Last year the top fast-food chains, including McDonald's and Burger King announced plans to make kids meals healthier. About a year after this announcement, the nutrition experts from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, (PCRM) evaluated these meals and found that they are still loaded with fat, cholesterol and sodium. These "healthy" meals are putting our children at a high risk for obesity, diabetes, cancer and other diet related diseases. Trying to convince people that these meals are "healthy" should be considered a crime when 16.9 million American CHILDREN are obese. Not to mention, a recent study in the Journal of Pediatrics found that nearly one-quarter of US adolescents have diabetes or pre-diabetes.
The PCRM dietitians found that the so-called "healthful" kids meals are dangerously high in fat, cholesterol and sodium. Here are four examples:
Many fast-food restaurants are marketing "healthy" versions of kids meals by throwing in apple slices. Along with those apple slices, kids are still getting cholesterol-laden chicken, artery-clogging cheeseburgers and cancer-promoting processed meats. Reduced-fat and fat-free plain or chocolate milk is often offered as a healthier option, but it still contributes to the meal's overall cholesterol and sugar counts.
Diets high in fat have been linked to increased risk of cancers, diabetes and heart disease. High-fat, low-fiber foods boost the hormones that promote cancer. Trans fats are absolutely the worst thing you can put in your body...naturally occurring trans fats are only contained in animal products as opposed to man-made trans fats found in processed foods.
Diets high in sodium can increase the risk of high blood pressure, a condition that leads to heart disease and kidney problems. The next issue is cholesterol...our body makes more than enough cholesterol...we need to ingest 0 grams of it.
Let me give you the nutritional facts for the above kid's meals:
This information is for KID'S MEALS.....again, we do not need to ingest 1 extra gr of cholesterol...look at those cholesterol numbers...look at those fat numbers, not to mention saturated fats....whenever you see saturated fat on anything, DO NOT EAT IT! This is what we are feeding our children and we wonder why we are in a health care crisis...we wonder why obesity has become an epidemic in our children....we wonder why what we used to call adult-onset diabetes is now called type 2 diabetes....it's because our 9 years now have it!!???
I truly believe if this type of information was given to us on a daily basis instead of advertising all the food available to us on McDonald's Dollar Menu, we would make better choices. This type of food is setting our children up for disaster...and for those parents that think giving their children McDonald's food as a "treat" is fine....you may want to reconsider that thought...take a good look at those numbers.
Remember, knowledge is power....now that we have this information we can make informed choices. Children that are given healthy foods right from the start, prefer healthy foods over "junk food" when given the choice... not only have I read the studies proving this, I have personally witnessed it over and over again.
We can make a huge difference....one meal at a time.....
The PCRM dietitians found that the so-called "healthful" kids meals are dangerously high in fat, cholesterol and sodium. Here are four examples:
- Grilled Nuggets Kids Meal. This meal contains the same amount of cholesterol as a Big Mac.
- Cheeseburger Happy Meal. Contains more sodium than 13 orders of kids fries.
- Sonic Kids' Jr Burger Meal. Contains more sugar than two Twinkies.
- Burger King Hamburger Kids Meal. Contains almost as much cholesterol as six slices of pork bacon.
Many fast-food restaurants are marketing "healthy" versions of kids meals by throwing in apple slices. Along with those apple slices, kids are still getting cholesterol-laden chicken, artery-clogging cheeseburgers and cancer-promoting processed meats. Reduced-fat and fat-free plain or chocolate milk is often offered as a healthier option, but it still contributes to the meal's overall cholesterol and sugar counts.
Diets high in fat have been linked to increased risk of cancers, diabetes and heart disease. High-fat, low-fiber foods boost the hormones that promote cancer. Trans fats are absolutely the worst thing you can put in your body...naturally occurring trans fats are only contained in animal products as opposed to man-made trans fats found in processed foods.
Diets high in sodium can increase the risk of high blood pressure, a condition that leads to heart disease and kidney problems. The next issue is cholesterol...our body makes more than enough cholesterol...we need to ingest 0 grams of it.
Let me give you the nutritional facts for the above kid's meals:
- The Grilled Nuggets Meal: 570 calories; 19 gr of fat; 4 gr of saturated fat, 75 mg of cholesterol; 1500 mg of sodium; 23 gr of sugar
- The Cheeseburger Happy Meal: 520 calories; 20 gr of fat; 8 gr saturated fat; 50 mg of cholesterol; 920 mg of sodium; 22 gr of sugar
- The Sonic Kids' Jr. Burger Meal: 550 calories; 17 gr of fat; 6 gr saturated fat; 35 mg of cholestserol; 75 mg of sodium; 24 gr sugar
- The Burger King's Hamburger Kids Meal: 380 calories; 10 gr fat; 4 gr saturated fat; 40 mg of cholesterol; 615 mg sodium; 24 gr of sugar
This information is for KID'S MEALS.....again, we do not need to ingest 1 extra gr of cholesterol...look at those cholesterol numbers...look at those fat numbers, not to mention saturated fats....whenever you see saturated fat on anything, DO NOT EAT IT! This is what we are feeding our children and we wonder why we are in a health care crisis...we wonder why obesity has become an epidemic in our children....we wonder why what we used to call adult-onset diabetes is now called type 2 diabetes....it's because our 9 years now have it!!???
I truly believe if this type of information was given to us on a daily basis instead of advertising all the food available to us on McDonald's Dollar Menu, we would make better choices. This type of food is setting our children up for disaster...and for those parents that think giving their children McDonald's food as a "treat" is fine....you may want to reconsider that thought...take a good look at those numbers.
Remember, knowledge is power....now that we have this information we can make informed choices. Children that are given healthy foods right from the start, prefer healthy foods over "junk food" when given the choice... not only have I read the studies proving this, I have personally witnessed it over and over again.
We can make a huge difference....one meal at a time.....
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