Posted on 07/26/2011 5:49:25 AM PDT by markomalley
Under pressure from health and children's advocacy groups, McDonald's Corp. is making changes to its famed Happy Meals.
The fast food chain will add a serving of fruit or vegetable to all of the meals, which are aimed at children, and shrink the portion of French fries.
The changes, to be announced Tuesday, will take effect in September in some markets and then roll out to all 14,000 McDonald's restaurants in the U.S. by April.
McDonald's said it first experimented with cutting fries entirely from the Happy Meals, but children and parents rebelled.
"People come to McDonald's and, first of all, they want the choice and the control to be theirs, but their expectation of a Happy Meal does include a fry," said Jan Fields, president of McDonald's USA. "When we did it without fries, there was a huge disappointment factor."
The new French fry holders in Happy Meals will contain 1.1 ounces of potatoes, down from 2.4. Apple slices will often be included as the healthful side dish, but it could also be carrots, raisins, pineapple slices or mandarin oranges, depending on the time of year and the region in which they're being served, Fields said.
Although subject to variation depending on what's ordered, the new meals will represent, on average, a 20% decrease in calories, the chain said.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Oh no they didn't. Why it was just recently that we were told about food deserts in cities across the country where people were desperate for healthy food. It's only greedy corporations and racists like us who are against raising the debt ceiling because Obama is black (except when he's Irish) who are in favor of Happy Meals with fries.
It's Darwin's other theory at work, Survival of the Fattest, and it is making us a weaker society, not a stronger one.
I very rarely eat at a fast food joint but when I do—usually while on vacation—I want a greasy burger, jumbo fries and the super big gulp soda.
Fast food is a treat, not a lifestyle.
I sure as hell don’t want the food Nazi’s telling me what the hell I or a business can serve or consume.
My body, my choice....sound familiar KOS lurkers???
That’s the bottom line.
McD’s escapes the wrath of the Lunatic Left (for a day or two) and gains more sales because their customers are still hungry after tossing the stuff they won’t eat.
Bingo. But the leftists feel they must take care of the ignorant, unwashed masses.
Liberalism will never appeal to those who accept responsibility for themselves and their families. It only appeals to those who want to sit on their behinds and not have to lift a finger.
We used to take our kids through the McD’s drive through and buy them a burger on the way to have Sushi. It saved us a lot of money. My kids like Sushi.
The reason people go to restaurants is because they wouldnt dare eat that much salt and fat at home.
The Coca-cola is probably more harmful than the rest of the Happy Meal combined.
I don’t think fruit is cheaper than a potato, not at the grocery store anyway. But this does bring to mind, when was the last time you heard of people getting e-coli from a potato vs fruit.
I’m guessing carrots are cheaper than french fries and McDonalds actually comes out ahead on this deal.
LOL....my wife is determined to not allow the kid’s to aquire a taste for lobster......
Much to her dismay...they do....
Dangit, don't mention 5 Guys, now you made me hungry and it's still early morning.
Believe it or not, unless you have an existing condition (such as high blood pressure) it's not so much the salt and fat as it is the carbohydrates - especially those carbs contained in processed flour and sugar.
IOW, the bun and softdrink are what is turned into fat, hence are far more unhealthy than the burger meat and cheese.
As far as the fries go, potatoes certainly are carby, but if they're not processed, reformed fries, those carbs are somewhat harder for the body to turn into fat than white flour and sugar. So a lot of the unhealthy factor depends on what type of oil they're fried in and if the fries are whole-cut.
I had this weird dream last night. A group of people were walking home from having bought burgers from a fast food place. Suddenly behind them was a group of people consisting of several adults and lots of children. They were carrying a large plastic tub and playing small tinny musical instruments. The adults stopped and the kids started giving them a lecture about how bad the food was for them...”mom and dad...bla bla bla” and they guilted the adults into turning in their just purchased food. Most were complying and the tub was filling up. I was furious and kept my purchase and went home along with a few others. We were discussing how manipulative this was and how we would have responded better had we not been so surprised. I woke up not sure if it was a dream or a news story I had half heard while waking up. That is how strange the world is getting. One can’t tell dreams from reality, satire from truth nowadays.
My kids understand when we go to McDonald’s it is a treat and not exactly good for you. We ALWAYS have carrots and apples at home. If we wanted carrots and apples we wouldn’t go to McDonald’s.
Your body/your choice only applies to sexual behavior. We’re not supposed to say anything about abortion because that would be controlling a woman’s body. We’re not supposed to say anything about reckless sexual behavior in general, because the left worships sexual excess, including frankly homosexual behavior. So we can’t say anything about how diseases are spread.
But when it comes to the food nazis, then we are supposed to control your body and what goes in it.
Rush Limbaugh predicted years ago that we would see food police going after fast food chains. This was at the time the left was going after cigarette companies. He said the next target would be fast food. So here we are. Chains such as McDonald’s are now Public Enemy Number One in the minds of some leftists.
Didn’t liberal San Francisco ban Happy Meals altogether? I wonder if McDonald’s will pull out of there eventually?
If I recall correctly, Obama and Joe Biden went to Five Guys. Does Obama support Michelle’s war against fast food and her celebrating vegetables and grocery stores in the food desert and all that???
“Welcome to McDonalds. Can I take your order, please?”
“Yes...I’d like an apple slice and a diet water, please.”
“Would you like to biggie size that?”
“No thank you, that’ll probably be more than I can eat.”
“Ok, your total will be $5.96. Please drive around.”
Deep fry the fruit, no e-coli problem. ;-)
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