Green Giant and eating your 5 a day!

Parents reveal the top tricks they still use to get their kids to eat their greens

Hiding veggies, bribing with dessert, and creating pictures still used by modern day parents

It’s an age old struggle for parents around the world. How do you get your kids to eat their vegetables instead of pushing them around their plates, hoping you’ll give up?

Well, according to a new poll out today, classic tricks and old fashioned subterfuge are still being used by parents, with number one on the list the simple camouflaging of veg within other foods and sauces.

Second on the list is the threat of no dessert if veggies aren’t eaten first, while third was telling children that vegetables would give them special powers such as the old ‘carrots will help you see in the dark’, or ‘spinach will give you muscles as big as Popeye’.

Further down the list were rewarding children for polishing off their greens with toys and stickers, making it into a competition between siblings and friends as to who can eat their veggies first, and telling their children their favourite superheroes or characters loves their vegetables.

And it’s no surprise parents are going to such lengths still to get vegetables into their children in any way they can, with only half of all children eating veggies willingly and one in ten actively avoiding them, according to the survey of more than 1,000 parents by Green Giant.

Four out of five parents admitted their children don’t get their advised five portions of fruit and veg a day, while one in five parents will allow their children to leave their veggies – sometimes just to avoid the stress that goes hand in hand with meal times when vegetables are involved. A number of parents stated that their children eat vegetables so rarely that they feel elated if they even eat a mouthful.  In turn, parents can spend on average up to two hours on top of mealtimes each week trying to prompt their children to eat their vegetables.

 

So how difficult is it for you to get your kids to eat what they should and what tactics do you use to get them into your children? Colin Jackson always ate his vegetables when he was a youngster and was told by his mum that if he did, he would grow up to be a World Champion athlete and Olympic Medalist…..and we know how that story ends!

 

Colin has joined with Green Giant to help parents come up with ways to educate their kids on healthy eating and even get them to grow to love their veggies.

I managed to get some questions put to Colin Jackson about getting involved with Green Giant’s initiative to help encourage parents to make sure their children are getting their 5 a day!!

How did you become involved with the Green Giant 5 a day initiative?

‘I’m heavily into my dieting so when they explained the whole concept it was an obvious choice for me- I felt I could be an ambassador’

So as a world class athlete, do you follow a healthy diet yourself?

‘Reasonably, your needs are different now. Now I’m not so exclusive and happy to have a little more pasta and a little more treats. But a lifetime of healthy eating has stayed with me.’

What do you think of mums and dads who disguise fruit and vegetables to encourage kids to get their 5 a day?

‘I think it’s a great idea-if it works-wonderful’.

What fruit and vegetables, do you now as an adult, still refuse to eat?

There’s no real fruit I don’t like and even vegetables……I even eat brussel sprouts! I’m not fearful of any fruit or veg’.

How did your mum encourage you to eat more fruit and vegetables as a child?

‘Putting me in front of the TV and saying- Look what Popeye is eating!! Also I’ve always wanted to visit the land of the Jolly Green Giant!’

 

One of my tricks is to blend fruit I know they would generally refuse to eat, raspberries being one of them, and mixing them into natural yogurt!! It works too and especially if I allow them to sprinkle on a little sugar!

So what tricks do you use on your children to get them to have their 5 a day?

For more information visit:  www.greengiant.co.uk

 

Winter Driving Master Class

As many of my regular readers will know that before I had to give up work through illness I worked as a Qualified Driving Instructor. I happened to love the job and really miss it. What amazed me through my time working was how many people would cancel a driving lesson when the weather deteriorated. Some pupils who started driving in the summer hated going out in the darker nights. Some panicked when they had turned up for their test in the rain after managing to get through their lessons without driving in proper rainfall!! And don’t get me started on the snow!! I had to coax a few take their lessons as the snow had started to melt. Yet, in the highway code and the theory test there are multiple questions on how to change your style of driving to suit the weather conditions. Even now it amazes me how people still drive like idiots when it is chucking it down. They don’t adjust their speed and they certainly don’t adjust their distance from other vehicles in adverse conditions!!

Does this sound familiar to you? Are you one of those people who don’t really know how to adjust their driving in different conditions?

Well tune into this web show for the best advice around:

Winter driving master class

Log on to our web TV show for tips from motoring expert Quentin Willson on how to prepare your car and yourself for bad conditions

Show date: Thursday 3rd November

Show time: 15.00

 

If you’ve ever ventured out into the snow or ice in your car you’ll know it can be scary, dangerous and treacherous to navigate your vehicle while skidding around in low visibility.

