Eat your greens

For better or worse, fast food is an undeniable component of Western diets. Convenient, cheap, and in most cases tasty too — it’s easy to understand why.

The detrimental health effects of eating such highly processed foods on a regular basis are well-documented.

It’s a tale as old as time; an apple a day keeps the doctor away, whilst taste and convenience today set the stage for obesity, diabetes, and heart disease tomorrow.

But if that isn’t enough to put you off your meal, a research project published in Public Health Nutrition found that people who eat fast food are 51 per cent more likely to feel depressed. This news doesn’t bode well for Aucklanders, who have spent a whopping $6.7 billion dollars on takeaways over the past six years according to new Eftpos data analysed by Health Coalition Aotearoa and the Helen Clark Foundation.

Health Coalition Aotearoa chair, Professor Boyd Swinburn says, current regulations are far from satisfactory. “We’ve got an epidemic of obesity and diabetes. Successive governments have done very little to try to prevent that,” Boyd says. “All parents want healthy neighbourhoods for their children - yet the community doesn’t have a say, nor does even the Council.” Auckland Regional Public Health Service and Health Coalition Aotearoa are calling for urgent new legislation that clamps down on unhealthy food and drinks advertising. “The power to regulate or not regulate does sit with politicians because local governments can only really act if they have national legislation that allows them to,” Boyd says. “We don’t have regulations on junk food marketing to kids. We don’t have regulations to try to remove or prevent these food swamps from happening - there’s a whole raft of policies that can be implemented, which just haven’t.” And indeed, the fast-food industry has historically consistently targeted children via the use of toys, colourful advertisements, and collaborations with popular media companies. Not to mention the children’s play areas built into fast-food locations. In many ways, the entire industry is catered towards kids.

Getting kids to eat healthy is much tougher than just saying “no” to junk food. This is because children now spend most of their time in the digital media space out of sight of their parents. Companies know this and market to children anywhere and everywhere they spend their digital minutes. Food marketing has a direct impact on young people’s food preferences. It adversely impacts eating behaviours and influences diet, weight, and health in many ways. One of the most important things we can do for our children is talk to them about food marketing and encourage them to talk to us. This starts with teaching our children that fruits and vegetables can be just as tasty – if not tastier – than fast food.

If you’re struggling with how to tackle the issue, Health Navigator NZ has shared the following helpful tips to getting started:

Encourage healthy habits

• Use meals as a time for family/ whānau to hang out and chat about their day • Eat together as a family (if you can) • Make sure you switch off any devices, including mobile phones • Choose meal times well suited to your children – this might mean eating a bit earlier than you usually do • Feed your child three healthy meals a day – don’t forget breakfast • Encourage your children to taste and eat new foods

• Do your food shopping with your children and help them to select healthy foods, like fruit and vegetables • Make cooking and food preparation exciting – include your children from a young age and involve them more and more as they grow up • Provide healthy snacks (low in salt, fat and sugar) during the day and in-between meals

• Remember that it takes 8-15 times trying something new before it becomes familiar so keep trying new foods all the time.

Choose a variety of foods from the four food groups every day

• Vegetables and fruit • Breads and cereals

• Milk and milk products • Lean meats, chicken, seafood, eggs, legumes (ie, cooked dried beans, peas and lentils), nuts and seeds.

Aim for more nutritious takeaway meals

• Kebabs or wraps • Pizza with lots of vegetables and a bit less cheese

• Pasta including tomato-based sauce (rather than cheesy sauce) • Sushi

• Thick wedges or chips rather than thin chips • Rice/noodle takeaways with plenty of vegetables – (not fried) • Baked potatoes served with a side of salad, meat, and beans.