# The New Kids' Meal Selections: Your Thoughts? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 29, 2004, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-kids-meal-selections-your-thoughts/257503 "2004-07-29T21:31:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-kids-meal-selections-your-thoughts/257503/21 "2004-07-30T20:12:26Z")
> [@Pamflitt](#): > > Gakk, 2% is awful, I don’t know how people drink it w/o flavouring, once you’ve had homo milk, you cannot drink 2% etc without gagging. Heck, I grew up on whole milk (we even had farm milk for a couple years, where the cream is still sitting on top of the milk in the bottle when it’s delivered), and – like **Ferret Herder** said – it’s not really that big of a deal. I switched from whole milk to 2% without noticing a difference in taste (or consistency, etc.), but it did take a few years before I went to 1%, which is what I’ve been using for over a year. I refuse to take the final step to skim milk, though, because that doesn’t even look like milk anymore to me: it looks like milk-colored water. Blech. 😉 I hardly ever drink milk, though – and when I do, it’s mixed with either cream soda or chocolate Quik powder. {grin} I used to drink milk like a fiend, but I think I was out of the habit by the time I graduated from college; these days I just use it for cooking. So if you drink milk regularly, you’ll probably notice more of a difference when you switch, but it’s still not _that_ dramatic. 🙂 > [@GilaB](#): > > Kids under the age of 2 are supposed to drink whole milk. Two-year-olds and up should be drinking the same reduced fat or skim milk adults drink, unless for some reason they have very little other fat in their diets. Wow, really? The cutoff is age 2? For some reason I thought it would be, like, 10 or something. Do you remember the reasoning behind this? I can’t remember it (maybe something to do with getting more calcium from whole milk?), I just remember the kids = whole milk part. Which I now know is wrong. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![susan\_foster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@susan\_foster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan_foster)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-kids-meal-selections-your-thoughts/257503/22 "2004-07-30T20:31:13Z")
> [@TeaElle](#): > > Now, as for Subway, their ads touting their food as healthy alternatives for kids are so terribly offensive that I cannot fathom giving them any consideration or any business. They’re advocating having your kids eat Subway in order to lose weight so that other kids don’t make fun of them anymore. I nearly threw up. Subway, and their oily cookies and fat-laden bread (I was surprised how fatty their bread is) can pucker up and kiss something. Umm…which of the breads are fatty? Because when I go by their nutrition calculations at [http://www.subway.com/applications/NutritionInfo/nutritionlist.aspx?CountryCode=USA&ID=breadfixin](http://www.subway.com/applications/NutritionInfo/nutritionlist.aspx?CountryCode=USA&ID=breadfixin) , the highest percent of fat I find is 19% - which is fairly high for bread, I admit, but it’s their monterey cheddar bread, which makes sense. Their deli-style roll does seem a little high to me - but still within healthy fat %, from what I can see. Or maybe I’m just looking at it wrong. Susan ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-kids-meal-selections-your-thoughts/257503/23 "2004-07-31T01:01:48Z")
> [@belladonna](#): > > I can’t guarantee it, but I think the caramel sauce was fat free, Given that caramel is essentially just sugar and water, it would boggle the mind if it wern’t fat free. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-kids-meal-selections-your-thoughts/257503/24 "2004-07-31T17:15:15Z")
I think the additional choices are a good idea. Yes, the caramel sauce and the syrup the oranges are in are sugary, but you get the nutrition of the fruits, whereas fries are basically non-nutritive. The chocolate milk has more fat and calories than soda, but soda has no nutritional value whatsoever (unless you count the modicum of sodium), and the milk has protein, vitamins, etc. As for the stupid parents who are now going to think it’s okay to feed their kids fast food seven days a week, well, those parents are going to make bad choices for their kids regardless of what the fast food shops do. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-kids-meal-selections-your-thoughts/257503/25 "2004-07-31T20:04:26Z")
I think it’s a great idea. Especially for those who feed their kids fast food often. However, we eat fast food so very rarely that l have no problem letting Charlie have the fries and the Coke. He may choose chocolate milk over the Coke, though given the choice, but then so would I. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-kids-meal-selections-your-thoughts/257503/26 "2004-07-31T20:41:47Z")
