It started with a jelly snake. I had been handing out a single jelly snake to each girl in my daughter’s little athletics team at the end of the sessions I was age manager for (a role I share, alternating weeks with another mum).

My decision to hand out the lolly was innocuous enough, I thought. But the real bite was in what it represented – an issue that impacts all of us.

Feeding food anxiety with jelly snakes.Credit: iStock

One afternoon, as I handed out one jelly snake to each girl, a mother marched towards me, demanding to know what was the occasion. I was stumped. There was no “occasion”, it was simply a small reward for some cooked kids who had spent an hour and a half in the blazing sun running, jumping and throwing after a long day at school.

Visibly angry, the other mum turned on her heel, taking the jelly snake from her daughter’s hand. Later, she lodged a formal complaint about my actions with the club. She wanted to know what was the club’s junk food policy and why her child was being given a lolly every week.

Initially, I felt bad for the girl but also for being presumptuous. After all, different families have different rules and attitudes – I had never intended to be disrespectful.

Still, I couldn’t help but feel there was a broader picture at play: namely, how we digest (excuse the pun) the growing evidence that ultra-processed foods are detrimental to our health, while still cultivating a healthy attitude towards unhealthy foods.

At the end of February, the world’s largest review involving almost 10 million people around the world found that ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are associated with an increased risk of 32 adverse health........

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