables. Lunch would often be strained yogurt (that she made) wrapped in a piece of bread, maybe part of a tomato if they had some. The whole thing sentiment that poor people have no choice but to eat processed junk is a myth.

I don't know if you've experienced extreme poverty.

My first job out of college involved working with kids who had been in juvie. Some were in group homes, some bounced between relatives. But the whole concept of fresh fruit, lentils, all that it wasn't part if the conversation because no one was cooking for them. These kids were eating cheap stuff they could scrounge up from the gas station nearby. Ramen, sometimes uncooked straight from the pack, packaged foods, occasionally bananas. No one was really looking out for these kids. Their free lunch at school was the closest they got to a reasonable serving of food.

There's poverty and there's what some kids go through.

Ok well my suburban third grader is not going to be interacting with those kids to "shame" them about their eating, I can promise you that. So no worries!

PP here. I worked in a courthouse too with a judge on a family law calendar later and, you would 100% be surprised. Sometimes it's abuse and neglect, sometimes your neighbors are doing far, far worse than you expect. There's a really dark underbelly many people don't have any real concept of. There are kids who are basically written off the second they are born.

So I'm a huge advocate for universal free lunch and breakfast, like NY just put in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was growing up, mom almost always did the grocery run solo. She simply did not buy any snack foods or soda from the grocery. Skipped that entire aisle. I had never known about Goldfish crackers until 7th grade when I thought other students were talking about eating tiny fish. She would buy cooked peanuts and mixed nuts and bananas and oranges and apples.

Sometimes, not always, she would buy 100% apple juice or 100% cranberry juice (i.e., not juice cocktail). If we were having a party, she might buy some Tostitos, but that was rare.

So it was "normal" that our after school snacks were sliced carrots, sliced celery, peanuts, and fruit juice. Dinners were not fancy, but mostly home cooked. Summer lunches varied and might include ledt overs, mac&cheese, hot dogs, turkey sandwiches, or similar.

According to DCUM you should have been destined to be an overweight/yo-yo dieter junk food binge eater because your mother “restricted” your access to junk food.

Not overweight. No bingeing. No dieting. I just eat simple meals. Habits from childhood can last a lifetime.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was growing up, mom almost always did the grocery run solo. She simply did not buy any snack foods or soda from the grocery. Skipped that entire aisle. I had never known about Goldfish crackers until 7th grade when I thought other students were talking about eating tiny fish. She would buy cooked peanuts and mixed nuts and bananas and oranges and apples.

Sometimes, not always, she would buy 100% apple juice or 100% cranberry juice (i.e., not juice cocktail). If we were having a party, she might buy some Tostitos, but that was rare.

So it was "normal" that our after school snacks were sliced carrots, sliced celery, peanuts, and fruit juice. Dinners were not fancy, but mostly home cooked. Summer lunches varied and might include ledt overs, mac&cheese, hot dogs, turkey sandwiches, or similar.

According to DCUM you should have been destined to be an overweight/yo-yo dieter junk food binge eater because your mother “restricted” your access to junk food.

Or have cancer because the "home cooked" dinners were hot dogs and sandwiches made with lunch meat.

No hot dogs or sandwiches - at dinner - that is a misread of what I wrote. Those did appear at lunch in the summertime occasionally.

Mom's mac&cheese was made using separately bought pasta and real cheddar, melted in the microwave - and not out of a Kraft box. No cancer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh and be very careful what you say - please don’t use some of the language others have - that’s toxic, or that food is bad for you. Your kids may repeat that to other kids. What you say to your kids remember can be used to judge others and their families who may not have access to as much healthy food as you do. I like to say to my kids that our goal is to have a mix of foods - does this meal have a good mix? Having a lot of any one food isn’t great for us - if I just lived on broccoli it isn’t great either. Meals with a mix, snacks with a mix, that’s our ideal and we don’t always get there but it’s a way to say it without making it about good bad toxic all this language that demonizes things

Is going to be honest, I don’t give two s’s how my teaching my kid on food affects you. Some food is bad, sorry the truth hurts.

You’ve never been poor and it shows. I was poor as a child and my mom did the best to put healthy foods on the table. But sometimes my “lunch” was literally whatever we had at home and it wasn’t always a well balanced meal. Your child’s snide comment could truly hurt a kid who has NO CONTROL over their food intake when they’re young.

I am fortunate to be able to afford healthy food for my kids and they pack fruits and vegetables and home cooked foods for their lunches AND I also teach them to not judge others lunches. Sometimes one meal is just a snapshot of someone’s whole world, so keep your judgement to yourself. That’s all you have to do. Teach your kids to eat healthy and also to be kind.

Actually I have. But I didn’t eat crap. I’m not going to tell my kid little Debbie is a healthy thing to eat because it might hurt someone’s feelings. I don’t buy into this whole “there are no bad foods” nonsense. Research has objectively shown that certain foods ARE actually bad. We can mealy mouth around it with “sometimes foods” and “foods that make you emotionally happy” or whatever is acceptable these days but it doesn’t change facts.

