Fast Food Healthy Options? Waste of time?

[The Mike]

Alright, many of you have probably seen the commercials for the new BK Apple Fries and their new Healthy Kids Meal Options:

Now other Fast Food places are offering up healthier alternatives for their kid consumers like this:

•Subway. The chain rolled out a Fresh Fit for Kids menu in March with options of raisins or sliced apples instead of chips. This month, it added Dannon yogurt as an option, says spokesman Les Winograd.

•McDonald's. The largest U.S. apple buyer since adding Apple Dippers in 2004, it's looking at other fruits and veggies for Happy Meals, says spokeswoman Danya Proud. She declined to be specific.

•Wendy's. It began offering yogurt with granola for its kids meals in April 2006. It also added sliced turkey and ham sandwiches for kids, says spokesman Bob Bertini.

•Starbucks (SBUX).It recently began to look at lower-calorie drink and food options for kids, says spokesman Brandon Borrman.

Now. Why are they doing this?

"They're all terrified of lawsuits and legislation," says Marion Nestle, nutrition professor at New York University.

For BK, the Fresh Apple Fries took years to develop. "We didn't want to do apple slices just to do slices," says Syracuse. "We wanted to do something that parents felt good about buying."

This winter, BK also plans to roll out Mott's Organic Unsweetened Apple Sauce as a kids meal option.

Someone's buying the better-for-you kids meals. BK says 18% are sold with its existing "healthier" options such as milk and applesauce. McDonald's says about 26% of Happy Meals are sold with better-for-you substitutions, such as fresh apple slices and milk.

So here is my question, is this really needed? One of the greatest things about heading to McDonalds or Burger King as a kid was that I got the burger and fries with a coke. Now I had Fast Food at least once a week as a kid and while this isn't a lot to some if I went to BK and got Apple Sauce and Mac and Cheese to me its a "What the hell is the point?"

Shouldn't parents just not take their kids to BK? There are arguments of course about busy schedules and parents having to get things on the run but then there are arguments where parents in those same situations are still finding time to give their kids meals that don't come in brown bags. I see that the Fast Food places are doing this to continue getting revenue but the fact that parents are heading down there and buying this stuff makes me scratch my head. If its a treat thing why the healthy food? Is that a treat? If its a regular thing even Apple Fries and Mac and Cheese ain't all that healthy. I'm failing to see why this is even an option from the consumer side...Now this may or may not stick I remember the healthier Chicken Whopper that quickly came and went but I'm not getting the reasoning that anyone would take their kids to BK and get this instead of the normal and traditional Happy/Kids Meals.....

Thoughts?

 

[BuffyGirl]

I'm with you. As a kid these places were about having a treat. Not going for fruit and such. I could have that at home. And still now, if I'm heading to mcd's I'm gonna get me something fattening so I can say I feel terribly full, and yukky but I enjoyed every bite!

Then again, they are still keeping their unhealthy food on the menu. So this just gives us a choice.

 

[darthviper107]

Really, these seem like good foods, but they're more like regular meal foods. Parents probably shouldn't be feeding their kids cheeseburgers and soda all the time so if they are then this is a good alternative, but I agree with the 'treat' thing. But it's not like they're forcing these meals instead of regular fast food, these are just alternatives.

 

[The Mike]

That's the thing. I don't get the alternative. If you are taking your kids to these places but then buying them the alternatives it loses the appeal IMHO. If you are feeding this to them all the time that is one thing then again my argument above still holds some water but I don't get the kids like I was growing up who had this once a week but still getting "regular" food? What is the point??? The offer is so the Fast Food places can say they are offering an alternative to be healthy in our day and age of childhood obesity but the issue isn't on that plain really its on the idea that taking your kids to BK and having the Mac and Cheese and Apple Fries with a Milk doesn't make a whole a lot of sense....why take them there to begin with? Are the parents getting the standard and their kids the healthy (Do as I say but not as I Do?)...I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around it.

 

[Malice]

man all this talk about food i feel like making a run to jack in the crack, and getting a double cheese burger and a shake. you know what i'm saying?

 

[nash]

having the word "fast food" and "healthy" in the same sentence makes me laugh.

 

[dwing]

My wife and I love this food option. We also tell our kids that they can look at the play area but can't go in due to the 'yuckies' and a greater chance of them getting hurt.

 

[Blackhole]

Who goes to Mcdonalds to buy Carrot Sticks?

I understand the fruit bag for desert, but Carrot Sticks replacing fries?

Although, that said, Subway is pretty healthy if you go for the healthy option, so I can understand that...

