We love studies, don’t we? Every day there is a new study about kids and food. The latest study is from Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University. They found a causal relationship between licensed characters on food packaging and children’s taste and snack preferences.

My goodness, I don’t think we really needed a study for that, do you?

If cartoon characters didn’t sell products, then advertisers wouldn’t use them. Parents won’t be surprised to learn that children significantly prefer the taste of junk foods branded with licensed cartoon characters on the packaging, compared with the same foods without characters.

Researchers found kids, like Madison, prefer foods with cartoon characters on the packaging.

In the study, children between the ages of 4- and 6-years old tasted three pairs of identical foods (graham crackers, gummy fruit snacks and carrots) presented in packages either with or without a popular cartoon character. Children tasted both food items in each pair and indicated whether the two tasted the same, or if one tasted better. Children then selected which of the foods they would prefer to eat for a snack.

Again the results were predictable, indicating that children were considerably more likely to prefer the taste of the low-nutrient, high-energy (translate that to sugary) foods such as gummy fruit snacks when a licensed cartoon character appeared on the package.

The difference in preference was not significant for carrots. Not much of a surprise here either. The character-branded items influenced kids when it comes to junk foods, but not so much for whole foods. Interesting, character-branded items don’t help influence kids with whole foods. Parents need to teach their children how to enjoy whole foods. That’s what Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater is all about.

The researchers conclude their the findings suggest a need for regulation to curtail the use of licensed characters in the marketing of low-nutrient, high-energy foods, say the researchers. Another regulation. Another law, we don’t need.

How about letting parents raise their own kids. What if parents refuse to purchase food items with cartoon characters? How about it if parents curtailed the purchase of junk foods as well? Why not limit the amount of TV kids watch? How about recording kids programming and speed through the commercials! What if parents (gasp) said “no.”

We vote with our dollars and you can bet if sales go down, that would stop the advertisers from using licensed characters on their products, for sure!

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A sin tax is taxing soda and other sugar-laden products sabotaging the health of many Americans.

Here’s what President Obama said concerning sin taxes on junk foods: “I actually think it’s an idea that we should be exploring. There’s no doubt that our kids drink way too much soda.”

A garden encourages healthy eating.
Dani is proud of her squash crop.

Obama continued, “And every study that’s been done about obesity shows that there is as high a correlation between increased soda consumption and obesity as just about anything else. Obviously it’s not the only factor, but it is a major factor.”

While on one hand, a sin tax may sound like a noble idea to reverse the trend toward obesity, although with government’s other hand, they are subsiding High Fructose Corn Sweetener (HFCS). Corn and soy are the two crops most subsidized by the government. Corn is obviously used in the manufacturing of HFCS.

Many farmers choose to accept support from the production of subsidized crops like corn and soybeans. They would not receive support from growing riskier (yet healthier) crops like tomatoes, broccoli and carrots. A government subsidy offers a cushion, making other produce not as profitable, as many farmers don’t want to risk a failed salad crop.

Will a Sin Tax on Junk Food Encourage Healthy Eating?
The U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans and MyPyramid urges Americans to eat a variety of foods and limit our intake of sugars. Yet, the government’s subsidy of corn keeps the price of junk foods, like soda, low. Because legislators, from states receiving subsidies for corn, don’t want to do anything that will reduce the demand for their subsidized product, they oppose a sin tax on junk foods. They also oppose removing government funding of their crops.

Instead of government being Big Brother telling us what to eat, remove government funding of corn and the price of sugary junk foods will naturally increase. People will cut back on sugary junk food when the cost of  HFCS is not kept artificially low by subsidies. Salad produce won’t be an expensive alternative to processed cookies and a sin tax won’t be needed.

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Most were new to the Baby Bites site and left their comments on that blog as well as related blogs: Joann Bruso an Urban Legend, Nonna’s Happy Meal Bog and Freaky Fried Food.

Reading their comments reveals personal bias about food. If anything can be gleaned from their remarks it’s that many are living in the Land of Denial.

Angel wants to be a princess
in the Land of Denial.

Not Science
There were some who could not get past the lack of “science” in my Happy Meal observations. They railed about “junk science” and continued to call it an “experiment” which it clearly was not. Some called it a “worthless test.” They said it was full of  “BS” and “ignorant.” One was so angered; he made fun of my name. I wondered if some read my blog at all, giving a knee-jerk reaction explaining food dehydration. Never mind the year-old hamburger and fries look like plasticized food samples in a restaurant.

