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DEL.ICIO.USWhat do you think of the choices on kids’ menus?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We went out to eat last night with our 8-year-old twins, to a restaurant known for its local, sustainable food. Just the kind of place you’d expect lots of healthy food and fresh vegetables served within a couple of days of harvest, right?
Sure, if you’re ordering from the adult menu. The kids had already settled on one of the daily specials, a veggie pizza with eggplant, spinach, bell peppers and tomatoes, when the waiter sauntered over. We’ve got chicken fingers, fries and macaroni and cheese made with white cheese, not with cheese that’s been dyed orange, he said. They also offered soft drinks. We asked about milk. They had it, but only whole milk, which is high in fat and not recommended for children ages 2 and older.
I didn’t even know they had a children’s menu. I was disappointed to learn it was the same bland lineup of high-fat, high-calorie foods that are on almost every children’s menu, rather than something that would take advantage of the restaurant’s strengths. The kids got water they juiced up with lemon slices, shared most of the veggie pizza, nibbled on their aunt’s heirloom tomato salad and had a few bites of our pie, with house-cured salmon and avocado.
I’m not sure why I was surprised. We just don’t order from kids’ menus when we go out, because so many of them offer nothing but fat, sugar and starches. I might laugh about the idea of someone offering a macaroni and cheese plate with fries on the side for children, except I’ve seen it listed on too many menus.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest released a study today on children’s menus that probably won’t surprise many parents. Of the kids’ meals at 13 chains surveyed, 93 percent exceeded 430 calories. For a child ages 4 to 8, that’s one-third of their daily needs. A few meals exceeded 1,000 calories.
The report singled out KFC, Chick-fil-A, Taco Bell, Sonic, and Jack in the Box, which operates on the West Coast, as the chains most likely to offer kids’ meals that were too high in calories. (The links provided lead to nutrition information for those chains.)
Among the chains surveyed, some of the kids’ meals ranged from 830 to 1,020 calories. The group’s report notes that with many children eating these kinds of meals regularly, rather than as an occasional indulgence, the calories can pack on unneeded weight and lead to long-term health problems. (For a different take on the healthfulness of meals served at Chick-fil-A, check out dining critic Meridith Ford’s blog about a new book that gives it an “A”.)
Subway offered the healthiest choices, according to the study, with just a third of its kids’ meals exceeding 430 calories.
CSPI is using the study to argue for nutrition information on restaurant menus. That’s not likely to happen in Georgia, since legislators passed a bill earlier this year banning cities and counties from requiring restaurants to do this.
Still, you can find some nutritional information online for chain restaurants, and work out a healthier combination meal — extra crispy drumstick instead of popcorn chicken at KFC, mandarin oranges instead of cinnamon apples at Chili’s — before you go.
What do you think of the nutritional quality of children’s meals? If you eat out, how do you handle what your child orders? Are there menu combinations that are off limits for your kids? Do you check nutritional information at restaurants?
Permalink | Comments (14) | Post your comment | Categories: Healthy eating
Comments
By Duluth
August 4, 2008 3:21 PM | Link to this
All kids menus have the same thing on them. Hamburger/cheesburger, chicken tenders, and mac & cheese, or a grilled cheese sandwich.
Stay at home, and cook a decent meal for your family.
By sunshine
August 4, 2008 3:33 PM | Link to this
Your information is wrong. Chic-fil- A was named Healthiest and Jack in the Box was cited for having several options UNDER 300 calories. I’m not sure about your other examples- but you might want to check.
By Ed
August 4, 2008 4:15 PM | Link to this
Dining out for my family is a treat—a time to have something special. We eat out on birthdays and other celebrations and we don’t fret over restaurant calories because we’re not pulling up at the drive-thru every night. I’m with an earlier poster: if you want to obsess about what your kids eat, fix them something at home. Personally, most of the good Southern meals my mom made with loads of butter and fat were probably much worse than what’s in a kid’s meal!
By ephy
August 4, 2008 4:41 PM | Link to this
The kids’ menus I’ve seen remind me of friends who are on a diet but still buy soda and cookies to have in the house ‘for the kids’.
Childhood is THE time to instill healthy eating habits and taste buds. Expecting everyone to suddenly want healthy food after a childhood of chicken strips, mac n cheese, and fries just doesn’t make any sense.
If there are healthy items on the adult menu, order it and take half home with you. Or split it with your kids - most restaurant portions could easily feed one adult plus one child.
By Elizabeth Lee
August 4, 2008 5:25 PM | Link to this
Sunshine, there are two articles on children’s menus and fast food getting a lot of notice today.
