Study: Most kids' fast-food meals have too many caloriesFirst, let's examine the basic premise of the article: The hypothetical person in question, who has successfully swum upstream and spawned, is now inside a small restaurant, one of whose mascots is a cartoon dude with a giant double cheeseburger for a head, looking for a nutritious meal for their child. Even if you printed the instructions on the heel in large type, using monosyllabic words, this person would manage to keep the piss in the boot.
The supposed twenty-pound brain behind the CSPI study contributes some real gems:
"Parents want to feed their children healthy meals, but America's chain restaurants are setting parents up to fail," CSPI nutrition policy director Margo G. Wootan said in a statement. "McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, and other chains are conditioning kids to expect burgers, fried chicken, pizza, french fries, macaroni and cheese, and soda in various combination at almost every lunch and dinner."Look, first of all, if parents want to feed their kids granola, salad, and tofu, they can start by staying the hell out of restaurants that have "Fried" or "Burger" as part of their names. Second, it's not the restaurants that are conditioning the junior porkers to expect fat-fried lard with every meal, okay? It ain't the Hamburgler steering your minivan into the Mickey Dee's parking lot and swiping the credit card every time the little bundles of joy whine to have another McNugget-and-chocolate-sundae Happy Meal crammed into their pieholes.
There are those of us who are adults, capable of making our own bad dietary decisions, who actually liked the taste of salted french fries fresh out of the seething lard vat. Thanks to the whining, lawsuit-prone Cake-Eaters of America, our dining options have dwindled to next to nothing. Now they want to leverage their lack of control over their little hellspawn to neuter what's left of the menus at America's fast food joints.
If these people have their way, we're going to wind up having to put them in the Low-Cal Soylent Green vats, and who really wants that?
(H/T to Squeaky Wheel Seeks Grease.)
I couldn't agree more with you, and I've been making pretty much the same argument for ages now, ever since that idiot spilled mickey d's coffee on her then sued 'em! Geez...
ReplyDelete"McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, and other chains are conditioning kids to expect burgers, fried chicken, pizza, french fries, macaroni and cheese, and soda in various combination at almost every lunch and dinner."
ReplyDeleteInstead of low-calorie choices like PB&J/Tuna Salad/Grilled Cheese/Sloppy Joe sandwiches, potato chips, macaroni and cheese, white bread with real butter, Spaghetti-Os, etc...?
(Didn't get soda, except on Saturday nights when we did buttered popcorn. Instead got about 12 oz whole milk.)
Just remember, CPSI = Liberal Fascists. Next thing they'll want to make taking the kids to McDonalds "child abuse."
for "CPSI" read "CSPI"
ReplyDelete(p3rview is my fi3nd)
Noooo! The Evil Clown is not George Bush?!?
ReplyDeleteI don't mind KFC but am not particularly a fan Of Mc D's. However I couldn't agree more with your argument. It is the Parents and not the stores who need to stop. people can say what they like but as long as people are buying the food, they shouldn't complain. Besides how many of these healthy food places are there out there compared to the Mc D's , KFC's etc. This in itself shows just how popular they are. As long as people keep buying they will keep selling and conversely, no matter how good people say something is, if THEY wont always buy it then they will go out of business. So when it is all boiled down it is a case of either taking action for yourself and putting your money where your mouth is, or shutting up.
ReplyDeleteSigh, and the sainted Uncle Jeff used to write that it was impossible to be fat and look oppressed . . . .
ReplyDeleteI love McDonald's for their french fries but mostly for their restrooms. On the interstate at nearly any time of day or night, the Golden Arches spell out "clean restroom ahead."
The fast food chains (if we take them as a metaphor for America) have made what used to be a staple of daily life---daily hunger---a thing of the past. "Give us this day our daily bread" means, "Please, God, let me be able to feed my children tonight." You gots to work HARD in America to starve to death.
And McDonald's will give the customer what they want. Mayhap ye think that McDonald's be wed to tradition, custom and history, and offers up fare tailored to maintain a pleasing image of 1950s America? HA, says I.
If the voracious maws of Americans were to demand fresh whole fruit, McDonald's would purvey it, and offer to biggie-size your grapes. If we demanded hummous, McChickpeas would be right around the corner.
Raising a ruckus about things corporations do? Shaming them in public? Viral videos? Word life, dog, I'm down with you. Quiet consultations in the boardroom, with maybe a consulting contract slipped CSPI's way? Groove.
Somehow, tho, it's always convenient to reach for the hammer and tongs of state intervention when there's a result you don't like.
Second paragraph: report from Center for Science in the Public Interest.
ReplyDeleteI knew it would be silly right there. But then I read science blogs daily.
Not quite as bad a report as some, over 1000 calories at one sitting is a lot. But is it done three, or even two, times per day - or is it done once or twice a week at most [by kids, some adults have to do it three to five times a week or restrict themselves to PB&J with water]?
