Marie Miguel at [email protected] writes about diabetes and general health topics.  Following are her thoughts on how to manage when you kids love fast foods.

We all know that fast food is never a good meal option, if not detrimental, for our health and our kids’ health. Still, it continues to be a part of our daily diet. Let’s be honest, most of us can’t end the day without eating a donut or two or prefer to have upsized burgers and fries for lunch. We also just love the taste of sodas and shakes, especially during hot summer days.

Numerous studies have shown consumption of fast food as one of the leading causes of child obesity. More and more parents can’t keep up with the daily grind and the pressures to get their kids to eat healthy so it makes sense why we would opt to just drive through fast food counters for food instead of cooking them ourselves. It is quite a challenge to do both things at the same time and most parents aren’t eating healthy themselves with their kids taking after them but, that doesn’t mean that we can’t do it!

If your kids have had fast food for a long time and not letting them eat in these places makes you feel guilty, you shouldn’t! Teaching kids to eat healthy early in life makes them healthier adults. If you feel like you have no other choice but to let them eat fast food but would want to do away with future doctor visits and expensive medications, here are some tips and tricks to help your kids to start eating healthier.

1. Go for the grilled or baked options rather than fried - Grilled beef patties and chicken sandwiches are better compared to ones that are fried. There are also fast food chains that offer baked versions of French fries, hash browns, pies, and chicken nuggets. If your kids love munching on these, get the baked versions instead. Fried options are often times laden with more fat and sodium content than their grilled and baked counterparts, they’re even tastier too!

2. Watch their portions - Most servings in fast food chains are for adults so it doesn’t make sense to feed your kids an entire meal. If you have more than one child, split the serving in half. That also automatically cuts the fats, sodium, and calories in half. You can also go for “value meals” or “upsize” your order if you have more than 2 kids with you.

3. Wheat buns are better than the regular bun - Some fast food locations now offer wheat buns in place of the carbohydrate laden regular bun.

4. Skip the drinks - Soda and other artificially flavored beverages are high in sugar. They taste good but, that doesn’t mean they’re good for your children. Don’t fall for claims like “100% natural”, especially when you see it inside fast food places. You’re kids are better off drinking water.

5. Go ala–carte - When eating out, have your kids choose only one fare, and if a meal has 2 fares included, go ala-carte. It’s also best to have them skip meals that includes French fries, so they can skip the sodium and fat content that are found in fries.

6. Skip the fix-ins when you can - Eating baked potatoes are fine but fix-ins like bacon, sour cream, gravy, butter and cheese are a lot less healthy as baked potatoes. If your kids insist on having fix-ins with their potato, limit it to one fixing.

7. Take it easy on the extras - Extra orders mean extra calories and can contribute to your child’s unhealthy weight gain. Getting your kids to understand this would make it a lot easier for them to adhere to the “one meal per visit” rule.

8. Skip the meal, get the toy - Some kids love going to fast food places just for the toy and you can buy the toy without the meal. Not only can you save your kids from eating too much fast food, you’ll get to save money too! 

9. Minimize your trips to fast food places - Just because your kids want to eat out every day, doesn’t mean you have to give in. Make time during weekends to cook meals for the following week and just freeze them so you can reheat a meal when needed. You can also prepare sandwiches in advance for long trips so you can do away with driving through a fast food counter every time.

The earlier you cut fast food out of your kids’ diet, the better. Sure, doctor visits are much easier now compared to previous years and you can ask for medication refills online but, do you really want to go that far? Understanding the negative effects of fast food consumption to your health and your child’s is very important for you to follow the above mentioned tips.