I think that’s one reason some parents have a hard time figuring out what’s healthy and what’s not. One group says Chick-fil-A is healthy. Another says it isn’t. Who do you believe as a parent?
It sounds like you may be thinking of the book by the Men’s Health authors, which says Chick-fil-A has the healthiest food. That’s the one that Meridith Ford is blogging about today.
The study I’m writing about is from the Center for Science in the Public Interest. It says that all 20 of the possible kids’ meals combinations at Chick-fil-A come in at more than 430 calories. So it ranks poorly in their survey. It also says all 24 meals from Jack in the Box are more than 430 calories.
By Penguinmom
August 4, 2008 5:36 PM | Link to this
One problem I have is that the healthy choices offered cost more than the regular choices. I have to shell out more for fruit instead of fries at CFA, and BK just recently did away with the free applesauce in favor of charging extra for ‘apple fries’.
By dawgmom
August 4, 2008 9:10 PM | Link to this
If today’s parents would spend more time preparing meals at home and making eating out a rare treat, this wouldn’t be newsworthy.
By Stew
August 4, 2008 11:01 PM | Link to this
I have cut back. 2 small hambugers and a side salad. I used to order 2 jr woppers or a big mac or 2. Is this OK?
By Gary
August 5, 2008 2:52 AM | Link to this
430 calories? What is this, a diet plan for Dachau? My cardiologist has me on a low calorie diet, 1800 calories. I’ve lost 33 pounds in 6 weeks on this starvation level diet. How could a growing child survive on a mere 1200 calories?
By Alex Baran
August 5, 2008 6:45 AM | Link to this
Taking your kids to the fast food will have a lot of negative influence in their life. It’s not only old people who have heart – strikes but you must take in consideration that the veins clog while they are young. I read about the serious consequences serving such a meal to kids has at http://www.projectweightloss.com and I was impressed! Parents should think twice before taking their children to a fast food restaurant as tasty the food may be.
By FCM
August 5, 2008 7:00 AM | Link to this
School lunchrooms & less PE/recess are the number one contributor to the obesity rate in children Yes, you read that correctly. The school lunch program’s nutrition requirements were set decades ago and have not been updated. The now offer ‘choices’ of pizza, burgers, nuggets and other ‘junk’ DAILY. They offer flavored milk or juice (HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP), ice cream, and treats as early as elementary school. Now we have kids in High School having HEART ATTACKS what will it take for people to wake up. Don’t lay all the blame on Mom and Dad…..Last year I got several notes from school saying we owed money….I budget carefully for lunches, feed them a healthy breakfast, and dinner…..The kids were going in for school breakfast (High fat biscuits, pancakes, or worse Sugary Cereal) and not because they were hungry. The Nutritionist said that many of the children are there for the social aspect.
Then they cut PE to 2 days a week for 30 min. In GA they cut recess often due to the hot weather or the rain. There is not time for the kids to burn off these excess calories.
I could pack a lunch but if ‘nuggets’ sounds better to a first grader that is what they will get, so its 2 times the food cost lost.
We as parents need to DEMAND more running around time, HEALTHY lunches that meet today’s less activity young people, and to have the &^%$ snacks taken out of the elementary and middle school levels. Do they stills serve shakes in middle school and high school? Limit these ice cream fatty treats to 2 times a week at max and take the flavored milks out all together. I know the flavor gets the kids to drink the milk but at what cost? Their LIVES??????
Why do I mention all this? Because this is where the children not the parents make the choices.
Kiddie Menus can be healthy in fast food settings IF the parents make good choices. #1 we drink water at dinner, they get fruit or vegetable with a reasonable entree…Parents would not have to worry as much about the kiddie menus if they 1—make school lunch better 2—don’t go out to fast food more than 3 times a month (including Pizza).
By Stan
August 5, 2008 8:53 AM | Link to this
FCM,
How do you really feel about school lunch?
Kidding. I agree with you 95% (I don’t have a problem with the kids getting low fat choco milk).
I’m 35 and remember well what my school lunches were like. Knowing what I know about nutrition now, I would NEVER feed that crap to children. I refuse to eat fast food unless I have no other reasonable option. It’s all processed god knows what is in it. It’s not filling. Doesn’t taste very good anymore. There is just no reason to eat that junk.
By annie
September 18, 2008 10:45 AM | Link to this
i think you should eat when your hungry and stop when your full!
By annie
September 18, 2008 10:46 AM | Link to this
i think you should eat when your hungry and stop when your full!