As to the rest, nope. "Sodium" (misnomer, used because Sodium is quite the poison but "salt" doesn't sound very scary) can be a problem - if you have severe liver or renal damage, or a few rare diseases, or are primarily of East African descent (hypertension in subsets of this demographic is more common than others and unlike others excess salt may actually trigger it). Otherwise, unlike fat, the body just dumps excess - and dies if intake is insufficient.
Transfats are bad - but where is the evidence they are as bad as painted? Anecdotal - certain diseases seem to have become more common since they came into widespread use. Why they are not, instead, praised for lessening measles or a lot of diseases that decreased in the same period is uncertain. Oh wait, same reason a co-worker of mine refused to take aspirin - it is "not natural" because it is sold by big firms rather than a wise woman recommending a tincture of willow bark.
And on, and on...
Help us, government! We are total fucking morons! Save us from ourselves!!!!
ReplyDeleteMickey D's does salads, now, in case nobody noticed. Plus they post their nutritional info so anybody (literate) can read it.
The first reason is kids have crappy taste. THey think McD's is the glorious paradise of good food.
ReplyDeleteThe second reason is parents don't actually parent. They just want the kids to shut up, so instead of teaching their kids restraint and discipline, they give their kids whatever they beg for. I have 2 cousins (now grown) that would eat nothing but McDonald's. If it was Thanksgiving, they would bring McDonald's with them. You would be kinds surprised how many parents are like this.
Personally I'd tell them no, and if they refused to eat anything else, then they wouldn't eat. REAL hunger will change a kid's attitude.
I agree with Jayson & Cossack in a Kilt. All these companies will sell us what we buy. If we stop buying one thing and change to another, so will they. Again as both correspondents say, it is up to the Buyers (Us and The parents) to decide what we will or won't buy. Then it is up to others, like mc D's etc to decide whether they will then stisfy that market. Give them a market and yes they will sell to that. Change the market and then and only then, will they change what they sell to.
ReplyDeleteYa gotta hand it to the libs: they've got the multi-prong attack down pat. Hard on the heels of the LA city council slapping a moratorium on fast food joints in central LA because so many central Angelenos are porky, here we have a "scientific" report from a "respected" and "nonpartisan" group. Center for Science in the Public Interest. What a name! Doesn't it just conjure images of white-coated geniuses, toiling ceaselessly in their labs in a never-ending effort to make our lives better through science? And now they tell us (wait for it!)...
ReplyDelete... that fast food is full of calories, and if little Johnny and little Janey eat it too much, they'll get fat.
Wow! Glad some (other) scientist told me that, 'cuz I'd of never guessed it. What's next? A report that warns us of the dangers of letting children walk around without warm clothes in the winter?
I'm also glad that CSPI is telling all of you who have kids that it's not YOUR fault if they are fat: it's that damned Hamburgler.
Bottom line: in a liberal world, none of us are responsible for anything. Like Algore said in his acceptance speech at the 2000 democrat convention, we are all at the mercy of "powerful forces" such as Big Oil, Big Pharm, and now Big Burgers. Help us! We need government to save us from these powerful forces!
By the way, do they still serve pizza, hamburgers, fries, etc. in public school cafeterias?
Thought so...
"There are those of us who are adults, capable of making our own bad dietary decisions, who actually liked the taste of salted french fries fresh out of the seething lard vat."
ReplyDeleteSadly, McDonalds stop using beef tallow to cook French Fries in 1990. Nowadays, they use vegtable oil with a flavor additive. It's just not the same..
Why is it that the same people that want to make us obtain licenses to own firearms object to the concept of a license to breed?
ReplyDeleteAhhh! You bring back fond memories of when take out food was really, really good. On weekends our family used to get a special treat. My dad would phone Terwelp's Tap and order cheeseburgers for everyone. Those big, thick juicy burgers cooked on a flatiron grill with enough grease to turn the bottom of the bun a dark tan, topped with a thick (1/4" or more) slice of sweet onion and a slice of tomato just as thick, crunchy lettuce and pickles and slathered with mayonnaise would put todays McFood to shame for both flavor and cholestorol.
ReplyDeleteAnd the fries...! Thick handcut french fries deep fried in old fashioned pork lard. Real flavor that seemed to melt in your mouth. That was food worth dying for.
Henry's Hamburgers was the best fast food chain I ever enjoyed. Ours was in Milford, CT. It was an old-fashioned joint, with a smiling, yet somehow jaded, burger face staring down from the faded sign. Their claim to fame was that they sold fries by the pound. As a teenager I would often buy a grease soaked bag and wash 'em down with a few Carling Black Labels. Good times.
ReplyDeleteIt's from the incredibly misnamed CSPI, what did you expect? Their entire rationale for existence is that you're too stupid to tie your shoes, and government action is your only hope.
ReplyDelete