Go Girl
There were those who were impressed and applauded my lighthearted look at junk foods. Their comments supported my efforts to bring attention to the dangers of fast food. They totally got my point.

Mogan left this comment, “Look, the whole spirit of the experiment was simply to open eyes to the horrendous lack of nutrition that is in our fast food. I don’t care about whether it rots or dries, there are preservatives in fast food, there is no denying that. Anyone who chooses to believe that fast food is anything short of “edible crap” is fooling themselves, which is fine. You’re totally allowed to believe whatever you want. And anyone who is upset because this is junk science is getting worked up over nothing…It’s just a fun (albeit disgusting) little anecdote. Nothing more.”

Land of Denial
What’s astonishing to me is the number of people living in the Land of Denial. I was amazed the number of people who actually defended junk food. Then I realized it’s because they may be addicted themselves and the thought of going without is too much to bear. Some have confused love with sugar. Advertisers’ message, junk food equals fun, eventually influences our thinking. Then there are others who believe they don’t have time to cook real food and are defensive. Ultimately, parents are unaware of the amount of chemicals they and their children ingest on a daily basis.

At first I thought Alexis was kidding, because her comments were so over the top. After reading it a second time, I realized Alexis was really appalled by my Happy Birthday to My Happy Meal blog. She said, “I’m throwing the BS flag on this experiment, and I’m going to continue to have my once a week double cheeseburger (I keep it to at no more than every other week for my kids). …This article is just part of the scheme to villanize junk food which obviously is having no impact on America’s obesity crisis. What people need to do is to teach their children to eat reasonable portions and treat junk food like the treat it is. I guarantee, denying them McDonalds as a kid will mean that is all they will want when they have their own money and ability to make decisions.”
…or they could become health food nuts or (gasp) even vegetarians!

To my surprise, Gina agreed with Alexis. She said, “Right on, Alexis. Everything in moderation. Are these the type of individuals responsible for today’s litigious society?”
…choosing whole foods for your family makes a person litigious?

YHGTBK took it one step further by stating parents who deny their children junk foods would ultimately harm them. “With most things, moderation is the key. One cookie or Happy Meal isn’t going to harm your children for life. What WILL harm them however is the parental OCD and constant nay-saying to our kids that they can’t have an occasional Happy Meal, candy or dessert because they didn’t eat the mounds of green stuff on their plates (did you eat all the green stuff on your plates?)”
…why, yes I did (okay, peas not so much).

What’s Moderate?
Defining “moderation” in our diets is difficult. Both “average” and “reasonable” are definitions for moderate. Is purchasing fast food three times a week moderate? It is if you average the number of times parents purchase fast foods for their kids. How much sugar would be moderate or reasonable in a kid’s diet? The average amount of sugar a child eats in a week is 2½ pounds. How many French fries would be moderate? Twenty-two percent of our potato crop ends up fried. A toddler’s first finger food is a French fry. French fries are 40 percent trans fat. Trans fat has a half-life of 51 days, so would that mean you would purchase French fries once a month or more often for it to be moderate? Artificial colorings and flavorings are derived from petroleum. Ingesting exactly how much petroleum would you consider moderate?

In the Land of Denial “reason” goes out the window and “average” is moderate.

(If you haven’t yet read my Happy Birthday to My Happy Meal blog Click Here.)

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Happy Birthday, Dear Happy Meal, Happy Birthday to You!

I know it’s hard to believe. Time flies, doesn’t it? My eyes tear when I think today, March 3, is my Happy Meal’s first birthday. They grow up so fast, don’t they?

I purchased a Happy Meal, not to eat, but to observe and blog about. Yes, I bought a Happy Meal and then placed it on my office shelf, right behind me and my computer. It sat on my shelf for a year as a silent witness to our fast food industry.

It smelled delicious for a few days. I’d get a whiff of those yummy French fries every time I walked into my office. After a week or so, you could hardly smell it. My husband worried that when the food began to decompose, there would be a terrible odor in our home. He also worried the food would attract ants and mice. He questioned my sanity.

No Worries
NOPE, no worries at all. My Happy Meal is one year old today and it looks pretty good. It NEVER smelled bad. The food did NOT decompose. It did NOT get moldy, at all.

This morning, I took it off my shelf to take a birthday photo. The first year is always a milestone. I gave it one of my world famous nonna hugs as we’ve been office mates for a year now! (Okay, maybe my sanity is in question.)

