Kids know what they want and it's usually an outing to a fast food establishment to get a burger, fries, fried chicken and many other tasty, but nutritionally not so great dishes. There are better options within these restaurants that you can choose for your kids without sacrificing taste.

Macdonald's Happy Meals

Kids love McDonalds Happy Meals because on top of the tasty food, they also get a toy. When choosing happy meals Swap cheese burger with small fries and 1% chocolate milk (250 ml), which is 700 calories / 25 gm fat / 8 gm saturated fat /  1120 mg sodium for Cheeseburger with apple dippers (apple slices with caramel dip) and apple juice, which is 480 calories / 13 gm fat/ 6 gm saturated fat /790 mg sodium

Small fries alone are 220 calories and 11 gm fat, which is full days sodium intake

Cheeseburger with fries and chocolate milk is equivalent to over 80 pringles in sodium or 1 ½ hours of ice hockey

Half their daily fat / ¾ of days sodium

Burger king

Swap Whopper Jr, which is 560 cal / 26 gm fat / 9 gm saturated fat /1230mg sodium for Kids Kraft dinner (Mac n Cheese), which is
220calories / 5 gm fat / 1.5 gm saturated fat / 320 mg sodium

Whopper Jr is equivalent to 9 packets of oreo cookie thins (100 calorie pack) in fat or 1 hour on basket ball court

The bread and burger patty in the Whopper itself is over 200 calories. When you add the bacon and mayonnaise, you’re or your kids are easily consuming over 300 calories


Wendy's

When you are going out for lunch with kid's, you are likely to order a parents salad, such as Baja Salad or Apple Pecan Chicken Salad. But not all salads are created equal. Baja salad with greens, chilli, guacamole,cheese and tortilla strips is 740 cal / 48 gm fat / 17 gm saturated fat / 1990 mg sodium and is equivalent to 16 mcnuggets in fat. You'd need 1.5 hrs on a stationary bike to work this salad off. Swap It for Apple pecan chicken salad, which is 580 cal / 30 gm fat / 10 gm saturated fat /  1510 mg sodium

Reason:  Baja Salad has ¾ of daily fat and over 1 days worth of sodium.  The dressing has 10 grams of fat and 270 mg of sodium.  Fried tortilla chips, cheese, guacamole all add to fat.


KFC

Swap

Popcorn Chicken with small fries is 865 cal, 51 g fat, 4 g sat, 2060 mg Na
•    Small pop corn chicken: 525 cal, 34 g fat, 3 g sat, 1290 mg Na
•    Small fries: 340 cal, 17 g fat, 1 g sat, 770 mg Na

This is equivalent to 20 timbits in fat or over 2 hours of ice hockey

For

Crispy Strips (3) with mashed potatoes and gravy is 545 cal, 15 g fat, 1780 mg Na
•    Crispy strips: 320 cal, 14 g fat, 1 g sat, 1120 mg Na
•    Mashed potatoes (med size): 180 cal, 660 mg Na
•    Gravy: 45 cal, 1 g fat, 600 mg Na

Although calorically this option is better than Popcorn chicken with fries, it is still high in Sodium. Both these options are a full day's worth of Sodium for an adult!



Taco Bell

I would have thought that soft tacos would be a better choice than a hard taco, but this is not the case here. Swap chicken soft taco that has 270 calories / 16 gm fat / 4 gm saturated fat / 740 mg sodium for beef hard taco that has 160 calories / 9 gm fat / 3.5 gm saturated fat / 380 mg sodium.

Chicken soft Taco is equivalent to 3 cups of kraft dinner or 1 hour biking