If you have been paying any attention at all to the ongoing health care debate, you know a large part of that debate is over what preventative measures can and should be taken by everyone to take responsibility for their personal health and stay out of the doctor's offices and hospital emergency rooms in the first place.
A large part of this prevention debate as centered on the very scary childhood obesity statistics and the undeniable link between eating too much fast food and the rise of obesity rates in children.
What follows here is a pretty eye opening comparison of some fast food nutrition information along with the current USDA recommended daily calorie intake for children of different ages.
This table provides the recommended daily calorie intake for children based on both age and level of physical activity. To the USDA, for a child to qualify as "active" they must be doing an amount of physical exercise equal to walking three miles daily at 3 to 4 miles an hour as well as the light physical activity of daily life.
- Boys ages 4-8 and active 2,000; if sedentary 1,400
- Girls ages 4-8 and active 1,400; if sedentary 1,000
- Boys ages 14-18 and active 3,200; if sedentary 2,200
- Girls ages 14-18 and active 2,400; if sedentary 1,800
Now, compare the above table with the following information from a popular fast food chain's nutritional website regarding a meal consisting of a double cheeseburger, medium fries, and a medium drink. Such a meal will put into your child's body:
- 1, 400 calories
- 62 grams of fat
- 186 grams of carbohydrates
Please note that this meal offers the "medium" French fries and drink. If you "supersize" the fries and drink, the totals are even scarier.
When you look at these two sets of numbers and then take into account that our children are getting less physical activity than ever before because of changes in the school curriculum doing away with recess and the amount of time spent in front of computers or television at home, some of the reasons for childhood obesity become very clear.
I do not mean to demonize fast food here, as an every now and then treat there isn't thing wrong with them. The problem with fast food starts when we begin to rely on their menus as an everyday source of meals.
On the positive side of things, there are many studies show that children in households that promote both healthy food choices and sensible diets that do not rely so much on processed foods and the fast food outlets have a much improved chances to maintain these habits throughout their lifetime.
Of course, kids being kids, promoting healthy food choices at home will be much easier if you have something to substitute for the fast food treats and for that I recommend fruit or vegetable smoothies in their many forms as a staple of a healthy diet for years to come.
Healthy smoothies can be made from any number of fresh and/or frozen fruit with very few calories, fat, and carbohydrates. For example, a 16 oz fruit smoothie recipe using strawberries, bananas and low-fat yogurt will come in at around 530 calories, less than 3 grams fat, and 98 grams carbohydrates. Plus, you will have the added benefit of the nutritional value of the fruit in terms of vitamins and dietary fiber that are absent in the fast food meal.
The epidemic of childhood obesity is not going away but we can all help by watching what our children eat and providing them better food choices.