McDonald's: what's in your youngster's favourite fast food?
Swap: a McDonald's happy meal - one cheeseburger, small fries and a small fanta orange.
For: a McDonald's happy meal crispy chicken wrap.
Why: although a lack of time may trigger the temptation to turn to a takeaway, feeding your youngsters this particular form of fast food will see them shoveling a staggering:
- 643 calories
- 24g fat
- 7.1g saturated fat
- 33.7g sugar
- 2.09g salt - almost all of a 4-6 year olds daily recommended intake and just under half of a 7-10 year olds.
The better bit: aside from slashing your child's calorie, salt, sugar, fat and saturated fat intake, swapping a standard sized happy meal for a crispy chicken wrap - a wrap that contains 243 calories, 7.9g fat, 1.2g saturated fat, 2.4g sugar and 1g salt - will not only provide a source of protein (chicken breast), but prevent your youngster from munching on a heavily processed 'meal' that will fail to satisfy their stomach.
Top tip: as inconvenient as it may be to convince your youngster/s to wait for a healthier, homemade meal, saying 'no' to the tasty takeaways that will do nothing but hinder their health and tighten their trousers - particularly if consumed on a regular basis - will allow you to instill the importance of satisfying their stomach in a way which is sensible and satisfying from a young age.
Although it will be tough to tempt them (and you will face a tirade of tantrums and turmoil!), the creation of healthy habits during childhood will leave them less likely to turn to takeaways throughout their adult life - particularly as certain eating regimes reiterated during childhood i.e.fuelling our bodies with fast food when we're short on time, can lead to conditioned eating during adulthood i.e.your youngsters will naturally turn to takeaways when short on time.
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