Press Release-SF passes healthy meal law removing toys from unhealthy meals | Corporate Accountability International

Press Release-SF passes healthy meal law removing toys from unhealthy meals | Corporate Accountability International

Yes, my family does on occasion eat at McDonald's. Very rarely do we though allow our children to get Happy Meals. When we do they I will ask for Apple Dippers instead of fries and White Milk or bottled water instead of super sugary soda or pseudo-fruit drinks. Why? For the very reason that San Francisco passed a ban on Happy Meals just this week - the meals are too calorie laden in their original form. Offering toys encourages children to nag their parents for the unhealthy sack of junk. Uh, and those toys are a menace and 99% of the time end up in the trash.

The ordinance says that a toy cannot be offered with a meal as an incentive unless it meats certain dietary guidelines. The meal must have fruits and vegetables, consist of no more than 600 calories and no one food item can be over 200 calories. Just to give you an idea of the current makeup of a typical happy meal lets see what their components caloric values are:

Regular Cheeseburger HappyMeal:

Cheeseburger with the works: 300 calories
Small World French Fries: 230 calories
Child Size Coca-Cola Classic: 110 calories (29 grams sugar! OMG, that's equivalent to almost 3 bowls of Life Cereal.)

Total Calories: 640

Regular Hamburger HappyMeal:

Hamburger with the works: 250 calories
Small World French Fries: 230 calories
Child Size Coca-Cola Classic: 110 calories

Total Calories: 590 (but 2 items are still over 200 calories a piece)

Regular 4 Piece Chicken Nuggets Happy Meal:

4-Piece Chicken Nuggets: 190 calories (beware of adding dipping sauce, all of them are 50-60 calories each)
Small French Fries: 230 Calories
Child Size Coca-Cola Classic: 110 calories

Total Calories: 530

Some alternatives that McDonald's does offer to reduce the amount of sugar, fat and overall calories consumed are the:

Apple Dippers with Low Fat Caramel Dip: 100 Calories (15 grams of sugar and a 130 calorie drop from small fries)
1% Low Fat White Milk Jug: 100 Calories (only 12 grams of sugar. Steer clear of the chocolate at 170 calories and 26 g of sugar)


Source: McDonald's Corporate Website, Bag-A-McMeal Nutrition Guide

One thing I did notice that is glaringly absent from the alternate choices for Happy Meals is vegetables. The only hint of vegetable matter that is present on the hamburger or cheeseburger is the scanty amount of onion and pickle. Sorry, but you can't call ketchup a vegetable. It's probably more sugar than tomato (not to mention tomato is a fruit anyway, :P). A little bag of mini carrots similar to the Apple Dippers would be a nice addition to their alternate choices. There are few children I know that would turn their nose up to a sweet, crunchy carrot stick. Usually, my family will order little side salads from their dollar menu to make up for the veggie deficit elsewhere.

Want to find out for yourself if McDonald's is doing enough to promote healthy eating for their youngest clients? Read for yourself the Happy Meals and More page on their corporate website. They have links to their advertising to children guidelines and a self-imposed, voluntary self regulating review of their marketing and advertising practices to children. They also have links on how to balance your busy life. I believe they realize that many families with heavy loads of responsibility lean on McDonald's to provide at least one meal a day for their family members. We shouldn't take our eating habits for granted and neither should the corporations we choose to feed us.