July BasultoWe promised you that we would interview Julio Basulto, and here we bring him, he is the author of 'It makes me a ball', a book that aims to present a holistic vision of infant feeding, with special emphasis on respecting the needs of children and the importance of a healthy and balanced diet.
The contents of the book are novel in that it contains complete information about food at all stages of childhood, but in a simple and easy way to adapt in our homes, and especially without the encorseting of advice and impossible formulas that We find in other texts.
Julio is a graduate in nutrition and human nutrition, serves as a teacher, member of different specialized groups, and especially as the father of three girls. We proposed to him the interview, but We will find answers with a clear influence of his wife (who is also a dietitian and nutritionist). Olga Ayllón is 'the highest authority in the feeding of small ones'.
We have investigated some of the most relevant aspects of the book, and although we have left out the importance of breastfeeding that occupies a considerable part of its pages, we assure you that it is worth reading your opinions on some topics that will surely interest you.
The diet of our children and adolescents is characterized by an excess of meats, sausages, dairy products and foods with high energy density, such as baked goods and carbonated drinks (rich in refined fats and sugars, respectively) and a deficit in the intake of fruits, vegetables and cereals
Peques and More.- What are the nutritional changes in Spanish children due to?
July Basulto.- A long list of factors included in what the Spanish Food Safety Agency (AESAN) calls "nutritional transition", a series of quantitative and qualitative changes in food, related to economic, social, demographic changes and health factors. This is closely related, according to the AESAN, in which the diet of our children and adolescents is characterized by “an excess of meats, sausages, dairy and foods with high energy density, such as bakery products and carbonated beverages (rich in fats and sugars refined, respectively) and by a deficit in the intake of fruits, vegetables and cereals ”…
An important factor, in addition, is sedentary, increasingly frequent. We know for sure that the more sedentary, the worse the quality of the diet, and vice versa. Although one of the key factors is undoubtedly a strong presence (which might well be called "invasion"), of "Ultraprocessed" food products, rich in energy, sugars, fats and salt. This goes hand in hand with a ubiquitous publicity of such "edible substances", which floods schools, nurseries, supermarkets, gaming venues, offices and family and pediatric care services, television, Internet and many other environments.
PyM.- Do you think that knowledge of healthy eating in current parents has worsened compared to those who raised children 40 years ago? What do you think is the reason we are seduced so much by the advice of 'experts' against common sense and the observation of the needs of our children?
J.B.- I believe that parents' knowledge about what is or what is not a healthy diet is still just as insufficient, but now the offer of “junk food” is much more ubiquitous (and also cheap), so parents have many more possibilities to "feed" your children with food that is not exactly food. The health messages (in many cases illegal) that accompany these “foods” do not, of course, help to improve the parents' nutritional knowledge, that is for sure. As for the reason why we are so seduced by the advice of some so-called "experts", it is because, in general, We want quick solutions that do not involve changes in habits or routines.
PyM.- Does a healthy diet reduce the chances of contracting noncommunicable diseases in the population?
J.B.- Yes of course. But, as you know, as I have detailed in the book, I prefer to turn it upside down: an insane diet increases the chances of getting noncommunicable diseases. The Report on the global situation of noncommunicable diseases of WHO details that such diseases, clearly related to an unbalanced diet, are not only the leading cause of death, but are also increasingly frequent.
The most related to food are cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diabetes, but there are many more pathologies involved. Although the detrimental effect of an insane diet on the risk of contracting such diseases is long-term (that nobody will think that taking a sugary drink one day will develop a cancer), the truth is that more than half of the Calories that we drink today the Spaniards come from "highly processed" foods.
One of the key factors in the nutritional change of Spanish children is, without a doubt, a strong presence of “ultraprocessed” food products, rich in energy, sugars, fats and salt. This presence is linked to the advertising of these “edible substances”, which floods schools, nurseries, supermarkets, playgrounds, offices and family and pediatric care services, television, Internet and many other environments
PyM.- And what about the 'bad diet'? You affirm that supermarkets are increasingly invaded by insane substances and more lacking in 'food', is it possible to summarize in a few lines all the 'foods' that provide empty calories? (or at least give us clues so that we know how to detect them).
J.B.- Well, I can think of these two tips to detect these "foods":
If you need to advertise on television to buy it, bad signal, sure it has a lot of fat, a lot of salt, a lot of sugar ... or all three things at once.
If it is accompanied by a health statement ("with omega-3", "low in saturated fat", "improves immunity", etc.), it is very possible that it is a superfluous food that needs that wild card to convince us of its benefits.
Why do you need no "expert", no advertisement, no promotion, no discount, no gift, no famous or any health statement so that we know that the whole fruit, vegetables, legumes or nuts are the sea of healthy?
PyM.- You mention laxity in the PAOS Code, and I wonder how unprotected parents are facing the influence of food advertising on children, how do we put our children's health before the benefits of the industry? What power does the education children receive at home have?
J.B.- We are very unprotected, no doubt. Marketing techniques use famous people, children's idols or other popular characters among children (real or fictional), and include sponsorships, email and text messages via mobile phone, philanthropic activities linked to the promotion of a brand and a long etcetera that includes, according to the WHO "innumerable conduits and messages". The main food and beverage companies today also use social networks (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc.) very frequented by children and young people.
But parents have a lot of power over this pressure. To begin with, we must keep in mind that our own example is the most powerful weapon: it is proven that it will mediate much more than any other external influence.
