Don’t get me wrong, I love Jaffa Cakes, even if they are hard to come by in America, but they are, in no way, nutritious.  They are empty, but tasty, calories.

A new survey in the United Kingdom, however, has found that 1 in 10 parents think that Jaffa Cakes count towards a healthy diet.

One in 10 parents believes that Jaffa Cakes, chips and cola count towards a child’s five-a-day.

In a survey into family eating habits, one in five also thought that fruit-flavoured sweets, spaghetti hoops and orange squash counted towards the daily target fruit and vegetable intake.

Furthermore, one in 20 parents thought that oranges or bananas did not count. Some 15 per cent said they did not think it was their job to teach their children about healthy eating, believing this to be the role of grandparents, teachers, doctors and celebrity chefs.

How did society get this way?  It’s now the job of TV (celebrity chefs) to teach healthy eating habits?  If it’s the grandparents’ job, then why did those grandparents, who are your parents, teach you the right way to eat?  Is it really that hard to say no to a child?  Did something happen in the last 20 years that we completely forgot what a healthy diet was?  Did we forget that a healthy diet leads to a healthy kid and less trips to the doctors?

Overall, in the poll carried out for the canned food company Green Giant, only one in five families ensures that their children eat the recommended five portions a day and one in 20 children have diets totally free of fruit or vegetables.

Researchers at the University of East Anglia found that only just over half of the children reported eating fruit or veg every day.

Only 50 per cent of boys and 57 per cent of girls say they get at least one portion on a daily basis, far less than the recommended five-a-day.

Just 41 per cent of the children said that they had at least two servings on a daily basis.

I think I’m getting old because I just can’t understand how parents think like this.  If you have a piece of fruit with each meal, you’re already at 3 servings.  Have an apple as a snack after school and there’s a fourth.  Oh, wait, it’s cheaper to buy a candy bar and shove it down your kids’ throat because they seem to think it’s tastier than fruit.

The announcement comes just days after the Government faced controversy over plans to pay fat people to walk their children to school.

Why?  Why do we have to pay people to walk their fat asses and their fat kids to school?  How about just making them walk?  I didn’t get paid to do my chores as a child.  If I didn’t do them, privileges (TV, playing with friends, etc.) were taken away.  Stop paying people to do what they should be  be doing anyway.

A pilot project in Manchester will offer vouchers which can be used to buy healthy food and sports equipment as rewards to people who become more active.

Again, why?  You DO NOT need vouchers to buy healthy food.  I have a very limited food budget, yet I eat healthier than people with 3-4 times the food budget as me.  If you actually eat a serving at dinner, instead of 6 or 7, you’ll have plenty of money to buy healthy food.  You should not be rewarding people for becoming responsible with their money and their life choices.

Jaffa Cakes are a nice, tasty, and occasional treat.  You should never make the mistake of thinking it’s a fruit and let yourself or your children eat a lot of them.  I guess this is why Britain is happily embracing the nanny state.