The past couple of weeks seem like a blur.  We took a long overdue but short family vacation to Washington DC, where the kids were thrilled to see the Space Shuttle Discovery being flown in on top of a 747 right over our heads, enjoyed the Air & Space and Natural History Museums, had a fabulous private tour of the Capitol Building even witnessing Congress voting on a bill, but maybe even most of all that we stayed in a hotel with an indoor pool.  Ah, the little things. 

The boys also loved that my strict no soda policy was relaxed.  I allowed them root beer one day and ginger ale or Sprite another. Whoa!  One thing I noticed since we ate out every lunch and dinner was how shoddy kids’ menus are, especially when it comes to giving kids any vegetable.  Almost all the restaurants serve chicken nuggets or tenders and macaroni and cheese.  But there were so few that gave any vegetables with their meal— I don’t really count French fries as a vegetable.  Of course I pay extra and order  sides or my kids split an item off the regular menu. But I just don’t get that these chains can’t see that offering mac and cheese (often just Kraft’s disgusting artificially colored garbage), soda and a free ice cream is not doing these kids any favors.  (I guess I’m on another rant!) 

We need restaurants to get on board with offering kids meals that are tasty and nutritious.  Why must they give the same ol’ same ol’ hot dogs, mac & cheese, chicken nuggets and burgers?  Can’t they use some of the creativity that goes into the “adult menu” on the “children’s menu”?  Don’t they realize that many parents not only want their kids to eat, they also care about them to eat well?   How about a vegetable pasta or a hummus platter?  Maybe offering side salads (green, coleslaw, bean)? 

I think I wouldn’t have minded so much if it had been only one meal, but when one is on vacation most meals are eaten out.  And I find that lunch and dinner are when my own kids eat the most vegetables. Again, I altered what they got by ordering sides or splitting “adult” mains.  I just wish it was part of the package they already offer.

What do you do when you take your kids out to restaurants?  

Every now and then I just need to let one out— get up on my soapbox and shout about something.  The time has come for one of those rants.  I recently took my kids to Peachwave, a self-serve soft yogurt place.  Seemed like a fun idea, plus I’d used it as an incentive to get my reluctant 4th grader to get over his Mondayitis and go to school that morning (when you get home from school I’ll take you).  Peachwave is a franchise that is similar (but not the same) as other frozen yogurt places that have cropped up not only here but overseas.  They have a wall of self-serve yogurt flavors and then a buffet of toppings (fresh fruit, cookies, candies).  Then it’s all weighed and you pay by the ounce or gram.  Well, sounds innocuous enough, but then I ate some and really started looking around and paying attention. All over the place “healthy” was emblazoned.  Now, I’m all for healthy and eating healthful foods, but something seemed off.  I should have become aware when I saw the plentiful vibrantly colored candies as the most common toppings. 

First I noticed that the two cup sizes were huge and massive (the smallest was 16oz).  Then when I was really tasting the yogurt I kept getting this kvetchy sensation in the back of my throat and a strange aftertaste.  I decided to ask the staff if they had a list of ingredients.  They looked at me as though I had two heads then rolled their eyes at each other like this was the strangest thing each of them had ever been asked.  One older woman did try to help and said that there was probably a list of ingredients on the bags of mix in the back.  Bags of mix?  That didn’t sound appealing.  Then she pointed out that there was a nutritional contents list near the front of the store.  So, upon reading that I noticed that a serving size was3 oz.  Wait? 3 ounces per serving when the smallest cup to hold a “serving” in was16 ounces.  Hmm… so the smallest cup holds 5+ servings.  The amount of sugar on average was 18g. 

So, if someone filled their small cup to the top and didn’t load it with candies, strawberry syrup, chocolate fudge, whipped cream or even fruit… and they ate it all it would be over 86 grams of sugar!  That’s without the toppings.  Healthy?  How is that healthy? Average calories per serving (sampled 20 off their list alphabetically) is 92. I noticed most people there ate at least half.  So, if they ate the whole cup that would equal 491 calories.  This is how we’ve gotten to be an obese society— by increasing the portion size while pretending to be health food.

Since I’ve got an iPhone I decided to look up on their website for ingredients, etc. Four of the yogurt flavors were listed, most were not.  But, for example vanilla has sugar as its second ingredient and it’s flavored artificially.  Yet, they claim their yogurt to be “natural” on the products page.  I highly doubt most people would consider their newest brightly colored cotton candy or bubblegum flavors to be natural.

Personally I would rather go to our local creamery ice cream spot (when they’re open for the season) and get full-fat, sweet ice cream that is made on premises with their own cow’s milk.  It’s rich, delicious and you only need a tiny bit to feel satisfied (because they left the fat in there).  I’m not saying don’t go to Peachwave. What I’m trying to point out is that their “healthy” claims are not as they seem.  I really think people are trying to do the right thing and this takes advantage of that.  I believe that people should make informed decisions with food and food-like substances.

(Disclaimer- I used to eat ice cream 5 times a week when I was pregnant and nursing. Can’t do that anymore, but I really love ice cream. Now only buy hormone-free, mostly natural ingredients-especially colored.)