Happy Meals under fire

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maybemaybenot -> Happy Meals under fire (6/23/2010 8:36:09 AM)
A watchdog group says giving away toys with Happy Meals contributes to childhood obesity and threatens to sue. McDonald's cites healthful menu choices. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-0623-happy-meals-20100623,0,4821950.story?track=rss These nanny groups really irk me. How is it that my generation and many before it and one or two after it didn't have the childhood obesity problems we face now. We had toys in our crackerjax, in our cereals and some of our candy boxes. I'll take some heat for it, but it's because most of our meals were prepared by our Moms or Dads and eating out was a treat, not a way of life. It's lazy and callous parenting, IMO, not because there's a flipping toy that is " undecutting parental authority " . I haven't seen alot of kindergarteners riding their trikes with there milk money to grab a Happy Meal. mbmbn

juliaoceania -> RE: Happy Meals under fire (6/23/2010 8:42:36 AM)
I can't defend the food manufacturers that hide high fructose corn syrup, load food with salt, and fry everything in transfats... The childhood obesity problem is an epidemic, and it is something that needs to be addressed on all fronts, from video games, to physical education coming back into school programs, but to let McDonalds off the hook when they are also contributing with the poison they label with kid friendly messages, well I'm not doing that....

mistoferin -> RE: Happy Meals under fire (6/23/2010 8:43:17 AM)
I have to agree with you. When I was a kid McDonald's was a treat that we only got to have two or three times a year. A lot of kids today are eating crap like that as a part of their daily diets. And you're right...they aren't getting it themselves. Even meals at home now though consist of a lot of prepared, processed, full of crap foods. There aren't many folks out there anymore that prepare or eat foods that DON'T come frozen or from boxes or cans.

sirsholly -> RE: Happy Meals under fire (6/23/2010 8:44:36 AM)
quote: A watchdog group says giving away toys with Happy Meals contributes to childhood obesity and threatens to sue. McDonald's cites healthful menu choices. i have found a good way to avoid this entire issue: we eat at home.

juliaoceania -> RE: Happy Meals under fire (6/23/2010 8:45:35 AM)
Today many SCHOOLS are serving that sludge, and their parents don't even know that their kids are buying it.

mistoferin -> RE: Happy Meals under fire (6/23/2010 8:46:21 AM)
quote: I can't defend the food manufacturers that hide high fructose corn syrup, load food with salt, and fry everything in transfats... The childhood obesity problem is an epidemic, and it is something that needs to be addressed on all fronts, from video games, to physical education coming back into school programs, but to let McDonalds off the hook when they are also contributing with the poison they label with kid friendly messages, well I'm not doing that.... Oh I am not defending McDonald's...but in the end these kids all have parents who are making the nutritional decisions for their children.

mistoferin -> RE: Happy Meals under fire (6/23/2010 8:49:27 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: juliaoceania Today many SCHOOLS are serving that sludge, and their parents don't even know that their kids are buying it. Oh I hear ya, I really do. But who's responsibility is it ultimately to know what your children are consuming? Kids don't have a voice in the decision making process as to what they will be serving in the cafeteria. Adults do. By not informing ourselves and making the right decisions, we are failing our children.

Termyn8or -> RE: Happy Meals under fire (6/23/2010 8:53:49 AM)
It goes alot farther than that. Know how to bake a cake ? Step one : Buy a cake mix. Need I go on ? Men too, you need to make your special BBQ sauce, step one, buy a couple bottles of Open Pit [or whatever], not that generic shit and then......... People don't know what's in it. KFC makes a big point about it, I will never reveal the recipe my ass, they get the spices in a bag premixed. Why does one all beef patty taste different than another. Well some of them are thinned with milk, and some water with beef bullion disolved in it. Legally all beef. They can make that claim. All part of the game. T

juliaoceania -> RE: Happy Meals under fire (6/23/2010 8:55:16 AM)
If your kids have money, and most parents don't search their kids to see if they are buying kiddie crack (junk food), you can't really blame the parents...It is not like we have much choice but to send kids to school. These sorts of groups have had a lot of success in getting food vendors and soda vendors out of schools, and they should be applauded for their work, not criticized. The schools sell the right to market their drugs...er... I mean food to children, meaning schools are acting like a middleman for these toxic substances. It takes a village to care enough about kids to keep them from eating foods that will give them diabetes and heart disease when they are relatively young.... and these foods have changed from when we were kids, they are loaded with more addictive toxins.

