Fat Kids... And Their Happy Meals.

McDonald's started selling Happy Meals in the 1970's as a packaged or "bundled" meal marketed towards children. Back then, there were no healthy options like apple wedges or low-fat milk to replace fries or soda, respectively. What you got was either a hamburger or cheeseburger, a small fries, and a small soda... and a toy.

Today, the Happy Meal has options. You can choose between the above mentioned burgers, or chicken nuggets. You can get either fries or apples. You can choose soda, juice, or low-fat milk.

Are all the possible combinations of these new options a healthier alternative to the meal we all got when we were kids? No. The calorie count on most combinations still exceed 400 calories, or 1/3 of a child's daily caloric needs. For a kid eating 3 meals a day, this definitely covers one of them.

Then there's the toy. When I was a young kid, the toy was everything. You bought the Happy Meal to get the toy. This was no secret. I can remember rushing through my Happy Meal to play with the toy. My favorite were the transformers than transformed into different McDonald's products. How lame. Not to mention shameless on McDonald's part. But I still have the toys, if anyone wants to come over and play.

In today's litigious society, a consumer group is giving McDonald's 30 days to "drop a tactic it says undermines the efforts of parents to encourage a healthy diet" or it will sue.

Really?!?

Let me ask you this: If a man drinks a six-pack of Miller Lite, gets into his car and smashes into a tree, do you think he stands a chance of suing Miller-Coors for damages? The answer is NO.

We as a society have to understand that our actions, whether getting fat off of fast food, drunk driving, or anything similar, are OUR responsibility. No one forced that food down our throats or put that bottle to our lips. We chose to do it. It was our CHOICE. Just like it's our choice to never step foot into a McDonald's.

Those who oppose my opinion may say that McDonald's is an evil corporation who specifically markets unhealthy food to children. I don't disagree. They do. There wouldn't be a Happy Meal if they didn't. But you have to ask yourself: Who has a bigger influence on my kids? Me or McDonald's? Anyone who answers with "McDonald's" is an idiot and shouldn't be raising children. Anyone who answers with "Me" has no right to sue McDonald's because you just proved the lawsuit invalid.

And here's some fast food for thought: The consumer group is claiming that the toy in the Happy Meal is duping kids into ordering them. Is that to say kids wouldn't choose to order a Happy Meal if they didn't come with a toy? That's a load of horse shit. Think about the logic: If McDonald's is forced to stop including a toy in their Happy Meals on the grounds that it influences kids to choose to eat a Happy Meal, what's the alternative? What I mean is if kids won't order a Happy Meal because it no longer comes with a toy, what will they order instead? Most likely, a value meal. Those have 2 or 3 times as many calories as a Happy Meal. Congratulations consumer group, Happy Meals aren't making kids fat anymore!

The moral of this ridiculous story is: If you take responsibility and teach your kids healthy eating habits and limit the amount of fast food they consume, you will have smarter, healthier kids. If you allow fast food to be a staple in your kids diet, you will have fat, lethargic kids. It's your choice. Just like walking into a McDonald's is your choice.