What’s WRONG with this picture?
The photo above on the left is the one I took today. Because Colorado has an arid climate, over the year the moisture has been slowly pulled from the Happy Meal. The bread is crusty and if you look closely, you will see a crack across the top. The hamburger has shrunk a bit and still resembles a hockey puck. Yet, the French fries look yummy enough to eat. I never had an odor problem, after a couple of weeks, I couldn’t even smell the fries.

Now look at the photo on the right, I took it a year ago. Not much difference. The bread is plumper and the fries a tad bit perkier.

What’s not HAPPY about a Happy Meal?
Picky eaters universally love junk foods. They won’t touch veggies and sometimes refuse to eat the food their moms prepare. Out of desperation, parents give in and purchase the food their picky eaters will eat…junk food.

The next time you’re tempted to purchase a Happy Meal for your child, think about these photos. Food is SUPPOSED to decompose, go bad and smell foul…eventually.  When I was a kid, I remember our garbage pail for the left over food scraps was kept by our back door. After a couple of days, flies deposited their larvae (maggots) in the meat. When I would lift the lid, I would see the recently hatched maggots wiggling on the putrid mess. A fly never bothered to land on the tiny hamburger patty on my office shelf.

Food is broken down into it’s essential nutrients in our bodies and turned into fuel. Our children grow strong bodies, when they eat real food. Flies ignore a Happy Meal and microbes don’t decompose it, then your child’s body can’t properly metabolize it either. Now you know why it’s called “junk food.”

I think ants, mice and flies are smarter than people, because they weren’t fooled. They never touched the Happy Meal. Children shouldn’t either.

No matter what, deep-fried food is unhealthy. Read Freaky Fried Food, CLICK HERE.
Read Nonna’s Happy Meal Blog, CLICK HERE.

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1. Purchase Whole Foods
When you stock your pantry and refrigerator are with whole foods, your children will eat whole foods. One mom of a 14-month old recently asked me, “How do I stop her from eating junk foods.” The answer is simple, “Don’t buy them.” Unless your child has her own income and a driver’s license, she’s eating the foods you purchase.

Don’t believe the lie that some foods are “kid foods.” Fast foods, French fries, pizza, boxed macaroni and cheese, hot dogs, and the like are junk food. They offer little in the way of nutrition. Soda isn’t food at all…it’s colored High Fructose Corn Syrup (the worst kind of sugar). When these products are no longer stored in your pantry, your child will eat what’s available…whole foods.

Audrey is helping her mom serve dinner.

2. Have Family Mealtime
Today, many busy families eat together only three times a week. With just a little planning, you can change that statistic for your family. Initiate your supper with a prayer of thanksgiving. Take a few moments to acknowledge God and what He has provided.

When you make wholesome family meals and have real food in your home, your kids will eat whole foods. When you cook and eat vegetables during dinner, your kids will follow your example and grow up liking them. Your table should be a stress-free zone. Save discussions of the economic crisis, inflation, or the latest bad news for another time. Family mealtime discussions should center on each other and the good things God has provided.

3. Incorporate Multi-Sensory Learning
Good eaters naturally use all their senses. Picky eaters need to be taught how to incorporate all their senses during mealtimes. We usually plop a new food down and expect a child to eat it. It may take 10 or more times before a new food is accepted. Don’t pressure your child to eat something the first time she sees it. Incorporate all the senses before mealtimes by having your child help with preparing the meal. Then, during dinner continue to encourage multi-sensory learning by talking about the food. What color is it? What’s the texture like? What does it smell like? You engage all the senses when you talk about the food served, touch it and experience it by smelling and enjoying the flavor and texture.

Eating preferences often change. Parents should keep preparing a variety of healthful foods and putting them on the table, even if a child initially refuses to take a bite. It takes three weeks to develop a new habit and it may take 10 or more attempts when introducing a food. Don’t give up too soon. Keep the dialog around the table happy and the discussion of the food positive. Never announce you don’t like a certain vegetable (or allow anyone else for that matter). Auditory learning is vital; your child will certainly follow your lead. When children experience the attributes of a refused food, it’s more likely they’ll eat it.

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In the United States, typical French fries have about 40 percent trans fat, and many cookies and crackers range from 30 to 50 percent trans fat. Doughnuts have approximately 35 percent trans fatty acids. A couple of the worst offenders are found in many kitchens-stick margarine and Crisco®.

Trans fatty acid is created when the molecular structure of a vegetable oil is altered to a hardened form found in margarine or shortening. Because trans fat increases the shelf life of foods, it’s most commonly found in restaurant foods, fast foods (French fries, fried chicken, and chicken nuggets), snack food, packaged bakery products (cookies, crackers, donuts, and cakes), microwave popcorn, potato chips, peanut butters, and salad dressings.

