The average child in America eats in a restaurant 167 times per year! That’s more than three times per week. With piano lessons, tee ball practice, private tutoring, ballet class, and homework, it’s often easier for parents to hit the drive thru at the local fast food joint than it is for them to come up with a home cooked meal. Being a stay-at-home-dad, I can totally relate to taking the easy way out when it comes to feeding kids. But you’ve got to be careful with what you choose to put in front of your kids on a regular basis.
There’s new research from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (the same folks who publish the awesome Nutrition Action Health Letter) suggesting that some of the so-called kids meals found in fast food restaurants contain more calories than most children need in the entire day!
Ninety-three percent of 1,474 possible choices at the 13 chains exceed 430 calories—an amount that is one-third of what the Institute of Medicine recommends that children aged four through eight should consume in a day.
Losers (and a winner)
- Chili’s–94% of 700 possible kids meal combinations were too high in calories and one had more than 1000 calories.
- Burger King–A “Big Kids” meal has 910 calories
- Kentucky Fried Chicken–a “laptop meal” with popcorn chicken, baked beans, biscuit, Teddy Grahams, and fruit punch contains 940 calories.
- Subway–Really, there’s only one winner when it comes to fast food for kids, or anybody for that matter. The “Fresh Fit for Kids” meals (a mini sub, juice, and apples,raisins or yogurt) contain about 420 calories–just right for 1/3 of an average kid’s daily food intake.
What’s a parent to do?
Obviously, families should stay out of fast food restaurants whenever possible. But for a lot of us, that’s easier said than done. Here are some suggestions to help bypass the drive thru and start making healthier choices for your family.
- Get the family involved in meal preparations–I spend a lot of time in my kitchen with my kids–and they’re real young. My toddler runs around and plays on the floor while my three-year-old tosses ingredients together, mixes them in the bowl, and helps to set the table. It’s one of the ways that I get stuff done without setting my kids down in front of the TV. It also makes for great together time and leads to lots of fun discussions
- Get a slow cooker–Spend 15-20 minutes in the morning chopping and adding ingredients to the slow cooker and head out the door. When you come home from your day’s errands, the house smells awesome and dinner’s ready for your family. Just dish it up and serve it to the masses. I don’t actually do this but it’s something I’m interested in trying. I hear great things about slow cookers from lots of my friends who have busy lives.
- Cook ahead–There are lots of ways that you can cook for the future. Not only does it save you time, but some say it helps with losing weight. At least one reader of GFS has suggested cooking ahead for the week so you don’t have to think about the food you’re eating. And just look at all those diet programs that ship you your food so you don’t have to worry about it. There are lots of great ways to cook ahead. You can intentionally make leftovers so that you can have the same diner twice, or even three times in a week. Reheat the leftovers and you’re good to go. Personally, I would rather make a double recipe and freeze one of them. That way, even though you’re eating leftovers, you can eat them a week or two later than the original meal. This helps to eliminate the boredom that comes from repeatedly eating the same thing.
There are lots of ways that families can help themselves when it comes to staying out of the fast food trap. The trick is to find what works for your family, then practice and refine it until it becomes a habit. With a little patience, and some dedication, you can change eating out back into what it was when you grew up–a special treat for you and your family!
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I know I’ve said this here before, but the Center for Science in the Public Interest is more junk science than real science. They are a political group, and not the best place to get your nutritional information from.
Other than that, I think you have reasonable ideas here about how to fit meal preparation into your life. The hardest thing for me is coming up with food that all 6 family members will eat. And of course, we’re always on the run in the late afternoon, which would normally be dinner-cooking time.
We don’t eat out a lot, but we do eat prepared frozen foods a lot. I’d say the biggest reason why my children are not overweight is because they are so active. Sitting at a school desk, playing computer games, and doing homework are not going to keep you physically fit. Kids need physical activity for many reasons.
I’ve never seen a child finish a Kid’s Meal anyway.
“IÂ’ve never seen a child finish a KidÂ’s Meal anyway.”
Seriously???
At a recent family barbecue, I watched an 8 yr old inhale 2 burgers and 1 hot dog…one right after the other.
His mom was keeping right up with him…yay for responsible parenting
I have a pretty, red slow cooker that doesn’t get used to its full potential. I need to bust it out way more than I do! -Erin
167 times a year?! I got to a restaurant about once per week when not in college, and almost never during college.
But college food can be worse than fast food.
I’d like to defend the Nutrition Action Health Letter. We do roll our eyes at some of the more draconian statements they make about stuff we still want to eat, but we also find their research to be well sourced — not junk science but real science with careful annotation to journals that are peer reviewed. Their comparison articles, where they provide summaries of a whole category of items (breakfast bars, salad dressings etc etc) are great — they aren’t doing anything you can’t do yourself by reading labels, but it’s a lot easier to see wherer the fiber, sugar, fat is and what brands are better than others when you see it all on a page like that. Of course, they don’t include all brands, but you can get an idea of what is average and what is good in a category and go from there.
{ 2 trackbacks }