Fast Food
Many parents, especially those with more than one child plus an outside job, find themselves in the car when mealtime rolls around. It's difficult to resist the lure of McDonald's and other fast-food chains when you're hungry, your child is hungry, and you're pressed for time.
Fast-food restaurants present both advantages and disadvantages. Most places do offer a selection of healthful foods. In recent years children have more nutritious options to choose from, such as spring water or juice instead of soft drinks, apple slices instead of French fries.
Unfortunately, high-fat, highly processed foods are still readily available, so you have to train yourself to make conscious decisions at the drive-through window. You can be sure that if you're eating French fries, drinking soda, and eating a large burger, your two-year-old will want that meal, too.
Family Restaurants
When looking for places to eat with their children, parents often try to stay away from fast-food restaurants, alternatively turning to chain family restaurants, assuming they will find more healthful food.
The reality is that many of the dishes available in these types of restaurants are not much better, in terms of nutritional value, than fast food. Menu options for children are similar to those of fast-food restaurants: macaroni and cheese; chicken nuggets; grilled cheese; hamburgers with fries. All of these foods have one thing in common:high fat content.
Although it's fine for your two-year-old to eat these prepared foods once in a while, it is much better to frequent restaurants that offer a full range of healthful selections. These consist of vegetable side dishes, fresh fruits, broiled and baked meat, poultry, and fish, and other non-fried options. You usually stand a better chance of ordering nutritious, fresh food at locally owned restaurants and diners rather than at chain restaurants.
Fact
Children's meals in family restaurants are appropriate portion sizes — for adults, that is. Even if your two-year-old does not eat all of her meal, that's usually because it is the size of a healthy adult meal to begin with. So don't force her to eat all of it.
Eating at Home
Studies have shown that the healthiest eaters, both children and adults, are those who have a majority of their meals at home. There are several reasons for this.
In preparing foods at home, you can control the amount of fats and sugar in meals. Also you are able to cook a meal that is well-balanced, combining vegetables, fruits, whole grains, lean meats, poultry, fish, and dairy products. And at home you have control over portion sizes (which is important as your two-year-old gets older).
