Mississippi State University

Make nutritious fast-food choices for kids

Worried your kids don't get a completely nutritious diet when they eat a lot of fast food?

Dr. Barbara McLaurin, human nutrition specialist with MCES, says it's OK for children to eat fast foods if they make nutritious selections.

"Remember to add, rather than take away," she says. "For instance, add a salad to a hamburger meal."

Other tips to make fast food more nutritious include:

Add extra vegetables to a sandwich.
Choose milk instead of a soft drink and make that milk low fat or skim.
Pizzas are great if you load up on vegetable toppings. Got to have a little meat on there? Try Canadian bacon instead of fat-laden pepperoni.

While a low-fat diet—30 percent or less of total calories a day from fat—is recommended for all family members, McLaurin does caution that children younger than 2 years old should not have any fat restrictions. After that age, however, it's time to begin watching the old fat percentages.

For more on nutritious eating for children, call McLaurin at 325-3080.

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This World Wide Web version of MSU Memo was modified and updated by Chris Brown.
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Last modified: Friday, 14-Jun-2002 15:59:25 CDT.
URL: http://msuinfo.ur.msstate.edu/msu_memo/1994/8-4-94/fastfood.htm
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