> [@FaerieBeth](#): > > Now, how does this change your opinion on fast food for kids, if at all? Would you buy your child a Happy Meal with milk and apples? A Kid’s Meal with chocolate milk and oranges? It doesn’t change my mind unless I was going to feed kids that kind of stuff regularly. When I was a child going out to McDonalds or ordering a pizza was a treat. An occasional Happy Meal with nuggets, fries, and a soda isn’t going to harm anyone. Aside from the vitamins is milk really any heathier than soda? Marc ---
**Author:** ![Pamflitt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc348/32.png) [@Pamflitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pamflitt)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-kids-meal-selections-your-thoughts/257503/27 "2004-07-31T23:38:38Z")
> [@chaoticdonkey](#): > > Actually, I was under the impression that all milk we drink is homogenized. Maybe you’re just thinking of whole milk. I’ve always refered to “whole milk” (that sounds foreign/wrong to me) as “Homo milk” It’s its name, like 2%'s name is 2%, etc. Maybe it’s a Canadian thing. ---
**Author:** ![IGJoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/igjoe/32/5420_2.png) [@IGJoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IGJoe)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-kids-meal-selections-your-thoughts/257503/28 "2004-08-01T00:00:02Z")
Just wondering if anyone else looked at the thread title and wondered if [Donnie Wahlberg](http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/new_kids_on_the_block/bio.jhtml) was writing a cookbook… ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-kids-meal-selections-your-thoughts/257503/29 "2004-08-01T00:07:20Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by MGibson_ > Aside from the vitamins is milk really any heathier than soda? Well, there’s protein, too. Aside from the vitamins and protein, milk is no better than soda, but isn’t that like saying that aside from the vitamins and fiber, fruit is no better than candy? ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-kids-meal-selections-your-thoughts/257503/30 "2004-08-01T02:18:41Z")
> [@Pamflitt](#): > > I’ve always refered to “whole milk” (that sounds foreign/wrong to me) as “Homo milk” It’s its name, like 2%'s name is 2%, etc. > Maybe it’s a Canadian thing. Perhaps. Is your 2%/1% unhomogenized? If so, that would be kind of gross. Side note: Is there _any_ fat in skim milk? I’d think it’d be hard to make sure you got all of the fat out of it? And even if it is totally free of fat, do they still put it in the homogenization machine just for tradition’s sake? ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-kids-meal-selections-your-thoughts/257503/31 "2004-08-01T12:31:04Z")
Answering questions about McDonald’s caramel apples… First, according to the [McDonald’s](http://www.mcdonalds.com/app_controller.nutrition.item.10110.html) website, the apples are kept white by an ascorbate, which is essentially vitamin C. This does give the apples an off taste that older kids might find weird, but it doesn’t hurt the apples. Second, the caramel comes in a separate cup. I don’t give Aaron the caramel. He doesn’t need the sugar, and in the hands of a two-year-old, caramel is dangerous. 😉 Robin ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-kids-meal-selections-your-thoughts/257503/32 "2004-08-01T19:12:58Z")
> [@Misnomer](#): > > Wow, really? The cutoff is age 2? For some reason I thought it would be, like, 10 or something. Do you remember the reasoning behind this? I can’t remember it (maybe something to do with getting more calcium from whole milk?), I just remember the kids = whole milk part. Which I now know is wrong. ☹ It’s because of the fat. You’re not supposed to give babies reduced fat anything because they need the fat to build…stuff. I think a lot of it has to do with the fat-protein layer that goes over your neurons, but I don’t really remember for sure. It’s okay to give kids of any age whole milk if that’s what the rest of you drink, but after 2 or so you don’t have to buy it especially for them if the rest of the family drinks 2%. And as for the whole issue of whether milk is actually any healthier than soda, milk has all of the nutrient groups. Protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and water–it’s all in there. After all, milk _is_ complete nutritition for baby cows until they get old enough to eat solids. Soda has nothing but water and sugar and sodium. Milk has somewhat more calories, but it’s got miles more nutrition in those calories. Besides, soda is acidic, which can erode your teeth, and the colorants can discolor your teeth. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2004, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-kids-meal-selections-your-thoughts/257503/33 "2004-08-01T21:04:39Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by CrazyCatLady_ > Soda has nothing but water and sugar and sodium. Milk has somewhat more calories, but it’s got miles more nutrition in those calories. Also, while milk has more calories per ounce than soda, I think that a lot of the kids in fast food joints may well be drinking more than one serving of soda. After all, the milk doesn’t come with a free refill, but the sodas do. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-kids-meal-selections-your-thoughts/257503.md?page=1)