But despite the fact winter driving requires a lot of skill and a vehicle that can handle the conditions, new research shows that millions of us continue to drive in terrible British winter conditions without really preparing ourselves for the journey ahead.

Unlike other European countries like Germany where winter driving is almost an artform and regulated by the Government, in the UK most of us don’t change to winter tyres, and most of us have never been given lessons in driving in snow and ice.

Furthermore, with a severe cold snap approaching once more this year, how many of us have started packing an emergency kit to chuck in the boot in case we break down and get stuck in freezing conditions for hours on end?

Motoring expert Quentin Willson has joined with Goodyear to help drivers prepare for winter by giving them driving and preparation tips to keep them safe this winter.

Log on to our Web TV show where Quentin and Kate Rock from Goodyear show you how to drive for the conditions and what could happen if you’re not prepared.

THURSDAY 3RD NOVEMBER @ 3PM

http://studiotalk.tv/show/winter-driving-masterclass

Click here to submit questions before the show

http://studiotalk.tv/show/winter-driving-masterclass

 

Advice needed.

I started blogging way back in March for something to occupy my mind and hopefully keep it active. I have been off work now for 2 years having gone through a series of consultations and eventually being diagnosed with M.E.

I miss my job though. I worked hard to become qualified as a Driving Instructor and built up my own business that fitted perfectly into the school times as a second income. I had a great pass rate with my students and I felt as though I really had found a job, not only that I enjoyed but something I was good at.

I fully expected to get back to work after treatment and really thought that this illness would not last this long. However there were many delays along the course of my diagnosis ending up with my NHS Borough refusing to pay for the treatment that is available at Kings College Hospital in London. Don’t get me wrong I know there is no miracle cure but the 12 week programme at the research centre helps to keep it under control and enables you to get back on your feet quicker after any relapses.

So after being told that the treatment was not going to be paid for my GP ( who has been excellent along the way) advised me there wasn’t much she could do about the decision and that I had to do the best I can to manage the M.E myself. So apart from the painkillers I get on prescription for the muscular pain I am pretty much left to get on with it.

Don’t get me wrong it has been difficult to get my head around it. In fact you almost have to grieve for your old life in order to accept and get on with your new life. This for me is easier said than done!!!! Some days ( like today) it just gets right on my nerves and I feel like punching someones lights out!!! I hate the fact my body hurts all the time…….and I mean ALL THE TIME!!!!! I hate the fact that I am exhausted all the time……..and I mean TOTALLY EXHAUSTED ALL THE TIME!!!

You get where I’m coming from. Think of a time you have been knocked off your feet by the Flu. That literally is how I feel ( without the head cold) all the time. It gets right on my bloody nerves!!

Anyway, I started my blog back in March and it really has given me something to concentrate on. Something that’s mine and somewhere to go to be someone other than mum and wife!!! That independence I lost when I had to give up work.

But I was thinking the other day about blogging about my M.E experiences. Not necessarily on this blog but maybe if I was to start another blog just for the M.E related stuff. A diary of my experiences up to now. Articles that relate to the condition. Maybe tips or lists of things that could help other sufferers on a daily basis or to get through busy times.

The main problem with M.E is that it is invisible. People look at you and because you look fine they think there is nothing wrong with you, or take the approach ( whether they mean it or not) that you are a malingerer!!!!! There is no tell tale visible signs, for example. no plaster casts, no scars, no wheelchair etc.

So advice is needed. I would love to raise more awareness for this condition, I personally have no support group as my nearest one is in  Maidstone and I live on the London/Greenwich border!!! So I have no one that I can talk to about my condition. Family try to understand but I never really let them know how bad it can get. I always just go ‘I’m fine’ as otherwise it would feel that I am moaning all the time.

So I wondered would it be a good idea for me to start a new blog not only to help myself but hopefully help others too in  the process. It not only affects the person with the condition but also the families too. My OH is fantastic. He works shift work and thinks nothing of coming in and taking over at home ( with the exception of cooking!!) however tired he is. My 2 boys also cope well and are very helpful too. They will come shopping with me to steer the trolley and lift the shopping into the car. They are also helpful in the house. My bedroom is 2 storeys up so they are my fetchers and carriers!!! They also take on responsibility when my OH isn’t there at the weekends and get me up with a coffee in the morning or in the afternoon if I have had to go for a lay down again.These are the the things I am not proud of but have become the norm in my house.

So I would like to keep the M.E stuff separate from this blog so that people don’t start seeing me in a different light or feeling sorry for me. That way I can continue this blog as normal but hopefully raise awareness of the condition and help others on the new blog.

So what do you think? Is it a good idea or would I be biting off  more than I can chew (so to speak).

All advice welcome  and would definitely be appreciated.