Summer outings will do the whole family good only if you know that the castle, zoo or park has a decent café. Otherwise, unless you got up early to make sandwiches, you risk feeling resentful as you shell out on rubbishy kids' food in a cafeteria.
A survey published last month by Lacors, the body that regulates council services, found that most theme parks, wildlife parks, museums, leisure centres, heritage sites and farm parks offered children fatty, salty and sugary food. Not one of the 397 meals for seven to ten-year-olds tested by environmental health officers and trading standards officers at 220 attractions met the nutritional guidelines for schools.
The average children's meal surveyed had 44 per cent more salt than the maximum 1.2g recommended by the School Food Trust, which oversees school dinners.
A few sights, including National Trust properties, offer decent food for all ages. Elsewhere, even when salt-free nuggets are made from free-range chicken breast and ices are the creamiest of the local crop, children's meals may not include vegetables.
However, sausage, chips and beans won't do. We'd like to see fresh vegetables or salad included automatically in children's meals. Ask for a half portion of an adult meal and you may fare better on the veg front. But to guarantee healthy food on a day out, always go armed with carrot batons, celery sticks and stocks of fresh fruit.
如果你知道城堡,動物園和公園有較好的小餐館,夏日外出對于整個家庭來說都是有益的。除非你很早起來做三明治,否則當你去自助餐廳吃糟糕的兒童食物后你會感到很氣憤。
Lacors上個月剛公布調查顯示,管理服務委員會的人發現許多主題公園,野生公園,博物館,娛樂中心,古遺跡和農場公園給兒童提供的是高脂肪,高鹽和高糖分的食物。提供給7歲至10歲兒童的397種食物中沒有一種經過環境健康人員的檢測,220個景點的權威貿易人員為孩子制定了專門營養指導方針。
調查顯示每個兒童食物的鹽份大于44%,這個數字比學校食品信托所推薦的最多1.2g的攝取量要多得多。學校食品信托主要關注學校的正餐。
包括美國信托基金在內的關注兒童的少數機構給所有年齡段的兒童提供優質食物。在任何地方,甚至不含鹽的雞塊也是由農場放養的雞脯做成的,冰淇淋是由本地農作物中提取的乳脂類做成的,而孩子們的膳食中可能不含蔬菜。
然而,香腸,炸土豆條和豆類也不能起到蔬菜的作用。我們更愿意看到在孩子們的膳食中包含新鮮蔬菜或者色拉。在半份成人膳食中你們可能發現蔬菜一定會出現在前面。為了保證在外游玩能吃到更健康的食物,最好攜帶胡蘿卜,芹菜梗和個剛買的新鮮水果。