So on July 7th in Whittier California, McDonald's opened up the "R Gym"
"Equipped with stationary bicycles attached to video games, dance pads, basketball hoops, monkey bars, an obstacle course, and a host of other games, the R Gym is intended to provide a fun, easy and convenient way for children to increase their physical activity."
Well at least they're not trying to suggest that it will help combat childhood obesity, though they do state,
"McDonald's is committed to educating its customers about balancing food consumption and physical activity."
I wonder then if they'll educate customers that in order to "balance" that Happy Meal at the R Gym, they'd better budget at least 75 minutes of time for their children to pedal furiously because the 600 average Happy Meal calories will take over an hour of vigorous activity to burn off.
Somehow, I doubt they'll tell their patrons that.
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In your post, you suggest that kids who eat a happy meal will have a need to "burn off" the 600 calories that they have just eaten. This is a rather silly thing to say. The primary reason for eating is to take in enough calories to provide the necessary energy for the daily activities of living, like walking, thinking, and breathing. And in the case of kids, not insignificantly, growing.
ReplyDeleteYou can complain all you like about the nutritional value of a McDonalds meal, and I'll agree with you. But the reality is that many growing kids need 600 (or more) calories at dinner to be reasonably nourished. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a healthy, active kid having a 600-calorie dinner.
You're absolutely right Chartreuse and frankly you've missed the point. I suggest you reread my post.
ReplyDeleteI reread it and am still not sure what your point is other than the idea that one must balance 'burning calories' with what you eat! Your comment about burning off the calories that your meal was equal to is virtually the same comment you made in your post of April 9th: was the turkey sandwich and fries really worth it, now that you need to do 3.5 hours of exercise to 'burn it off'.
ReplyDeleteThe point is that McDonald's, in their press releases, talk about how their job is to help to educate people about the balance between exercise and nutrition.
ReplyDeleteThe average person has no idea how many calories they burn, how many calories they consume or how many calories they burn through exercise.
While having an incredibly small font'ed nutrition sheet, or having calories posted on the back of a wrapper is certainly nice, to state that they're teaching balance is quite the overstatement.
Not every child or adult who frequents McDonald's has a healthy weight or is physically active and they may feel that a 10 minute spin on a bike, pays, calorically for their dietary choice and were they more familiar with how many calories their meals contained as well as how many calories exercise burned, they would be able to make more informed decisions. Doesn't mean they won't decide to have the happy meal, just means that they'll know what's involved.
4:05 PM
I strongly disagree that understanding the "balance between exercise and nutrition" is equivalent to understanding the equivalence between calories in exercise and calories and food. A "Health at Every Size" perspective would, instead, interpret this as a life that involved both intuitive eating and enjoyable physical activity, rather than calorie counting.
ReplyDeleteMy point being: within a calorie-counting, dieting perspective, perhaps McDonalds is being disingenuous. But that is not the only perspective, and "balancing nutrition and exercise" does not necessarily translate to balancing calorie counts. It is a different, but equally valid, perspective.
The wording from McDonald's press release is,
ReplyDelete"McDonald's is committed to educating its customers about balancing food consumption and physical activity."
I think it is extremely fair, from that statement, that McDonald's committment directly speaks to the "how" to balance food consumption and physical activity.
If the statement were, "McDonald's is committed to balancing food consumption and physical activity", I'd have little issue with it. It's the addition of the verb, "educate" which in turn, to me at least, would require McDonald's to indeed do so and in so doing, discuss calories, both in terms of consumption and exercise.