juliaoceania -> RE: Happy Meals under fire (6/23/2010 8:58:19 AM)
quote: Need I go on ? Men too, you need to make your special BBQ sauce, step one, buy a couple bottles of Open Pit [or whatever], not that generic shit and then......... That crap has hugh fructose corn syrup.... we are eating it all the time without a clue that we are doing so. Studies have been done that have hinted that stuff changes brain chemistry in ways we do not understand, and it seems to make people crave more of it. I read the labels of all sauces, etc, before I buy.... even if they have regular corn syrup, I pass

mistoferin -> RE: Happy Meals under fire (6/23/2010 9:07:39 AM)
quote: If your kids have money, and most parents don't search their kids to see if they are buying kiddie crack (junk food), you can't really blame the parents... Yeah, I really can. Growing up if I had money, my parents still had the final decision about what I spent it on. Because they were my parents and they had final decision on EVERYTHING I did...and if I did something that was in direct opposition to their authority there were consequences for that and I learned damn straight not to do it again. quote: It is not like we have much choice but to send kids to school. Well, actually we do have that choice. But if we choose to send our kids to a school instead of providing education at home, it is OUR money that those schools run on and OUR voices that set policy. If every single parent stepped up to the plate and used their voice and/or voted no on those millage proposals the schools would have no choice but to follow the wishes of the people who keep them running. quote: These sorts of groups have had a lot of success in getting food vendors and soda vendors out of schools, and they should be applauded for their work, not criticized. Again, I agree with you here. They have made great strides. But again I also have to say that if parents took their responsibility to their children more seriously...there really wouldn't be a need for such groups in the first place. quote: The schools sell the right to market their drugs...er... I mean food to children, meaning schools are acting like a middleman for these toxic substances. And again, they can do that because we allow them to. quote: It takes a village to care enough about kids to keep them from eating foods that will give them diabetes and heart disease when they are relatively young.... and these foods have changed from when we were kids, they are loaded with more addictive toxins. Youre right it DOES take a village....unfortunately most of the village is too busy trying to be friends with the kids and keep them happy and smiling instead of being firm and teaching them that what looks good, smells good, tastes good or is the easiest isn't always the best for them.

sirsholly -> RE: Happy Meals under fire (6/23/2010 9:10:46 AM)
the job of McDonalds (et al) is to sell that crap. People keep buying it, they will keep selling it. quote: I read the labels of all sauces, etc, before I buy. This^^^ I had a rude awakening when my kid was dx with allergies to dyes. My label reading was nothing short of shocking and the majority of foods i thought were healthy now stay on the grocers shelves. The bottom line with me is if you do not want to ingest it, don't buy it. That goes for groceries as well as the 99 cent heart attacks. Sure, kids with a few bucks are not concise consumers and will go for the fast food every chance they can...but really, how often is that? If the parents would stop dropping the kid off at McDonalds, or would stop the fast feeding via the drive-thru, McDonalds will get the message.

Termyn8or -> RE: Happy Meals under fire (6/23/2010 9:11:57 AM)
"I read the labels of all sauces, etc, before I buy.... even if they have regular corn syrup, I pass " Me too, usually. But the shit is so pervasive that to completely avoid these toxins we would have to go back and make our own mayonaisse, mustard and ketchup. All salad dressings. Just about everything. T

juliaoceania -> RE: Happy Meals under fire (6/23/2010 9:18:52 AM)
I just disagree with you, Erin, respectfully of course.... I live in California, it is the most populated state in the Union, and parents here don't have all of the choices that parents where you live get. They have to fight tooth and nail to get schools to cave to pressure, especially in large school districts. We have fought the good fight here, with success I might add, but the damage was done to a generation of our citizens... I don't think it is a reasonable expectation that parents will be able to keep their young kids home and educate them. Most parents have to work, and even those who do not may be ill suited for that job. It is not easy to teach kids the things they need to learn...in fact I would say many parents that are keeping their kids home aren't doing them any favors... it comes down to this, we as a society bear the costs of food companies that sell harmful foods for the consumption of little ones. I remember that they would sell these happy meal toys in series when my son was little... collect all the tonka toys, all the toy story figures, etc etc etc.... My stepfather went to mcdonalds for coffee, so he would buy them without the meal for my son... his treat for his favorite grandkid. They cost nearly as much without the food. Parents are often young and uneducated about nutrition, and then you have this company selling these cool toys in the meals. The toys can end up being worth as much as the food, what is a 20 year old without much of an education and on a budget going to do? They are going to buy the Happy Meal, they can't make dinner for that cheap and it even comes with a toy.... We all pay for these decisions. We pay in healthcare costs, etc... but for crying out loud, I care about the kids, they don't get a vote

