And No, You Can’t Have Fries With That

The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors has identified one of the primary causes of childhood obesity:

Inadequate involvement of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors in family restaurant decisions.

And they mean to do something about it.

A new ordinance passed this week would prohibit restaurants from offering children free toys with meals that are not as nutritious as the Santa Clara Board of Supervisors thinks they should be.

As Santa Clara Supervisor Ken Yeager explains, the government has a responsibility to keep our kids safe.

And don’t you trust his judgment in keeping your kids safe more than your own?  After all, he has degrees in political science, education, sociology, and education (again).

Part of the problem, according to Yeager, is that kids see commercials for the free toys and start “nagging their parents.” He hopes the ordinance will eliminate this by eliminating the toys.

Because what with all their other responsibilities, the last thing we want to do is to saddle parents with the additional burden of being parents.

And as Dr. Sara Cody, General Internist, Santa Clara County Public Health Department, points out:

“What we're trying to do is support children and their choices.”

By taking them away.

Specifically, the ordinance states:

A Restaurant may not provide an Incentive Item linked to the purchase of a Single Food Item or Meal if it includes any of the following:

(1) Excessive Calories. More than two hundred (200) calories for a Single FoodItem, or more than four-hundred eighty-five (485) calories for a Meal;

(2) Excessive Sodium. More than four-hundred and eighty milligrams (480 mg) of sodium for a Single Food Item, or more than six hundred milligrams (600 mg) of sodium for a Meal;

(3) Excessive Fat. More than thirty-five percent (35%) of total calories from fat, except for fat contained in nuts, seeds, peanut butter or other nut butters, or an individually served or packaged egg, or individually served or packaged low-fat or reduced fat cheese;

(4) Excessive Saturated Fat. More than ten percent (10%) of total calories from saturated fats, except for saturated fat contained in nuts, seeds, peanut butter or other nut butters, an individually served or packaged egg, or individually served or packaged low-fat or reduced fat cheese;

(5) Trans Fat. More than 0.5 grams of trans fat;

The first thing that comes to mind would be McDonald’s popular Happy Meals, however parents concerned about their children’s diet should consider other foods that Santa Clara would consider so unhealthy that they would be subject to a toy ban.

Take, for instance, a couple of slices from a medium Pepperoni Pizza from Domino’s.

Sure, that would fall under the ban.

Well, how about a “Fresco Crunchy Taco” from Taco Bell’s Drive-Thru Diet Menu. That certainly sounds like it would be okay.

Nope.

Okay, let’s try the children’s menu at Applebee’s. A grilled cheese sandwich? That’s pretty standard for…

Sorry, no.

Red Lobster has a good kid’s menu including grilled chicken. Grilling is okay, right?

Try again.

A 3" turkey breast mini sub from Subway?

Nope, still not healthy enough.

But don’t despair, there are still plenty of delicious kid-friendly meals that would pass muster with Santa Clara’s toy ordinance, such as a nice piece of broiled fish from Red Lobster!

Bet your kids won’t be nagging you about that!

And then there’s Subway’s Veggie Delite mini sub.

Because nothing says “this is a special treat let’s enjoy ourselves for one brief moment absent the cares and worries of an often difficult world” like a side salad on a bun!

Regardless of how you feel about the ordinance, Ken Yeager’s efforts to take toys away from kids should make for an interesting re-election campaign.

J.