Jacob didn’t know that fries have so much trans fat!

Trans fat is far worse than natural saturated fat ever could be. The production process of injecting liquid fats with hydrogen gas converts them into indigestible trans fatty acids. Trans fat can’t be metabolized in the human body, because they don’t release any helpful mediator. Their shape keeps them from being recognized by enzymes. In fact, trans fat has a half life of 51 days. That means three months after consuming trans fat, you’re body is still dealing with it.

Trans fat molecules are absorbed into your cells, compromising the cell’s metabolism. Trans fat lowers the HDL (good cholesterol) and increases the LDL (bad cholesterol), leading to heart disease. In pregnant women, trans fat, like alcohol, drugs, carbon monoxide from cigarette smoke, and pesticides, pass through the placenta to the baby, affecting the baby’s metabolism in direct proportion to the amount ingested by the mother. In addition, there’s a correlation between trans fat and Type 2 Diabetes. To make matters worse, trans fat inhibits the absorption of vitamin K (vital for bone growth). Trans fat is a toxin interfering with all membrane function.

Eating Fried Food Out Is Dangerous To Health
Eating out can be more of a challenge than reading food labels. Now it’s required for food manufactures to list on nutrition labels over a half a gram of trans fat. Unfortunately, picky eaters love fast food! Five small chicken nuggets from a fast food chain may contain between two and four grams of trans fat. A large order (six ounces) of McDonald’s® French fries contains a whopping eight grams of trans fat!

Many restaurants are moving away from trans fat, even McDonalds says they no longer use trans fat. Are we any better off? Not really. Restaurants usually use inferior, cheap vegetables oils. A healthy oil will go rancid. Then an inferior oil is used for frying , it’ reused for a week. It’s used over and over again, until it turns to sludge. Trans fat is created when a vegetable oil is overheated. So, in effect, a restaurant may start with a more healthy oil, but it ends up with a trans fat. When you eat out AVIOD all fried foods.

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A mom with a picky eater asks for advice. She’s concerned about her toddler, who was born prematurely and at two is still underweight. He has a tiny appetite and he’s a clever picky eater who manages to get the junk food he prefers. Her pediatrician suggests she give him PediaSure® to guarantee he’s receiving enough calories.

Does your child make a face like Payton when veggies are placed on her plate?

High calorie drinks are a common “fix” in an attempt to boast calorie intake in a picky eater. Another mom of a skinny picky toddler expressed her concern when her pediatrician suggested she give her tot a Carnation Instant Breakfast® each morning.

Certainly, it is easier to drink calories, than to eat them (as is evident in sodas which are useless, even harmful calories). Unfortunately, high caloric processed drinks for skinny picky eaters tend to backfire. Sugar is the first ingredient in these drinks and sugar fuels the problem, instead of the child. With high calorie processed drinks, tiny tummies are filled with sugar and synthetic vitamins. Inevitably, children cut back on wholesome foods. A much better option is to make fruit smoothies loaded with real food like whole milk, bananas, and berries. You can super charge smoothies with omega 3 flax seed oil and barley greens.

Two-year-olds are experts at mommy manipulation. Desperate moms eventually give in and offer something they know their child will eat. Not surprising, the foods toddlers prefer are lacking in nutrients and are high in artificial ingredients: grilled cheese (often it’s imitation cheese on soft bread), French fries, hot dogs, dry cereals, crackers, cookies, and fast food (pizza and Happy Meals®). Fresh fruit and veggies are painfully absent on the picky eater’s list of preferred foods.

Health workers are quick to assure parents that children “won’t starve themselves.” But, they are starving for healthful nutrients. This is parents’ real concern, because the food their children willingly eat is processed junk food.

1) Skinny Picky Eaters
Calories aren’t the only worry for skinny picky eaters. Children require proper nourishment to be healthy and that includes eating vegetables. Picky eaters, especially those in the bottom 10 to 20 percentiles for weight, may be more susceptible to illness and may take longer to heal. Unless whole foods are incorporated into a child’s diet, it’s assured that illness will follow. Obesity isn’t initially a problem for the skinny picky eater, at least for now. Unless he learns to eat whole foods, adult weight gain is sure to become an issue, because he’s eating the same simple carbohydrates as the chubby picky eater.