JstAnotherSub -> RE: Happy Meals under fire (6/23/2010 9:19:59 AM)
Schools have been called out for the foods they serve. In some ways, that is a good thing. It has made many districts re-evaluate their menus. The thing is, if you figure that a child eats 3 meals a day. that is 1095 meals per year. If that child eats lunch every day at school, that takes the total NOT served at school to 915 meals. If they eat breakfast at school also, that reduces the number of meals NOT eaten at school to 735. So they are eating 735 meals not provided by the school, and 360 that are provided by the school. Even if the schools are serving nothing but crap, the majority of the blame lies elsewhere, including the lifestyle changes today compared to when we were kids. I work for a school district that has been raked through the coals for our menus. Rather than take this as a bad thing, we have really made an effort to change the menus. This includes offering fresh fruits and veggies every day, cutting back on processed foods as much as we can, with the monetary limitations that we have. I am proud of the way we have listened and changed. We offer 2 hot choices and one salad choice daily, at least 2 each of a fruit and veggie, and when we do have desserts, they are fruit based, except the one day a week that we alternate low fat brownies and cookies. Children are allowed to choose what they want. If they love pineapple, they can pick up 2 or more of them, if they adore collards, same thing. It allows them to not have things thrown on their plates that they will not eat, and lets face it, if it does not go in their mouth and get eaten, it does not matter how nutritious it is, it is worthless. Fact is, we will never be able to serve organic foods like many wish we could. We can not afford it, unless parents are willing to spend a lot more in school meals than they do now. When you consider the fact that so many children are of the free and reduced lunches, I know from experience that those kids would come to school with a bag of doritos and a capri sun in a bag, rather than eat things they do not like and are not familiar with. We do sell some extra foods. Every thing we sell is baked, such as the chips and such. The juices we sell as extras, and the juices offered with meals are all 100% juice, with no added sweeteners and they count as at least one serving of fruit. It is not a perfect system by any means, but, at least in my district, we are doing all we can to offer as many choices as we can to each child daily. This way, surely they can choose something they like. Everyone needs to face up to the fact that we are eating crap these days. I think I was 10 before I ever had any kind of fast food, and I remember not being impressed at all with it. Nowadays, there are kids that think chicken only comes in nuggets. Until parents take back the responsibility, it does not matter what Mcdonalds sells or what we serve in school cafeterias, kids will not get healthier and these unhealthy habits will carry on through adulthood. Gawd this went long, but...........

sirsholly -> RE: Happy Meals under fire (6/23/2010 9:25:32 AM)
quote: it comes down to this, we as a society bear the costs of food companies that sell harmful foods for the consumption of little ones. We as a society perpetuate it. We as a society can curtail it. quote: Parents are often young and uneducated about nutrition, and then you have this company selling these cool toys in the meals. So if McDonalds (et al) is cashing in on the ignorance of parents, they are using marketing to their advantage.

juliaoceania -> RE: Happy Meals under fire (6/23/2010 9:29:09 AM)
quote: Even if the schools are serving nothing but crap, the majority of the blame lies elsewhere, including the lifestyle changes today compared to when we were kids. Here you are saying that kids get 2/3s of the meals from the schools and you do not see this as a huge portion of the food they ingest?... wow Junk food is cheap food, poor children pay the most for this, they get these free meals from the schools and they are shit food, and then they go home and eat more economy shit food... how sad... As for the rest, some of the schools my son went to had fast food from taco bell, etc, delivered to the school. This was stopped, but it went on for years. I was so pissed off about it! They even had coke machines in the MIDDLE SCHOOL. The schools get much needed revenue, so they fought the parents over this. Not all school districts are the same. This is changing, slowly, but we already have the problems that this caused with us, a bunch of obese young adults.

juliaoceania -> RE: Happy Meals under fire (6/23/2010 9:30:38 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: sirsholly quote: it comes down to this, we as a society bear the costs of food companies that sell harmful foods for the consumption of little ones. We as a society perpetuate it. We as a society can curtail it. quote: Parents are often young and uneducated about nutrition, and then you have this company selling these cool toys in the meals. So if McDonalds (et al) is cashing in on the ignorance of parents, they are using marketing to their advantage. We stopped Joe Camel, why not stop this?

sirsholly -> RE: Happy Meals under fire (6/23/2010 9:32:41 AM)
I am wondering.. The district where we live provides a menu to parents upon request. My son has special dietary needs but he has a few yrs to go until that menu becomes an issue, so i have no clue what it is like. For those parents concerned, perhaps your school district is the same?

JstAnotherSub -> RE: Happy Meals under fire (6/23/2010 9:35:10 AM)
I have no idea what kind of math yall do out there in California, but it is closer to 1/3 and that is only if they eat both breakfast and lunch at school. 365 days in a year, 180 school days, I aint doing the math again. I ask you to again read what I wrote. If all you got out of it was bad math, well, theres nothing else I can say.

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