Restaurant Menus Are Short on Diet and Health Food

Fast foods are difficult to make healthy because of just that - they're fast. You can't get food fast unless you sacrifice the quality and most of the time a lot of quality. With the exception of fruits and vegetables, even a salad, it's just not that simple to create food that we have become accustomed. But is it really difficult to make a meal fast? Maybe it is, yet there are certain foods that just sell better, have better margins of profit, and are quite possibly addictive? Here's a report about the trouble kids have and how fast foods play a role.

Most kids' fast food meals are unhealthy, loaded with too many calories and too much fat and sodium, according to a report issued today by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. "You can hunt around and you will find a few [kids'] meals that are nutritionally pretty good," says Michael Jacobson, PhD, executive director of the CSPI, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group. "But the vast majority of meals are too high in calories, saturated fat, or sodium. They are all made with refined white flour rather than whole wheat flour -- not the kind of meals we ought to be encouraging people to eat."

But spokespeople from the restaurant industry disagree, saying that menus have improved nutritionally in recent years, giving diners a choice of healthier options. Kids' Fast Food Meals: Report Detail CSPI's researchers, led by Margo G. Wootan, the center's nutrition policy director, assessed the nutrition of children's meals from 13 different restaurant chains. They looked at all the possible children's meal combinations -- all the ways that an entree, side item, and beverage could be combined -- and came up with 1,474 possible choices at the 13 chains. Read more...

Bottom line: You just won't get the nutrients that is needed for a growing child in a restaurant unless they're serving fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, and so on. Most restaurants want taste first, profits a close second, and nutrition a distant third. Take the time to get yourself the foods you need for health, before you decide to go restaurant shopping.