Don’t let them fool you
January 15 2014
Just because they are offering apple slices instead of sugary treats in their kids’ meals does not mean that fast food joints are providing healthy and nutritious alternatives.
A new report from the Yale Rudd Centre for Food Policy & Obesity shows that despite their “efforts” less than 1% of foods available and marketed towards kids are considered healthful.
The 2013 Fast Food FACTS report follows up on a similar report the center published in 2010. “FACTS” is an acronym for “food advertising to children and teens score,” but the report focuses not only on the ways in which fast-food companies try to hawk their products to kids (as young as two) but also on just how healthy—or, really, unhealthy—that food is.
“As in 2010,” the report states, “less than 1 percent of all kids’ meal combinations met recommended nutrition standards: just 33 possible kids’ meals met all nutrition criteria for elementary school-age children and 15 met standards for preschoolers.”
That’s 33 out of a possible 5,427 combos!!!
One fast food chain garnered lots of positive press by replacing their kids’ meals toy with a book promoting healthy eating and yet not one of this chain’s meals meet the nutritional standards for healthy kids’ meals.
Don’t let the “convenience” of fast food and their claims of “healthy” alternatives lull you into thinking that they’re a healthy substitute. There simply is no substitute for a nutritious home cooked meal.
