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4A Daily News – Tuesday, April 16, 2013 Vitality health & fitness Most kids' meals still far from healthful By Sandra Pedicini Orlando Sentinel (MCT) ORLANDO, Fla. — Even though children's nutrition has received lots of attention the past few years, you're still more likely to find chicken fingers and fries on kids' menus than wraps and salads. Ninety-seven percent of major restaurant-chain children's meals were deemed unhealthful in a recent report by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer-advocacy group. "I think what most restaurants have done is just add one or two meals that meet nutrition standards and left the rest of the menu very unhealthy," said Margo Wootan, nutrition policy director for the Washington-based organization. "They're still serving up the same old junk they always have." With Americans spending nearly half of their food budgets on eating out, restaurants have been under increasing pressure from government and health advocates to make meals more healthful, especially for youngsters. Restaurants say they are making steady progress. But kids are growing out of these meals earlier, and many parents aren't exactly clamoring for fewer calories, less salt and more vegetables. And that's why many restaurants are making token changes rather than substantial ones, some experts say. "There's always been this mentality that people don't go out to eat healthy," said Julie Casey, an Orlando consultant who helps restaurants make themselves more child-friendly. Anna Hancy of Orlando agreed with that last week as her 3-year-old daughter, Henley, ate chicken nuggets and fries at Chick-fil-A. "It's kind of a splurge," Hancy said. "It's not the most nutri- MCT photo Tyler, 7, left, and Logan, 5, has lunch with mom Cindy Waddell at Chick-Fil-A. drinks for America's biggest chains. One was Best, worst meals for kids based on how many met the standards established Here are some of the best and worst restaurant by a panel of nutritionists kids' meals: for the study. Another Best: was based on how many Subway's roast-beef sub, apple slices and 1 permet less-stringent stancent milk: 395 calories, 6 grams of fat, 590 mg of sodidards in a restaurantum. industry program called Olive Garden's cheese ravioli, broccoli and orange Kids LiveWell. juice: 405 calories, 8 grams of fat, 480 mg of sodium. CSPI's criteria includChick-fil-A's 4-count grilled chicken nuggets, small ed having no more than fruit cup, low-fat milk: 220 calories, 3 grams of fat, 655 430 calories, 35 percent mg of sodium. of them from fat, and 770 Worst: mg of salt. It also docked Applebee's grilled cheese on sourdough with fries meal combinations with and 2 percent chocolate milk: 1,210 calories, 62 sugar-sweetened drinks. grams of fat, 2,340 mg of sodium. Kids LiveWell standards Chili's pepperoni pizza with homestyle fries and are similar but allow 600 soda: 1,010 calories, 45 grams of fat, 2,020 mg of calories. sodium. Three percent of Denny's Jr. Cheeseburger and french fries: 980 restaurants' meals met calories, 55 grams of fat, 1,110 mg of sodium. CSPI's standards. Fewer than one out of 10 met SOURCE: Center for Science in the Public Interest the KidsLive Well Standards. McDonald's has cut The healthier nuggets tious meal she'll eat this week. She's also 3 and were never meant to gen- the size of its french fries very picky, and it's some- erate blockbuster sales, and now includes apples spokesman Mark Bald- in all Happy Meals. Still, thing she will eat." Chick-fil-A offers a win said in an email, but the report called out the variety of sides for chil- "we felt it was our fast-food giant, saying it dren, including apple- responsibility to offer a was one of several chains sauce and fresh fruit. grilled version of our having no meals that met Last year, it introduced nuggets as a healthier even the restaurant indusalternative for our nutri- try's nutritional criteria. grilled chicken nuggets. Orlando-based Darden But last week during tion-minded customers." "(Restaurants) make Restaurants' Olive Garlunchtime in an Orlando Chick-fil-A, children more money selling junk den was in the middle of were eating fried food," said Marion Nes- the pack, though the nuggets, not grilled ones, tle, a New York Universi- report noted it offers which last year made up ty nutrition and public- more-healthful wholejust one-half of a percent health professor and grain pasta. One percent of the chain's overall author of "What to Eat," of its meals met CSPI's in an email. "Until that standards, and 11 percent sales. problem is addressed, I met those of Kids don't see things chang- LiveWell. Darden's Red Lobster ing." Wootan suggested was one of the highestchains should put more ranking, with only Subenergy into making way and IHOP having a first month rent! healthier fare "something greater percentage of ◆ Independent Living ◆ Private Apartments more interesting than a meals that got a CSPI ◆ Three Nutritious Meals Daily ◆ 24 Hour Secure Environment ◆ House Keeping Services plain grilled piece of thumbs-up. All of Sub◆ Warm & Friendly Staff ◆Recreational Programs way's meals met the chicken." ◆Scheduled Transportation ◆Private & Formal Dining Rooms Her group's study CSPI standards. At IHOP A Retirement Community for the Active Senior looked at every combina- it was 31 percent and at Citizens tion of entrees, sides and Red Lobster, 28 percent. 