How to reduce inflammation in children: Avoid these 5 foods

Many problems faced by children nowadays can be reduced or even eradicated by fixing their chronic inflammation. The most common foods in the supermarket are responsible for causing inflammation in children and detriment to their livelihoods. Find out how to reduce inflammation in children by avoiding the worst offending foods below…

To reduce inflammation in children parents must identify and remove the most inflammatory foods in their diet. Unnatural industrial foods contain toxins, refined sugars and damaged fats that drive up inflammation and can leave children susceptible to chronic diseases, mental health issues and a lower quality of life.

Why should we avoid certain foods?

It’s difficult. We love our children. We know that what we feed them has a staggering impact on their lives. But conflicting information comes in from everywhere. The health agencies tell us one thing, the food industry another, and the army of online ‘experts’ something else. So how can we know what foods are best? Before we go down that rabbit hole, let’s focus on replacing the most unhealthy foods our kids eat with foods to optimise them.

We often view unhealthy foods as those that are devoid of essential nutrients. But this definition leaves much to be desired. For starters there’s constant debate about what these nutrients are and in what quantities we need them. Looking at the ways our food negatively impacts our body is a simple way we can decide what to avoid. And the main foods we should avoid feeding to our children are those that cause inflammation.

Anti-inflammatory is a phrase we hear everywhere. But what is inflammation? And why do we want to avoid feeding our children inflammatory foods?

What is an inflammatory food?

Do you want the harsh truth? Most of the foods that your children love are inflammatory. The chicken nuggets, fizzy drinks and sweets they ask for at every meal cause them harm. I understand, believe me, that these foods can be unavoidable. But it’s important to know exactly what threats they pose so we can limit them.

Feeding our children too many inflammatory foods overtime has a host of risks. Low-level inflammation that persists overtime is a risk factor for many of the chronic diseases so prevalent today. Diseases such as heart disease, type-2 diabetes and obesity to name a few. Unfortunately the symptoms can be subtle. If your child is gaining weight, is regularly fatigued, has gut issues or suffers from depression(1), have a look at the foods you’re feeding them. Chances are, they are on this list. Even without the symptoms, eliminating these unhealthy foods can only improve their wellbeing.

What are the 5 unhealthiest foods to avoid feeding your son?

As I stated, it would be difficult to raise your child without them eating these foods. I’m extremely conscious of what I feed my son. Still, parties, holidays and, the greatest obstacle of all, grandparents, mean that I haven’t managed to fully eliminate them. But understanding the worst culprits allows me to limit them when I have control. And knowing what I can feed him instead makes things loads easier. But first: the 6 most unhealthy foods for children.

1.Breakfast Cereals

Sugar. We all know it’s bad for us. We even limit it to ‘treats’ because we know it implodes our children’s emotions. But if you walk down the breakfast aisle in any supermarket it’s all we see. Smiling faces on cute animals clearly directed at kids, selling boxes of sugary flakes, puffs and even cookies! I can’t think of much worse to start a busy day being a kid. Even the ones that aren’t overtly coated in sugar are a terrible choice. Many of these ‘healthier options’, for example, contain more salt than a 25g bag of roasted peanuts.(2) I chose cereals specifically because they are so heavily marketed towards children, and are such a common breakfast. But the problems discussed are the same for all refined carbohydrates such as bread, cakes, syrups, and flours.

So what should you give your son for breakfast? Read here for 8 options for a bulletproof breakfast!

The issue with having such an intake of sugar first thing is the insulin spike that it causes. The sugar causes the pancreas to release insulin, which ferries the sugar into your cells. This is all a perfectly natural response to eating carbohydrates. However, the carbs in the heavily processed cereals are absorbed much faster than the fibrous roots we evolved to digest. When it all disappears, we experience a ‘sugar crash’. We also release much more insulin than necessary. This leaves an excess of insulin coursing through the blood, ‘searching’ for more sugar to bind with. This translates to sugar cravings. So you grab another sugary snack and the whole rollercoaster starts again. Starting the day with cereal will mean your child chooses more sugar throughout the day. Sound familiar?

Well this erratic behaviour doesn’t just cause your child to flag at school halfway through the morning. It’s also bad for their health and longevity. A 15 year study found that those who got 17-21% of their calories from sugar had a 38% chance of dying of cardiovascular disease than those who got 8% (3). A high sugar diet is also heavily linked to obesity. Obesity contributes to a broad spectrum of cardiovascular diseases and even sudden cardiac death (4).

2.Fried Foods

When we sit down in a restaurant, my son doesn’t even look at the menu. He’s already decided he wants chicken nuggets. But how do restaurants get that delicious crispy coating on them? They deep-fry them in oil. The vast majority of these oils are inexpensive vegetable and seed oils (more on these below). The process of deep-frying means heating the oil to extremely high temperatures. This destabilises the fats and forms trans fats. In fact, every time an oil is reused in frying, the trans fat content increases(5). Trans fats are highly inflammatory and cause endothelial dysfunction- the cells that line your entire circulatory system(6). Trans fats have been associated to higher risk of diabetes and coronary heart disease(7).

On top of all this, due to the high energy content of fat, the amount of calories from deep-frying is far higher than without. Though high calorie foods shouldn’t necessarily be avoided (see …. Post), there does seem to be a correlation between trans fats and weight gain. There are a number of reasons for this. The unstable nature of the fat causes disruptions in hormones that affect fat storage. And the more body fat you already have, the worse the affect is. In one study, women increased their intake of trans fats by 1%. They all gained weight, but the ones that were already overweight gained almost twice as much(8).

