A STUDY for Slimming World says parents who use food to reward their children may be creating bad habits for the future. The children could grow up to become obese.
Researcher Dr James Stubbs says: “Parents can unwittingly create an association in the minds of their children leading them to use high-calorie foods to make themselves feel better into adulthood.
“As adults, when we’re feeling down, we seek comfort where we can. For those who have learned to see high energy foods as a way to calm their mood, their easy availability can lead to comfort foods becoming a frequent source of solace.”
Oh yes? Well give me a frock, call me Dawn French and feed me Terry’s chocolate orange.
Don’t they produce some right tosh in the name of science? The usual excuse for being overweight used to be, “I’ve got big bones.” Now they can claim: “It’s my parents’ fault. All those Smarties to shut me up.”
I grew up in a different age when the only food that I could be tempted with was bread and dripping. The crust off a fresh loaf thickly smeared with mucky fat from last Sunday’s joint. That would put a smile on my face for the rest of the day.
By heck, missus. But the memory lingers on.
But I didn’t grow up with a terminal desire for bread and drip. It was an occasional treat that was to be savoured.
Even the sports room at the Examiner set limits when someone was dispatched to Masons in the Market Hall to buy the morning sandwiches.
They would only have bread and dripping as a treat, rather than on a daily basis.
Doug Thomson used to describe it as: “A heart attack between two slices of bread, but it’s lovely.”
The point is, a little of what you fancy is OK.
The trouble starts when you have bread and dripping for breakfast, dinner and tea and get up for a midnight snack of bread and dripping. Same goes for chocolate or cream cakes.
But this is common sense and I’m sorry, but I don’t believe that being bribed by a Cadbury’s cream egg by your parents when you are seven is going to lead to a life of gluttony.
Besides, why do some people find solace in alcohol instead of food? Did their mum put a teat on a bottle of Stella and say: “Now then, diddums. You stop crying and I’ll give you the nice medicine to help you sleep.”
I mean, I haven’t had bread and dripping for years, although the memories are bringing back the urge. In fact, I think I’ll just nip to the shops for a tub of beef drip and a fresh loaf and, if I start putting on weight, it’s not my fault. I have big bones.
