Healthy lifestyle ‘eye-opener’ gave family food for thought

The giving of treats was one habit that Victor Carswell decided to address after attending a healthy lifestyle course with his two sons, 10-year-old Finley and eight-year-old Lochlan.

It was a “real eye-opener” for him during the 12-week programme to hear, for instance, about the high sugar content in drinks marketed to children.

“Now that I know, the kids don’t have them,” he says.

The boys had brought a leaflet home from their school in Banbridge, Co Down, about the early years family health initiative, which is funded by the Public Health Agency in Northern Ireland. Taking an all-family approach, there are two programmes – one for parents or carers and their children aged under five and the other for parents or carers and children aged eight to 11.

Seeing that the course encompassed physical activity as well as information about nutrition, Carswell, who regularly works away from home in a steel-erection business, thought it would be a good way to spend quality time with his sons. The family had been through a rough few months after his wife, Linda, had a bad car crash last December, breaking her hip, leg and collarbone as well as sustaining other injuries.

Although the family didn’t have an unhealthy diet, he thought, with all the contradictory messages about food in the media, it would also be a good idea to hear what really is better to eat.

“To be honest, at the start they weren’t too keen to go. I said, ‘We’ll go and if we don’t like it, we won’t go back’.” But they did – and, having attended all 12 sessions over the summer months, he says now it was absolutely brilliant.

After school was a prime time for habitual treats, when often one boy waited with Linda while his brother did an extracurricular activity. They would kill time by, perhaps, walking to the local shop.

“A lot of the time treats were to keep Finley or Lochlan quiet or amused for the hour,” says Victor. The boys were also adept at persuading their granny, who had taken over walking them home from school after Linda’s accident, to stop at the shop on the way.

After the course, Victor asked his mother just to say “No” when the boys asked to stop. At the same time the boys, also mindful of what they had learnt, suggested to their granny that they come to an agreement about going into the shop once a week.

“She let them choose the day, so every Wednesday is the day they stop,” says Victor.

During the course, participants were brought on a supermarket tour to look at labels. They had to find designated products, look at the sugar and fat content and rate how healthy each one was.

For a while after this, Finley got obsessed with labels, says Victor, turning every item over whenever they were out shopping. A new understanding of the fine print meant they no longer bought sugary breakfast cereals, such as Frosties, and instead opted for Weetabix and nonfrosted Shreddies, adding their own natural sugar in the form of banana or berries.

Both boys eat a wide range of vegetables, although Finley draws the line at cauliflower and Lochlan is inclined to leave them to the side until last.

“If he doesn’t eat them, there is nothing else for the rest of the night,” says Victor. “The kids have learned if they don’t eat what is in front of them, there is no coming back 20 minutes later for a bag of crisps or a biscuit.” The only thing they will be allowed is a glass of water.

“Maybe that’s a bit over the top but that was the way I was brought up,” he adds. “My mum didn’t make two or three different meals. There was one thing made; if you didn’t eat it, you starved. It was as simple as that.”

School support

Meanwhile, in Co Laois, Caitríona White finds her children’s primary schools to be a “huge” support in maintaining a healthy eating routine.

Not only do they have a healthy lunchbox policy but Dylan John, who is 11, and Abi, who is seven, also learn about a healthy lifestyle. They have taken part in the Food Dudes programme, during which children taste a wide range of fruit and vegetables.

"They will try them quicker at school than they will at home," says White, who works part-time in a pharmacy in Portlaoise, which is this year's "Healthy Town" in a joint initiative between The Irish Times and Pfizer Healthcare.

Dylan John is sporty and very conscious of healthy eating. Having Rob and Dave Kearney as ambassadors for the National Dairy Council is a positive example to children like him, she says.

Her husband Adrian, a secondary-school teacher who is in charge of an under-11s GAA team, is very conscious of coaches’ influence on children. For example, says White, he spoke to his young charges about the need for enough sleep and eating properly in the run-up to a recent final.

This year the Whites grew vegetables up the road from their home in Shean and Abi is eating their own “delicious” carrots much more enthusiastically now. Her children also like fruit, which is a popular snack between meals.

“But I do allow them a treat a day if they want one. If you make too much of a deal about it, they become a big deal,” says White.

For them, treats include popcorn, Go-Ahead bars and “we are known to have our digestive biscuits and butter”. While brown bread is the household norm, a treat for Abi would be white bread, lightly toasted, spread with Nutella.

At grandparents’ houses the children will have bars and buns but White doesn’t worry. She knows her children are healthy and that they get plenty of exercise.

“There has to be a bit of balance,” she says.