\n Fish pie with broccoli in the mashed potato\u00a0to increase veg intake. Many children are not getting enough Omega 3 so Sophie ensures this is in her rotation of meals (Image: Sophie Craig Harvey Nutrition)\n<\/p>\n
\n The government – which has worked with nutritionists and public health experts – has set out plans to overhaul the School Food Standards for the first time in more than a decade.\n<\/p>\n
\n It aims to remove sausage rolls and pizza from daily menus and deep fried food completely.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Fruit will replace sugar-laden treats for\u00a0the majority of\u00a0the school week.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Sample menus include spaghetti Bolognese,\u00a0Mexican style burritos,\u00a0cottage pie with root-veg mash, jerk chicken with rice and peas and roasted chickpea,\u00a0vegetable\u00a0and mozzarella wrap.\n<\/p>\n
\n “I see it as amazing news but I’m also very aware that this is going to be a really big change for some more deprived families – and not even necessarily deprived because I have children where this is their ‘safe’ food,” says Ms Craig-Harvey.\n<\/p>\n
\n “I know this change will bring about a lot of anxiety for parents as our children have become so dependent on these foods.”\n<\/p>\n
\n The qualified nutritionist – who studied at the Institute for Optimum Nutrition in Richmond and is also a mother – specialises in treating children with a range of conditions including ADHD, autism, constipation, diarrhoea, brain inflammation and auto-immune diseases.\n<\/p>\n
\n “I do work with children with restrictive eating – sometimes called fussy eating,” she says.\n<\/p>\n
\n She believes that with rising levels of obesity, type 2 diabetes and tooth decay in children action must be taken but must be carefully thought through.\n<\/p>\n
\n “They always say it’s genetics which loads the gun and environment pulls the trigger.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Sophie’s three-year-old helping in the kitchen (Image: Sophie Craig Harvey Nutrition)\n<\/p>\n
\n Unhealthy foods affect the gut microbiome, she says, and mean that some healthy bacteria is not created.\n<\/p>\n
\n Diet can be connected to a range of moods, conditions and anxiety and “100% is one of the factors” in some conditions she treats, she says.\n<\/p>\n
\n Standard diets in the home can include meals with chips, fish fingers and beans which do have some nutritional value but some unhealthy elements.\n<\/p>\n
\n In her own home she tries to introduce a shared platter in the middle which she calls an “exploratory plate” so children can try out new foods without feeling forced. “I try not to make a big thing of it,” she says.\n<\/p>\n
\n She might cook her own chips occasionally but with olive oil and at Easter she might allow some dark chocolate treats and make her own sweets.\n<\/p>\n
\n A new approach could mean swapping out potato chips for foods like sweet potatoes, chick peas and quinoa, she adds.\n<\/p>\n
\n But there needs to be a more holistic education around nutrition and about how to get these foods accepted.\n<\/p>\n
\n “The point is some of these children won’t have had exposure to a variety of foods,” she says. “What I feel really passionate about is food and nutrition should be a part of education.”\n<\/p>\n
\n French schoolchildren are encouraged to engage far more with food and their lunch breaks are ring-fenced, she says. “Society doesn’t allow us to have time with food,” she says.\n<\/p>\n
\n Government says it is committed to developing “a robust\u00a0national enforcement\u00a0system including monitoring schools\u2019 compliance”.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Full details will be announced this September, with enforcement in place from September 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sophie Craig-Harvey – who works as a nutritional therapist at Woodbridge Complementary Health Centre – says she is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[102,6636,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-531137","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-nutrition","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}