Our children swallow thousands of insane food ads after the year. So parents must act. We can be with them when they watch television or surf the Internet, it is also convenient to avoid using these media as electronic nannies: the more we interact with the little 'face to face' the better
PyM.- Is it enough for parents to 'lead by example' and make healthy food available to children?
J.B.- It is very important, although, as we have seen, the immense supply of insane foods and advertising pressure will make the matter quite difficult. Our children swallow thousands of insane food ads after the year. So we should take "letters in the matter". We can be with them when they watch television or when they surf the Internet (when they "click" on a YouTube video, for example, it is very likely that an insane food advertisement will appear).
We must avoid using television or the Internet as an "electronic babysitter": no more than half an hour a day in people older than three years and no more than one hour after seven years (in children under 2 years, it is better not to see it, as recognized by the American Academy of Pediatrics) and we should prevent them from having a television set or a computer in their own room. The more we play with them "face to face", the better.
PyM.- In your book you offer a larta list of foods to exclude from the diet of our children. Are exceptions allowed? (I say this because among them are some that are quite common in homes such as jam, cake, muffins, custards ...); And by the way, would you consider homemade ice cream as 'insane' as one bought in the large area?
J.B.- Exceptions are admitted, of course. But the reality is that lthe vast majority of the calories our children take come from foods rich in sugar, fat and salt. Marmalade is 50% sugar, sponge cake, muffins or custards are foods high in fat and sugar, whether homemade or not. If we feed our children daily with these foods (it is usual), we do them a disservice. As such foods have many calories, they satisfy their appetite with them and do not eat "food".
As for a homemade ice cream or one bought on a large surface, because the truth is that nutritionally they are practically the same. That its consumption is occasional. I prefer it home, but not because it is healthier, but because it is closer to the child, more his, because they have drawn the hands of someone who loves him. But the frequency of intake of this ice cream, I insist, should be low ... and it is not ... in most cases.
Julio Basulto and Olga AyllónPyM.- Do you think we have complicated the task of nurturing children? Too many rules on the one hand and a lot of carelessness regarding the food we give them?
J.B.- Yes I think we give them many rules and yes I think we have a lot of carelessness ... but not so much in the food we give them (but also) but especially in the example we offer them. If you look around, you will see how many parents who pressure their child to finish the snack, it turns out that they carry a cigarette in their hands, cross the red traffic light next to the school in red, drink alcohol in front of the child's noses and they drink sugary drinks daily (badly called "soft drinks"). I recently witnessed how a mother forced her daughter to have a snack while she (the mother) ate a chocolate covered croissant. The girl wanted the croissant, of course, but the mother was wrong that she had to take her sandwich. Frightening.
PyM.- I really liked that you take into account the responsibility of children over two years old in their diet, briefly tell us how we can allow them to participate.
J.B.- I'm glad you liked it. The child's responsibility, regardless of age, lies in deciding what he eats, how much he eats and when he eats what adults offer. Can we allow you to participate in what we offer? Of course, but we ultimately decide what goes into our house and what's in the closets. Children, surrounded as they are with junk food, are very likely to pressure us to fill the ice cream freezer, the dairy dessert refrigerator and the pantry of “cocoa creams with hazelnuts” (whose hazelnut content is birrioso, that is on the way).
That is, we offer him a healthy diet, and he decides if he wants to eat, how much he wants to eat and what he wants to eat, not forgetting to lead by example. (You know: we avoid following an insane diet, we run away from smoking and sedentary lifestyle, and we remember what WHO says about alcohol: "the less, the better").
Parents have a lot of carelessness in the food we give our children and also with respect to our own example
PyM.- Regarding foods that only provide empty calories: 'no offer, no deny'. How do we adopt the achievement of this binomial?
J.B.- I suppose you mean if it would not be better to deny them categorically that they eat superfluous food. My wife and I prefer to “border” the matter, that is, we prevent such foods from falling into your viewing angle. If they see these foods and ask for them, then first we change the subject, we become clueless, we agree one day a week to take them (“on Sundays an ice cream” - and we take it all -) or similar strategies. But if they insist, then we give it to them and that's it. Strong denials must be reserved for the gas tap, knives, plugs (which should be protected) and other hazards.
We know (and, in fact, it is documented) that denying a child repeatedly to eat insane food, causes the child to arouse excessive interest in her, and it is very likely that you will end up overdoing it in the medium or long term. That is, the one who has the opportunity, takes a huge amount of superfluous food, possibly because of our categorical denial of eating them.
Imagine that I forgot my agenda at home. You call me saying that you have found it and I answer that right now I am going for it, but I also tell you this: "above all, do not open it". Surely it costs you horrors to resist the temptation to open it, and that you are a responsible and respectful adult. Something like this happens to a child to whom we say "I don't want you to eat cookies", but we have a closet with dozens of them, with the difference that he is a child, curious, restless, awake, a born researcher ... As I said before, our pantry should not have such "edible substances", and so we avoid seeing each other in this difficult daily break.
The Report on the global situation of noncommunicable diseases of WHO details that such diseases, clearly related to an unbalanced diet, are not only the leading cause of death, but also are increasingly frequent
For our part, we have finished the interview and we want to thank Julio and Olga (we know of his influence on the answers, and also on the writing of 'It makes me ball') that they have helped us clarify some ideas about insane foods, advertising of 'infant feeding' and family responsibility in the nutrition of our children.
It has been a pleasure to have you with us, I sincerely hope that your message reaches many families so that children and adults can benefit, and so (in short) Family meal time is also healthier, a happy time for everyone.