2) Chubby Picky Eaters
Yes, picky eaters can be chubby. The difference is the chubby picky eater is consuming more calories than the skinny picky eater. Fast foods and simple carbohydrates (soda pop, cookies, chips, candy, etc.) are mainstay for the chubby picky eater. Don’t be fooled: a chubby child can be starved of nutrients as well.

3) Transformation to a Healthy Eater
Good eaters use ALL their senses. When ALL your child’s senses are integrated during mealtimes, she learns to enjoy whole foods, even veggies! Despite what you may have heard, parents can teach their picky eaters to love veggies.

Parents tend to forget the other methods of learning and expect taste alone should be enough when introducing new foods to their children. Taste is the LAST sense to incorporate. The first objective is to learn about food, especially food that has been previously refused.

Once parents throw out failed methods (bribing, punishment, and the One Bite Rule) and change mealtime rules, learning to eat whole foods begins. Parent-led directives during mealtimes about the food’s attributes include talking about its color, texture, aroma, and taste, before a child is ever asked to take a tiny bite. This is multi-sensory learning. Children’s transformation to healthy eaters occurs quickly.

For the picky toddler or preschool child, you can add an extra element of fun to multi-sensory learning. Through make-believe (directed-play) young picky eaters are encouraged to appreciate once-refused foods. I like to use two little plastic characters during toddler mealtimes. Both are foodies, appreciating the unique colors, textures, smells, and tastes of food.

A green T-Rex, named Try Rannosaurus®, is especially fond of green veggies. He’s called “Try” because he will try any new food. Tiny Betty Baby Bites^TM is his best mouse friend and is also a lover of whole foods. When your child pretends to feed these little buddies all her senses are activated. Also, mealtime conversation is more fun with preschoolers when Betty and Try say things like “Green food is yummy!” And offer positive words of encouragement, “Bravo: and “Fastastico!”

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Researchers at Ohio State University analyzed government data on 6,500 children and teens, ages 2 to 18. They found the children were consuming an average of 2 cups of fruit, vegetables, and juice combined a day. French fries account for 25 percent of their vegetable intake. Someone consuming 2,000 calories a day should be eating 2 cups of fruit and 2½ cups of veggies a day—over TWICE the amount recorded.

Then there’s the nagging statistic that French fries compose 25 percent of children’s vegetable intake. While writing “Eat Your French Fries Vegetables,” I decided to see if the claim that a Happy Meal will last for years is true. I purchased a Happy Meal on March 3, 2009. To follow Nonna’s Happy Meal Blog, you’ll want to subscribe to the Baby Bites Ezine.

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Nonna’s Happy Meal Blog:

March 3, 2009
My newly purchased Happy Meal smells yummy and it’s very colorful. I receive a PetShop virtual pet dog in a yellow plastic doggie carry-case, along with my child-size hamburger, small fries, and a soft drink. On one side of the cardboard box the meal comes in are cutouts for a pet shop window and door. What little girl wouldn’t absolutely love it? The boy’s side of the box has a Spider-Man scene. The Spider-Man side states, “Meet the spectacular Spider-Man in McWorld at HappyMeal.com and go on your own superhero adventure!” WOW what fun. As colorful as my Happy Meal is, the food is mostly colorless. French fries are made from starchy white potatoes and a hockey puck-size brown hamburger is served on a mini-white-bread bun. There’s no lettuce, cheese, or otherwise healthful topping, just a dab of ketchup and a slice of pickle.

March 4
Happy Meal greets me as I walk into my office this morning. It’s perched on a shelf behind my desk and there is a faint smell of French fries as I enter the room. My husband is concerned about the odor. I ask, “What do ya mean?” After all it smells yummy. He says, “What about when it putrefies, decomposes, and turns rancid?” I answer, “That’s the point of my experiment. It’s NOT supposed to decompose, only a natural food would do that! If it does, I’ll move it into a glass container, to control any unpleasant smell. Then, I’ll have more to report.

March 5
Day three, my cheery Happy Meal’s yummy smell is hardly noticeable as I come into my office. I can’t help but think about the hidden ingredient in much of McDonalds’ food. It’s even in their fries …MSG. MSG is an excitotoxin, which over-stimulate brain cells to the point that they die. Many people experience headaches when this occurs. MSG is an excitatory neuro-transmitter or “excitotoxin.” Excitotoxins are chemical transmitters allowing brain cells to communicate. Unfortunately, excitotoxins over-stimulate your brain cells and they die. It’s a toxic substance. As you would guess, children are most at risk from ingesting MSG in Happy Meals. It can pass the blood brain barrier and even the placental barrier, affecting unborn children. Morgan Spurlock, from the movie SuperSize Me, experienced extreme headaches on his McDonald’s diet. In his movie and book, he says his health team was at a loss for the reason. It’s a shame they missed the connection to MSG. For more information about MSG, Click Here.

