WJBC Forum – We are responsible for what we eat

McDonald's will add apple slices and reduce the portion of French fries in its children's meal boxes beginning this fall, effectively taking away consumers' current choice between either having apples with caramel dip or fries as a Happy Meal side. (Photo by David Paul Morris/Getty Images)

This week, first lady Michelle Obama, who has made the fight against childhood obesity a major part of her platform, praised McDonald’s for plans to add apples to Happy Meals and other new nutritional improvements they have planned over the course of the next ten years including the pledge to reduce sugars, saturated fats and calories through varied portion sizes, reformulations and innovations. Obama went on to say, “I’ve always said that everyone has a role to play in making America healthier, and these are positive steps toward the goal of solving the problem of childhood obesity.”

McDonald’s isn’t the only restaurant chain to make such changes. Walk into almost any restaurant and you find evidence many are making menu changes to appease the demands of customers and regulators who blame the restaurant industry for health ills ranging from obesity to diabetes.

While I certainly applaud the restaurant industry’s efforts to make improvements to their fare, we shouldn’t let these improvements lull us into a false sense of complacency. It is our responsibility as consumers to be vigilant and thoughtful about the foods that we eat. I am by no means a dietician, but I do try to do my homework. Eating meals prepared simply at home is the best thing we can do for our good health. It is far easier to control the quality of our diet when we plan and prepare our own meals. But hey, I’m also realistic. My family loves to dine out. It is fun, and is a big time saver too.

So consider this. Before dining out, do a little research and see what sorts of ingredients are in the foods you are about to eat. Can you pronounce them? Are they ingredients your great grandmothers would recognize, or are the foods we are eating filled with preservatives, artificial colors, and edible food-like substances created in a laboratory?

With a little pre-planning, you’ll find healthy fare in almost every restaurant, and it appears that our options are only improving. As consumers, let’s continue to demand even more improvements to the nutritional quality of what they serve. They seem to be listening.

This is Heather Young, for the WJBC Forum.

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Heather Young is the public affairs coordinator for the Children’s Discovery Museum, where she has worked since 2002. When she’s not sounding off about the Museum and the Power of Play, she keeps herself busy as a board member of The Beyond the Books Educational Foundation and is an active member of the McLean County Wellness Coalition and Leadership Illinois. Heather is married to Jeff (we just celebrated 15 years- holy cow!) and mother to Andy. Heather has a keen interest in all things fitness, and loves attending classes and lifting weights at her neighborhood gym. Her secret goal in the not too distant future is to be a fitness instructor.

The opinions expressed within WJBC’s Forum are solely those of the Forum’s author, and are not necessarily those of WJBC or Townsquare Media.