The Happy Meal, a McDonalds’ children staple since 1979, was designed as a marketing tool that would promote McDonald’s as a restaurant for families, specifically those with smaller children. Considering that McDonalds is now the largest toy manufacturer and distributer in the world, one can only suppose that the campaign has been successful. But at what cost?
Yum…, can’t you just taste it? It’s a tasty burger with condiments galore and a side of golden french fries. Let the soft drink of your choice wash it all down, while you enjoy that nifty little happy meal toy that came inside. Yes sir, that’s got to sound familiar. At least to Americans. Our children experience the happy meal on a regular basis. Most likely while you’re enjoying one of the other combo-meals, which was probably super-sized at your request. No offense, but this is NOT a healthy way of life. For the life of me I can’t fathom the fast food commercials and their pitches about living well. Hey, guess what; fast food is definitely not the key to a healthy and happy existence. In fact, it could kill you.
Heart attacks, heart disease, high cholesterol, strokes, obesity, you name it. All of these can be brought on via a life of poor diet. This is why I think we should forget about the happy meal toy. Do we really want to pass this stuff to our children at the dinner table? Let’s see, a standard happy meal is high in saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium and sugar. Not exactly the four basic food groups. Then there is the fact that a standard happy meal has very little nutrients and vitamins. Is that worth a happy meal toy?
So what is your child getting from this garbage? I’ll tell you what; nothing beneficial. If you truly want your little ones to grow up healthy and strong, you’ll avoid fast food as best you can. I started doing this when my daughter was born. Naturally she sees all the commercials for fast food chains and craves the happy meal, like most kids do. Mostly because of the little happy meal toy inside, of all things. But, and this is a big but, when I took her out a few months back to get a happy meal as a special treat, she got a painful stomach ache after eating it. Now, you may be wondering why this is. It’s not because they sold us spoiled food or anything like that. It’s plain and simply because her body is not used to all the grease, salt and fat. We generally eat organic foods at home with lean meats and plenty of vegetables. Therefore her body rejected the fast food. This is a clear sign to me that fast food is atrocious and bad for your body.
Think twice before you head through that drive-thru to acquire a happy meal toy for the little one sitting behind you. This is not a healthy meal to feed your child. Try organic, low fat foods that you can prepare at home. There’s several thousand happy meal toys available on eBay. Try picking some up there, instead of at McDonalds. Your family’s health is worth it.