March 6 AM
I now own my very own McDonalds’ Spiderman toy. Yep, I went back to McDonalds and purchased the toy alone. Now I have a toy for each side of the McDonalds’ box. A toy meant for a girl and one for a boy. I was motivated to purchase the second toy, because yesterday, Kelly wrote a comment on my Facebook page after I mention the “Nonna’s Happy Meal Blog.”Kelly observed, “Sadly, with all the marketing it seems to be more about the toy.” And then offered her solution, “I often will make them a healthy lunch at home, and then go thru the drive thru and just buy the toy!”Checking my original receipt, I found my purchase of a Happy Meal cost me $3.02 (after taxes, before taxes $2.79). The toy with the Happy Meal is listed on the receipt as zero.  When I purchased the toy alone, it cost $1.69 (of course, plus tax). Using a rule-of-thumb that the cost of an item is doubled, the toy most likely cost McDonalds about 80 cents. It would be my guess the paper products (the box, napkins, and cup) were next in expense for McDonalds. That alone speaks volumes about the quality of the food.

March 6 PM
YIKES, I’m becoming a regular McDonalds’ costumer! Yes, I went back there today and purchased a second tiny hamburger. Yesterday, I realized my experiment hamburger had ketchup and a slice of pickle on it. I was afraid these two toppings would alter the result, so I went back and purchased a PLAIN tiny burger. It cost me another 89 cents, plus 6 cents tax. Now, I have a control burger without toppings, albeit three days fresher. While I was there, I checked out what it would cost to purchase a small order of fries: $1, plus 7 cents tax. That means that the FOOD and PAPER portion of my original Happy Meal cost me $2.02 and the toy $1.00.

March 7
You’d think at least the ketchup your child is dipping her French fries in and the dab on the hamburger is healthy, after all it’s made of tomatoes. Tomatoes are a super food, right? Not so fast. Ketchup is usually one-third sugar (unless you purchase a healthy brand at a whole foods store).The ingredients on the McDonald’s Fancy Ketchup read: “Tomato concentrate (not whole tomatoes), distilled vinegar, High Fructose Corn Sweetener, Corn syrup, water, salt, natural flavorings.” When you add the High Fructose Corn Sweetener with the Corn syrup, most likely sugar will be the real first ingredient. Ketchup is sugar and worst kind of all. Click Here for more info on High Fructose Corn Sweetener.

March 8
It’s day five, and somehow I don’t feel consoled by McDonald’s website reassurances: “McDonald’s offers a range of menu options to help meet your family’s nutrition needs. When it comes to eating with your kids at McDonald’s, you can feel good knowing that our Happy Meals and Mighty Kids Meals contain important nutrients that growing kids need. Many of the foods we serve at McDonald’s are the same trusted brands you might purchase for your family at your local grocery store.

“My Happy Meal looks pretty much the same as the day I purchased it. The only difference I can tell is the ketchup and the pickle are being absorbed into the mini-white bun. Of course, the plain burger I purchased looks the same, so do the fries. If this were real food, there should be some decomposition. In Morgan Spurlock’s (Super Size Me) McDonald’s experiment found fries are turning black from decomposition by 2 weeks. But, McDonald’s fries never did decompose. That can’t be food, for food to nourish your body it needs to decompose.

Could the lack of decomposition be because of trans fat? I thought McDonalds said they no longer use trans fat, but according to the McDonlds website their French fries are prepared in hydrogenated soybean oil, corn oil, or canola oil. Any hydrogenated oil is a trans fat! Trans fat is created when a vegetable oil is overheated. Restaurants use their frying oil for a week. It’s heated over and over again. Trans fats can’t release any useful mediators. Their shape keeps them from being recognized by enzymes. Explains a lot, don’t you think.

March 9
How many times have I heard “It’s cheaper to eat out than cook at home“? I don’t know maybe a million! I don’t get it. A Big Mac Meal costs $5.39 and a Happy Meal, $2.79, plus tax. For a family of four that’s $16.36 or a mom and one child $8.18; not including taxes. Not a bargain when you think what that could purchase. Last Spring, I worked out a food budget for two people on food stamps. ( Click Here for my Food Stamp Budget blog.) With a meager food stamp budget of $300 a month for two people, about $10 a day you can feed two people whole foods. One trip to McDonalds would cost almost as much as a day’s groceries. If you ask me, that’s NO bargain.