750 David Avenue, Red Bluff • 527-9193 1/2 OFF EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY www.redbluff.mercy.org redbluff.mercy.org Community Basic Life Support Training 6-10 PM April 9, Tuesday Columba Room 529.8026 Waterbirth Class 5:30-9:30 PMApril 10, Wednesday Columba Room 529.8026 Grief Support Group 3-5 PM Thursdays Check in the Coyne Center 528.4207 Wearable Art Sale 7 AM-5 PM, Monday-Tuesday, April 22-23 Hospital Main Hallway 736.1326 Auxiliary Spring Luncheon 12 Noon, Saturday, May 4, Red Bluff Community Center Tickets $25 A Taste of Italy 736.1326 or email auxiliaryfundraiser@gmail.com www.redbluff.mercy.org When is it time to take your child to the doctor? By Dr. Jane Sadler "Does my child really need professional medical attention for this ailment?" You might think that would be an easy question for a doctor to answer. No matter who you are, it can be difficult to make objective decisions as to how to respond when your child is ill. Sometimes, being a physician can make personal family medical decisions even harder. I have sat next to my sickly child in an ER, wondering whether I really needed to be there while she lay uncomfortably on the examining room table. I have held the exhausted body of my infant son whose cough I could not control and whose breathing could not be slowed, agonizing about my decision to keep him at home and observe him rather than take him to the emergency room for more complete evaluation. I have heard myself providing my daughter's doctors with nearly exaggerated descriptions of her symptoms in an effort to persuade them she truly needed to seek medical attention. I suspect there are many mother and father medical providers who have the same issues. I also share the concerns of nonmedically trained parents who experience the same emotional struggles that come with determining whether to seek medical attention for our children. We have all heard the importance of avoiding unnecessary testing, radiation exposure (from X-rays) and use of antibiotics in our children. Yet when it comes to our own children, we want tests to ensure that they are absolutely healthy. Based on my experience managing ill patients who may have delayed seeking medical help, I may be quicker to pull the trigger on evaluation and treatment of 36th Annual APRIL 8TH - 19TH 25 Brands To Choose From 20-75% OFF All Sunglasses Hundreds of styles to Choose From *Except Oakley & Rayban 910 Main St. Suite C Red Bluff (530) 527-2510 or (800) 481-LENS gummsoptical.com my own family (please do not tell my kids' doctors.) Both my parents were doctors, and our pharmacist swore that all five children were raised on penicillin. Living in close quarters (in younger years we shared one bathroom), we knew that one case of strep throat in the family meant all five of us would become ill. Penicillin became as much a staple as bread: Once the last kid had finished the course of medication, it was not long before the next wave of infection would spread. Like a crowded cruise ship, in my large family there was never a shortage of germs. I suspect, however, due to my parents' profession and my mother's natural heightened concern for her children, that the penicillin in our veins ran all too abundantly. Nonetheless, I can err on the side of undertreating, too. I am in the postoperative waiting room right now, waiting for my precious daughter to arrive out of her medically induced coma and into my arms. She has just had necessary surgery, and although I worry about achieving successful surgical results, I know I waited too long to seek medical attention for her. I thought her persistent watery eye was just an allergy, but it turned out to be a closed tear duct. The discomfort for her lasted several weeks before I finally took her in for evaluation and then surgery. I have a doctor's maternal guilt. The bottom line is that I know I can never be truly confident in my medical knowledge when it comes to my own loved ones. I have far more certainty in my ability to treat my patients than my family, and that will never change. Sometimes, picking up the phone and making a simple call to the doctor can provide reassuring direction when it comes to your child's medical needs. It is never wrong to call your doctor or take your child to the office for evaluation if you sense a medical necessity. We all have limits in our comfort levels in treating our children at home. It is always easier for a doctor to treat a child a little bit early in the course of an illness than a little bit too late. Dr. Jane Sadler is a family medicine physician on staff at Baylor Medical Center at Garland. She blogs at healthblog.dallasnews.com.