Yeah. Agree. My husband grew up poor. As in his single mom was an immigrant, knew little English, and worked nights as a nurse aid. He never ate junk. He never even had fast food until well into his teens and never ate restaurant food. She cooked all the meals. They didn’t have meat with every meal. They ate tons of beans, rice, lentils, and eggs. Simple seasonal fruits and vegetables. Lunch would often be strained yogurt (that she made) wrapped in a piece of bread, maybe part of a tomato if they had some. The whole thing sentiment that poor people have no choice but to eat processed junk is a myth.

I don't know if you've experienced extreme poverty.

My first job out of college involved working with kids who had been in juvie. Some were in group homes, some bounced between relatives. But the whole concept of fresh fruit, lentils, all that it wasn't part if the conversation because no one was cooking for them. These kids were eating cheap stuff they could scrounge up from the gas station nearby. Ramen, sometimes uncooked straight from the pack, packaged foods, occasionally bananas. No one was really looking out for these kids. Their free lunch at school was the closest they got to a reasonable serving of food.

There's poverty and there's what some kids go through.

Kids in extreme poverty in other countries live entirely on rice and beans. Not Kraft Mac and cheese.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was growing up, mom almost always did the grocery run solo. She simply did not buy any snack foods or soda from the grocery. Skipped that entire aisle. I had never known about Goldfish crackers until 7th grade when I thought other students were talking about eating tiny fish. She would buy cooked peanuts and mixed nuts and bananas and oranges and apples.

Sometimes, not always, she would buy 100% apple juice or 100% cranberry juice (i.e., not juice cocktail). If we were having a party, she might buy some Tostitos, but that was rare.

So it was "normal" that our after school snacks were sliced carrots, sliced celery, peanuts, and fruit juice. Dinners were not fancy, but mostly home cooked. Summer lunches varied and might include ledt overs, mac&cheese, hot dogs, turkey sandwiches, or similar.

According to DCUM you should have been destined to be an overweight/yo-yo dieter junk food binge eater because your mother “restricted” your access to junk food.

Not overweight. No bingeing. No dieting. I just eat simple meals. Habits from childhood can last a lifetime.

I agree. But it seems like anyone here mentions they don’t buy or serve junk food or processed food, the people come out of the woodwork with anecdotes about how you will turn your kids into binge eaters if you don’t routinely buy them crappy food, at least multiple times per week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was growing up, mom almost always did the grocery run solo. She simply did not buy any snack foods or soda from the grocery. Skipped that entire aisle. I had never known about Goldfish crackers until 7th grade when I thought other students were talking about eating tiny fish. She would buy cooked peanuts and mixed nuts and bananas and oranges and apples.

Sometimes, not always, she would buy 100% apple juice or 100% cranberry juice (i.e., not juice cocktail). If we were having a party, she might buy some Tostitos, but that was rare.

So it was "normal" that our after school snacks were sliced carrots, sliced celery, peanuts, and fruit juice. Dinners were not fancy, but mostly home cooked. Summer lunches varied and might include ledt overs, mac&cheese, hot dogs, turkey sandwiches, or similar.

According to DCUM you should have been destined to be an overweight/yo-yo dieter junk food binge eater because your mother “restricted” your access to junk food.

Not overweight. No bingeing. No dieting. I just eat simple meals. Habits from childhood can last a lifetime.

I agree. But it seems like anyone here mentions they don’t buy or serve junk food or processed food, the people come out of the woodwork with anecdotes about how you will turn your kids into binge eaters if you don’t routinely buy them crappy food, at least multiple times per week.

These are probably the same people who, when you mention your kids don't have tablets or smartphones, come out of the woodwork to tell you your kid is already watching p*rn on their friends' phones so you may as well give up on trying to shelter them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh and be very careful what you say - please don’t use some of the language others have - that’s toxic, or that food is bad for you. Your kids may repeat that to other kids. What you say to your kids remember can be used to judge others and their families who may not have access to as much healthy food as you do. I like to say to my kids that our goal is to have a mix of foods - does this meal have a good mix? Having a lot of any one food isn’t great for us - if I just lived on broccoli it isn’t great either. Meals with a mix, snacks with a mix, that’s our ideal and we don’t always get there but it’s a way to say it without making it about good bad toxic all this language that demonizes things

Is going to be honest, I don’t give two s’s how my teaching my kid on food affects you. Some food is bad, sorry the truth hurts.

You’ve never been poor and it shows. I was poor as a child and my mom did the best to put healthy foods on the table. But sometimes my “lunch” was literally whatever we had at home and it wasn’t always a well balanced meal. Your child’s snide comment could truly hurt a kid who has NO CONTROL over their food intake when they’re young.

I am fortunate to be able to afford healthy food for my kids and they pack fruits and vegetables and home cooked foods for their lunches AND I also teach them to not judge others lunches. Sometimes one meal is just a snapshot of someone’s whole world, so keep your judgement to yourself. That’s all you have to do. Teach your kids to eat healthy and also to be kind.

Actually I have. But I didn’t eat crap. I’m not going to tell my kid little Debbie is a healthy thing to eat because it might hurt someone’s feelings. I don’t buy into this whole “there are no bad foods” nonsense. Research has objectively shown that certain foods ARE actually bad. We can mealy mouth around it with “sometimes foods” and “foods that make you emotionally happy” or whatever is acceptable these days but it doesn’t change facts.

You’re missing the point. You don’t have to tell your kids that little Debbie is healthy to eat. But you should teach them to not shame other people’s food. Do you really not understand?