March 10
Today, is day 7. My Happy Meal still looks happy. The fries haven’t changed a bit, although the French fry smell is faint. The hamburger itself looks like it did on day one. The ketchup and slice of pickle have dried. The mini-white bun is now hard and has split. If you look closely at my original photo at the top of this blog, you can see a vertical crease in the bun. It looked as if it had been squished or bent before the patty was placed on it. The split is in the crease. (My second PLAIN Burger, purchased three days after is still perfect.)

March 12
What is a natural flavor, exactly? McDonald’s says their fries contain a natural flavor. A substance can be natural, but it may violate a religious or dietary restriction or it may cause allergic reactions in some people. It turns out that today, “natural” can mean just about anything. The natural flavor in McDonald’s fries is beef flavor containing hydrolyzed wheat and hydrolyzed milk as starting ingredients.

March 15
The Happy Meal was launched in 1979, by 2003 the Happy Meal accounted for 20 percent of all meals sold at McDonalds! It was pure marketing geniuswhen Ronald McDonald became their mascot. In commercials, Ronald McDonald inhabits a fantasy world called McDonaldland. He has adventures with his friends Mayor McCheese, the Hamburglar, Grimace, Birdie the Early Bird, and The Fry Kids. Our kids have been taken captive, by a clown. According to Barna Research, kids ages 2 to 7 watch an average of 25 hours of television a week and see about 40,000 television ads per year. It’s no surprise Ronald McDonald was number two on a list of the most recognizable people in the world. This, of course, relates directly to our kids’ addiction to junk food!

March 16
My Happy Meal is 12 days old. I’m taking it off my shelf, just for a little peek to see how it’s doing. Ya’d think that there would be some sort of decomposition going on by now. I don’t see any…nope none at all. My Happy Meal is still looks perky.

March 19
It’s too bad that even in the midst of the recession, parents are finding the financial wherewithal to keep their kids supplied with Happy Meals. February’s sales were up 5.4 percent above last year. January’s global comparable sales leaped 7.1 percent. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if parents cooked whole foods at home? No only would they save during these tight financial times, but their kids would be healthier, too.

March 30
Do you know the:
1) percentage of potatoes which end up French fried: 22
2) age when a toddler first eats a French fry: 6 mo
3) percentage of toddlers who eat French Fries everyday: 21

March 31
I’m taking my Happy Meal on its first field trip. It’s going to be my show-and-tell for tonight’s presentation to preschool moms in Littleton, Colorado. No one will believe my Happy Meal is one day shy of four week’s old! It looks as good as it did on day one.

April 10
You remember the jingle, “Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.” What’s in the  Big Mac® special sauce: Soybean oil, pickle relish [diced pickles, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, vinegar, corn syrup, salt, calcium chloride, xanthan gum, potassium sorbate (preservative), spice extractives, polysorbate 80], distilled vinegar, water, egg yolks, high fructose corn syrup, onion powder, mustard seed, salt, spices, propylene glycol alginate, sodium benzoate (preservative), mustard bran, sugar, garlic powder, vegetable protein (hydrolyzed corn, soy and wheat), caramel color, extractives of paprika, soy lecithin, turmeric (color), calcium disodium EDTA (protect flavor). CONTAINS: WHEAT, EGG AND SOY.
Looks like sugar is the number one ingredient in the Big Mac® Sauce.  (And by the way, the Happy Meal purchased on May 3 looks as good as it did on day one.)

April 29
Since I began this blog, I’ve written another post about Monosodium Glutamate. MSG is a common ingredient in McDonald’s food.  Click Here to read “Hidden Toxin in Food.” Unappetizing as it is, my Happy Meal is just as perky as the day I bought it, nearly two months ago!

June 3
How sad are Americans? Despite all the cautions about fast food, a recent poll found that 44 percent of Americans say they like the taste of fast food too much to give it up. Greg Chu, senior vice president of health care for Synovate in North America, says people in the USA have “a love-hate relationship” with fast food. “We love the convenience. We love the taste. We love the assurance that you can count on it. But we know it’s not good for us.”

December 14
I wish I could say that my Happy Meal has changed in some way. But it looks pretty much the same nine months after I purchased it. The bread is crusty. That’s all!

March 3, 2010
Read about my Happy Meal’s first birthday, CLICK HERE.

Click Here for a synopsis of “Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater”

Our traditional holiday foods only make it more difficult for parents of a picky eater, because they are mostly simple carbohydrates. Even if you attempt to limit the amount of cookies and candies your children eat, they are everywhere.

