Squeaky Wheels make Happy Meals!

And it rhymes.  Come on, that is an awesome title. :)


I wanted to post how excited I was to read in the local morning paper two things that I feel so passionate about:  Happy Meals being made healthier and calorie counts on menu boards making a difference in people's dietary choices.

Don't get too cozy with that smile, Happy Meal.

McDonald's is downsizing their Happy Meal size fries to an 100-calorie version and adding apple slices with no caramel dipping sauce to all of their Happy Meals by the end of the year.  In all of their stores!  This is good news for kids and parents- kids get their fries at a better size and parents get them to eat some fruit.  Everyone is a winner.  Now let's keep it coming and actually make it healthy, not less unhealthy.

I also read that they are lowering sodium in their foods by 2015.  What takes so long?  All the lab taste testing. . .

Why hot cakes?  Why not pancakes?

I am a huge fan of the calorie counts being put on menus and menu boards.  It really makes me take a long, hard look at what I am going to put into my mouth (and onto my butt) and try to make a better, more well informed choice.  Well, a new study came out that shows the calorie posting is actually causing people to take in less- about 100 calories less per meal.  I think that that is effective enough to merit going across country with this concept, don't you?  In about a month, that's 3,500 calories or 1 pound of fat.  That's 12 pounds a year that people could be saving without even trying!

And that is really just the tip of the iceberg.  With more education about portion sizes and what healthier eating really means (not just "natural" being put on a box), we can really see changes being made in our communities.  But we have to keep being the squeaky wheels to see that change happen and to keep the companies that feed us accountable!