Sep 14, 2009 6:00 am US/Eastern
3 On Your Side: Fast Food Kids Meals
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
Even in today's tough economy, families eat out at least once a week. But what's served up at many fast food restaurants could make you lose your appetite.
Meals that are designed specifically for kids are some of the worst nutrition deals to be found. 3 On Your Side's Jim Donovan finds that getting your kids to eat well when they eat out requires education, planning and patience.
You'd think a child's sized meal should include child's sized calories, but the Good Housekeeping Research Institute found that fast food restaurants pack way too many calories in their children's meals.
"They really push the fries, the shakes, the sodas. What you are not getting here is enough produce or any low fat dairy. With obesity in children at an all time high, fast food businesses are revising their menus to include healthier options," said Samantha Cassetty with Good Housekeeping.
The Good Housekeeping Research Institute says you can take advantage of healthier options by making produce the side dish, instead of french fries. McDonald's offers apple dippers and KFC and Chili's serve corn on the cob.
"What is great about corn is that it counts as an official serving of vegetables, it's about 140 calories, it gives your kid 4 grams of fiber, and plus, it's fun. They get to pick up and eat it," said Cassetty.
And encourage your kids to drink milk, not water. An 8 ounce carton of low-fat milk packs 30 percent of your kid's daily calcium, along with magnesium, potassium, vitamin D, and 8 grams of protein. All for just 100 calories.
Here's some food for thought, a 2008 analysis of 1,474 kids' meals from national chain restaurants found that 93 percent had more calories and 45 percent had more saturated fat and trans fats than kids need.
American kids now get more than 30 percent of their daily calories from foods consumed away from home and school.
The kids' meals can be some of the worst nutritional deals on the menu: At Chili's, a child's Pepper Pals little chicken crispers plus a side of Pepper Pals homestyle fries has a whopping 57 grams of fat. That's six grams above the recommended daily allowance for an eight year old.
Check nutritional info before you go. When University of Arkansas researchers asked 193 people to guess the number of calories in less-healthful meals, participants underestimated by more than 600 calories.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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