I was indignant when I heard about San Francisco lawmakers’ decision to ban free toys from McDonald’s Happy Meals that don’t meet nutritional standards. How dare they tell us parents how to feed our kids?
That lasted about 30 seconds. After 11 years of parenting, I’ve learned at least one thing: Busy moms should take all the help they can get.
San Francisco’s new law says restaurants can’t include toys in meals unless they include fruits or vegetables, healthy beverages, and have no more than 600 calories or 35 percent of their calories from fat. For companies like McDonald’s, that means goodbye, fries and sodas; hello, milk and apples. It’s hard to stay mad at the thought.
The law is not a cure for childhood obesity. All the attempts to better nutrition for kids in school lunches or restaurants outside the home won’t substitute for families feeding kids well the rest of the time. But maybe it’s a start. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 17 percent of children and adolescents from 2-19 years old are now obese.
In my more idealistic parenting days, I shunned Happy Meals, insisting on grilled chicken sandwiches. I try to cook good meals at home as often as possible, and tell myself that a fast-food trip is an occasional treat and OK. Yet, from the minute we walk into our restaurant of choice, that concept will be challenged.
My kids won’t get just a toy in their Not-So- Happy Meals — they’ll get one item in a larger collection of toys, with new characters to come each week. About $1.6 billion was spent by food and beverage marketers to promote products to kids in 2006.
My kids will testify that I still know how to say “no.” But isn’t life just a little easier when parents get to say “yes”?
My sixth-grader’s class just taste-tested a new version of mac and cheese that Douglas County School District is considering for school lunchrooms next year. Chef Walt Hawley, corporate executive chef for Nestle Professional, was tasked with creating the mac and cheese dish with 25 percent less sodium and fat.
Students at Northridge Elementary will also be able to choose items from a salad bar and get nutritional counseling. They will learn about super foods and how to make good eating choices at home.
If I can follow my daughter’s lead on our next grocery trip, my life will be that much easier. I’d much rather say “yes” to super foods like blueberries than “no” to Fruity Pebbles.
It’s too early to tell if San Francisco’s new law will impact other cities. Some local restaurants are already taking responsibility for helping parents offer better choices to their kids. This Sunday, Broomfield-based Noodles & Company is letting kids 12 and under nationwide trade a bowl of Halloween candy for a bowl of free noodles.
McDonald’s and other fast-food restaurants have a year to reconsider what healthy meals should look like before San Francisco’s ordinance takes effect in December 2011.
Of course, McDonald’s can fight the ban. But wouldn’t it be a fascinating test of merchandising power to see if kids would choose a grilled chicken sandwich Happy Meal with a toy over a chicken nuggets meal without one?
Lisa Wirthman has written for USA Today, U.S. News & World Report and Investor’s Business Daily. She lives in Highlands Ranch.
