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Wednesday, August 8, 2007

McTofu

Aug5-125,Aug6-391,Aug7-150,Aug 8-136 total 32108
I have my email set up to recieve google alerts on " Ronald McDonald House"- always interested to see what kind of press and publicity the other houses throughout the world are getting. An interesting study popped up today.
The study found that toddlers found food wrapped in a McDonald's wrapper tasted better. It didn't matter if the food was burgers and fries or baby carrots and milk-toddlers still prefered it if it was in the familiar McDonald's wrapper. I am not sure if this is good news or bad news but at some level it looks like the McDonald's marketing people have a small opportunity to make an impact on childhood obesity. Tofu wrapped in a Big Mac Box?

Okay I'm not sure that the world is a better or worse place because of McDonald's -I work for Ronald McDonald House so I suppose I am a little biased towards the makes the world a little better place arguement. Nonetheless I think it is human nature to blame big corporations, or government or the establishment for the things we don't like about our lives. At some level we do have a choice whether to ask for the supersized fries or say give me the salad instead. If some smart marketing guru from McDonalds corp stumbles across this blog-I'll bet you a million bucks that I could eat strictly from the McDonalds menu for 90 days and not gain weight. I wouldn't need the million bucks myself-the Edmonton RMH is going to do a big expansion that will cost 8.5 million -a million dollar pledge towards this campaign would do the trick. Nutritionists would be rolling their eyes at this but at some level I have to believe in the calories in versus calories expended theory. Having self discipline is not easy-but not impossible. I am willing to believe that if I over do it one day on a fast food binge that I can burn off the calories by extracting myself from the couch and going for a run or doing a couple more push ups.
Studies like this I suppose are a good caution for parents, but I don't think they excuse us from making sure there is balance to our kids diets and that as parents we make sure our kids are not sedentary.

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