Read here to learn about how obesity can cause depression

3.Soda

In 2021 the global soft drinks market was worth 416.91 billion, and is expected to keep growing(9). Even only 1000 years ago, our drink choices were extremely limited. Water and booze was about all we had. Now, every shop has fridges stacked with countless brands and a million different ingredients- most of which has only just come into being.

There’s not much in fizzy drinks that can be considered healthy. The list of ingredients alone should put anybody off drinking it themselves, let alone giving it to their kids. The primary reason is the sugar content. A 350ml (12oz) can of soda typically contains between 30-40g (7-10tsp) of sugar. An excessive intake of dietary sugar induces inflammation and can cause metabolic disorders(10).

Even going sugar free is no good. The artificial sweeteners are identified as toxins by your body and stored as fat. This increase in body fat, and the presence of a toxin, also adding to inflammation(11). Is your child struggling with self-confidence or their body image? Both the sugars and the sweeteners cause the body to store more water. This excess ‘water-weight’ can give the illusion of extra body fat. Minimising their sugar intake will help get rid of this water, and reduce any actual body fat.

4.Vegetable Oils

Vegetable oils are absolutely everywhere. Look on most ingredients labels and they’ll be in there in some form or another. They became more prevalent in the early 1900s, when the industrial revolution was creating industrial foods. Oils provided a cheap replacement to traditional foods like butter and lard and were heavily promoted. A century later, the food industry has done a good job. Butter and lard are demonised while vegetable oils and their unsaturated fats are still seen as healthy.

Read here to learn about how good, natural fats are vital for brain development in children- and where to get them.

We’ve all heard of omega-3 fats- the anti-inflammatory ones found in oily fish and grass-fed meat. The benefits have been known and promoted for years. But as opposed to just loading up on omega-3’s, it’s the ratio between them and inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids thats important. Omega-6s are the yin to omega-3s yang. Ideally, and when we lived in nature, this ratio was 1:1 – 4:1 (omega-6:omega-3). Unfortunately, primarily to do with the industrial diet’s insistence on vegetable oils, the West now gets 8-10% of it’s energy from linoleic acid- the main omega-6 in vegetable oils(12).. Our ratio has subsequently shifted to around 15:1 (omega-6:omega-3) in the West(13). So we are consuming 15 times as much inflammatory fats as anti-inflammatory.

5.Ultra Processed ‘Children’s’ Foods

Our lives are busy. It’s no longer a given that one income can support a whole household. With our frantic schedules it can be tempting to make tea time easier by banging one tray in the oven and forgetting about it for 20 minutes. And don’t get me wrong, this can be done and it be completely healthy (See the link below). But the sort of food I’m talking about is the oven chips, potato smiley faces, turkey dinosaurs, chicken dippers etc. You know, the ones marketed, infuriatingly, as children’s food. Making healthy children’s meals is even spun as a dark art by the health agencies. Every touchy-feely article invokes the plight of slaving all day to make a good dinner, when it’s simply not true. My son’s favourite meal that I cook has 3 ingredients, takes me 15 minutes and is packed full of good stuff.

Diet is such an important part of your son’s life. Read about another 9 things that he needs to maximise his health and happiness here!

Currently, ultra processed foods make up 67% of the average child’s (aged 2-17) diet(14). That’s staggering. These are foods with ingredients that didn’t even exist when we were evolving. And such a high amount of it leaves little space to eat these foods that were so key to our development as a species.

So what’s the problem? These ultra processed foods have been associated with conditions such as obesity, insulin resistance and high blood pressure in children. The fact that the ingredients in them are so artificial, and so far from what we should be eating, also impacts our gut bacteria. These bacteria are vital to our health and, still, very little is known about them and their importance, but they are responsible for more than was previously thought. Poor gut health can wreak havoc on everything from abdominal pain, to energy and mood(15).

So what should I feed them?

The way to avoid every one of the unhealthy foods on the list is simple in theory, if not always in practice- at first! Start with feeding your children whole foods. By this I mean single-ingredient and natural foods. Foods that COULD have been around 300,000 years ago. Think of things like grass-fed meat, dairy, fresh fruit and white rice. If you stop buying foods that have an ingredients label, you’ll be on to a winner straight away.

Do your research! Just because a food advertises itself as ‘natural’ or ‘healthy’, have a look. Has it got palm oil in? Has it got a chemical ingredient in that you can’t even pronounce? This is the best place to start, and most of the positive changes will come from it. But when it gets to optimising our children further then we need to dive deeper. Keep up-to-date on all Son of Man nutrition posts by subscribing to our newsletter.

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Summary

Chronic inflammation is a risk factor for many metabolic diseases.

Breakfast cereals should not be eaten at breakfast. They are closer to a pudding, and not a good one.

Fried foods increase inflammation and lead to weight gain.

Avoid soda whether it is sugar-free or not.

Vegetable oils are unnatural chemicals that should not be eaten unless unavoidable. Choose grass-fed butter or beef dripping instead.

Stay away from “classic” childrens foods that you’re meant to feed them because kids are fussy- apparently. Just feed them what you eat.

Raise Your Legacy

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