 

[creecher]

These places have to provide an alternative or soon they will be just as liable as cigarette companies. Are they liable yet? We all know Macka's put illegal addictive substances in their special sauce. With an alternative, they can't be seen as liable because it shifts the blame to the parents. That's okay, because they aren't liable either, due to legislative controls. That's okay, because the government aren't accountable for anything, and if there is anything, they have bureaucracy to counter it. So we all have ourselves to blame, and it's the kids fault anyhow. Don't they teach them anything in those schools? Yessum, it's a waist in time. Yessiree.

 

[El Roranous]

First of all, I want to applaud parents that choose the right foods for their kids. It didn't happen for me and now I am a very picky eater and still love fast food. If my parents had fed me more home cooked meals with healthier choices I am sure I would be better off today for it.


Secondly, I think these healthy choices at a fast food establishment are a step in the right direction but I do agree with you on the fact that it is no longer really that different or rewarding for the child. However, that's a good thing because no one should really be eating this stuff at all or regularly. Parents should quit being lazy and cook for their children.

 

[p!tu]

having the word "fast food" and "healthy" in the same sentence makes me laugh.

 

[Bodie The Cursed]

I think healthy options are great in fast food places.

I wrote my Masters Thesis on Childhood obesity and it is a problem in epidemic proportions in our country and is getting worse.

Certainly a step in the proper direction.

Also, well stated El Roranous... Even though you dislike kids you would make a greaT PARENT imo.

 

[p!tu]

shouldnt the best option be eliminating fast food eating and just Cooking for your family! Buy some freaking fruit and chop it up and put it in a container! you be saving money instead of wasting it in BK Apple Frys!

 

[El Roranous]

Thanks Bodie, I appreciate the compliment.

Children are just too big of a commitment for me... I guess because I have realized what being a parent actually takes and I would definitely want to do it properly at all costs.

 

[DarkArtist81]

First of all, I want to applaud parents that choose the right foods for their kids. It didn't happen for me and now I am a very picky eater and still love fast food. If my parents had fed me more home cooked meals with healthier choices I am sure I would be better off today for it.


Secondly, I think these healthy choices at a fast food establishment are a step in the right direction but I do agree with you on the fact that it is no longer really that different or rewarding for the child. However, that's a good thing because no one should really be eating this stuff at all or regularly. Parents should quit being lazy and cook for their children.

Yeah, I agree with Rory.... My parents stuffed my face with horrible food, as they were poor and usually too high or drunk to actually think about what they were feeding me. So I ate a lot of junk food, hot dogs and fast food.

What I got out of it was a belly I can never get rid of, an unhealthy body that has already had 2 types of cancer, and bad habits that I have had to spend years to erase.

I can understand bringing your kids to a fast food joint as fun treat every now and again, but at least now they can have options. But it should still not be something that happens once a week or more. People need to think about the consequences of what they feed their kids.

 

[FQRizzo]

Not to be rude, but all these good intentions work really well on paper, but in the real world, it isn't so easy.

As a new parent, I find it is pretty hard to find enough time in the day to always do the "right" thing, as opposed to the easy thing. That being said, I always want to do what is best for my little girl, but sometimes in my busy life, having a home-cooked nutritious meal is not always an option.

 

[El Roranous]

I'm sorry Josh- my parents did the same to me so you are not alone.

I don't eat sea food at all and I have a very hard time choosing healthy foods to eat because I don't like or am not used to the tastes. If our parents had done their job properly we would be healthier and making smarter choices for sure.

 

[ProgMatinee]

The point of a "treat" isn't to be unhealthy. Its just that thats often an unfortunate byproduct.

If you can make a treat healthy, then thats great. It doesn't make it less of a treat.

A chunk of the revenue stream for fast food places is from people who don't believe they have time to cook at home for kids because they're working a lot of hours and stuff. But as people begin really seeing the negative health impacts traditional fast food brings, they are making efforts to avoid it. So it makes sense for fast food joints to entice people with healthier options.

Also, its flat out good PR for them. What they need to make sure though is that the healthy food is maintains a competitive price, otherwise, the poor will default to the unhealthy stuff again.

 

[El Roranous]

Not to be rude, but all these good intentions work really well on paper, but in the real world, it isn't so easy.

As a new parent, I find it is pretty hard to find enough time in the day to always do the "right" thing, as opposed to the easy thing. That being said, I always want to do what is best for my little girl, but sometimes in my busy life, having a home-cooked nutritious meal is not always an option.

I don't want to be rude either but I am not buying it. You have to just make the time. Even if you give your child a sandwich, which takes seconds or minutes to make, it is much better and faster than driving through the drive thru and serving your child a burger and fries and soda. Never feed your kids soda- no one should drink that stuff.

 

[Bodie The Cursed]

I feed my kid pretty healthy on a daily basis. All organic and never any crap. Poor kid.

Takes a little extra time and sometimes a little more money but 100% worth it.