Well-meaning adults (especially Grandma or Aunt Britney) can sabotage your efforts to limit junk foods. You’ll NEVER convince a child who has just consumed a candy cane or gingerbread cookie or a piece of fudge to eat his dinner. Do your best to convince well-meaning relatives to reserve candy and other sweets for after meals.

Sweets are everywhere during the holiday season.
Save them for after meals.

Baby Bites is about better nutrition, although, there’s room for splurging, now and again. When attending parties and celebrations, take a preemptive approach with your picky eater. Feed your kid whole foods BEFORE attending the party or family gathering. If your child isn’t starving from hunger, then it’ll be easier for her to use self-control. Even if she doesn’t, all isn’t lost, because the first thing in her tummy was a whole food. Hopefully, that will be enough to minimize the amount of junk food eaten.

Even adults have problems with self-control. The good news is anyone can learn self-control and choose from the sugar smorgasbord, but it takes practice. Suggest to your child to take her time and choose two or three treats to eat from the tsunami of sugary treats. Explain that eating too many sweets might result in a stomach ache. Unless you offer the freedom of choice, and of course, don’t send her off to the gathering starving, it’ll be a loosing battle.

When you’re the one entertaining, offer nutritious snacks. There’s plenty of whole foods which are fun and nutritious: carrots, celery, broccoli, and cauliflower served with a dip, cheese and nuts, and of course popcorn, but not caramel popcorn. Make mini sandwiches and other fun finger foods.

If you’re eating out or you’re at your relatives and you can’t offer the nutritious foods your picky eater readily eats, don’t panic. Also, it’s a good idea to hold off introducing new foods to the picky eater until after the holidays. When you back on track in a normal routine, you can pick up, where you left off adding whole foods to your picky eater’s diet.

Like this posting? You’ll want to read 5 Tips for Healthy Happy Holidays:  CLICK HERE.

CLICK HERE to find out how you can transform your picky eater.

CLICK HERE for more sugar information.

If you know a picky eater who doesn’t eat many foods, you’ll want to purchase Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater: CLICK HERE.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. Supersize-Me, actually shed light on the not-so-obvious perils of regularly eating fast foods. Spurlock became a fast-food lab rat for one month. He calls it his “month in Hell.”

A team of health advisers documented his experiment. By day 18, his whole body was in a meltdown: headaches, body aches, and lack of energy. No surprise, his cholesterol and tryglycerides skyrocketed. What’s worse, his liver began to fail. Despite this, he found himself craving the foods that he was consuming! Morgan’s health team neglected to make a couple of significant connections. They were at a loss for the cause of his headaches.

MSG is a Hidden Ingredient
In much of McDonalds’ food, including fries, there’s a hidden ingredient…MSG. MSG is an excitotoxin, which over-stimulate brain cells to the point that they die. Many people experience headaches when this occurs. It seems likely that MSG was the cause of Morgan’s headaches. It’s a shame that Morgan’s health team missed this important connection.

They were also at a loss as to why Morgan’s liver began to fail after only eighteen days. They concluded it was because of the saturated fat he was ingesting. It was a red herring! They neglected to isolate Trans Fat from natural saturated fats. Trans Fat is manmade and can’t be properly metabolized into your body. Fast foods (as are all restaurant fried foods) are loaded with trans fat.

Children Shouldn’t Eat Trans Fat
The government recommends that we, and especially children, don’t eat any trans fat. Since 2006, it became mandatory to list trans fat on nutrition labels. In fact, McDonalds website lists the trans fat in their foods. A small fry has 3½ grams; medium 5 grams, and a large fry 8 grams. Happy Meals, purchased for small children, fall somewhere between 4 and 5 grams of trans fat.

Trans fat can be found in most of McDonalds foods: salads, shakes, hamburgers, all fried foods including chicken McNuggets, sandwiches, cookies, biscuits, burritos, and of course their fries. Morgan was ingesting trans fat in just about every bite of food. No wonder his liver began to fail!

Most of us don’t eat exclusively at McDonalds,  but you should be able to eat at ANY restaurant for a month without your health failing -even if you put on a few pounds.

It DOES Matter What We Eat
Desperate parents often give in to their picky eaters, who willingly eat junk foods. The cost of eating well is measured in not only dollars, but health. CLICK HERE for Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater.

CLICK HERE for ordering information for Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater and The Forest Feast: Baby Bites Mealtime Adventures.

For info about the free Baby Bites Ezine, CLICK HERE.