Meals away from home generally tend to be higher in saturated fat and sodium than meals families eat at home. 75% of kids today exceed the daily recommendation of saturated fat and total fat in their diets.* It’s hard to deny the link between the growing obesity epidemic among kids and the food restaurants serve.
The good news is that restaurants, who take a lot of blame for people’s personal behaviors, are in a position to be catalysts of change in the way American’s eat. Incorporating healthy changes in kids menu is one of the easiest ways to start. Many of these changes are easy to adapt to regular menus for adult patrons.
Fresh Salads. We eat with our eyes first and kids are no exception. A salad of fresh garden greens, bright red tomatoes and zesty orange carrots paired with low-fat or fat-free dressings is an excellent lunch or dinner option for kids. Or, for a fun finger food, serve up a platter of crudités, such as slices of red and green peppers, carrots, zucchini or any other fresh vegetables you keep on hand in the restaurant kitchen.
Fresh Fruit. Many restaurants garnish dinner plates with fresh fruit such as strawberries, oranges, or watermelon. All this fresh chopped fruit makes a perfect side dish for kids meals. A cup of fresh chopped strawberries equals one daily recommended serving of fruit. Even though fresh fruit can be pricy, it is low in labor costs – just chop and serve.
*(Medline, 2006. Ogden et al. JAMA; 195:1549-55. Hadley et al. JAMA; 291:2874-2850.)
