Jamie Oliver: “I’ve Never Been More Depressed About Children’s Health”

Whether you're a fan of Jamie Oliver or not, I think we can all agree on one thing: he has done more for obesity awareness and children's health than any efforts made at government level. Nobody else has rolled up their sleeves and gotten stuck in to access and change the way that children and families eat in a manner that the ordinary family understands, in the way that Jamie has. I particularly thought his approach to tackling unhealthy - and often completely gross - school dinners in the UK was amazing. Despite all of his efforts, Jamie (40) says the state of children's health seems to be worsening globally;

“Right now if you look at under five-year-olds, 41 million are obese or overweight, and in parallel 159 million kids are malnourished and not growing physically and mentally in the right way. It’s 2016, we can’t be proud of that"

He recently succeeded in coercing the UK government to impose a tax on sugary drinks, something that I think could be a clever move here in Ireland too. Convenient food packaged as 'healthy' for babies, children and teens can often contain much more sugar than parents realise, and the level of corporate secrecy can be frightening. I'm with Jamie on this one - I think it's so important for us parents to do our homework and really understand what our kids are injesting. The biggest shocker for me last year was realising just how bad and full of sugar the average jar of pasta sauce contains - I had been using them for years! So now I make it myself with fresh ingredients and I SWEAR the effort is worth it because you feel so much better for it. Jamie and his Food Revolution would be proud. Are you concerned about what's really in the tins and jars at your local supermarket? How do you ensure that your kids are eating healthily? Let us know in the comments on Facebook.