Kidz Bite Back

Think you know what you're eating? | Recipes

Kids only need about 1,800 calories a day (2,200 if you're exercising a lot), but just one meal at a fast-food restaurant provides almost 1,000 calories! And that's not even counting the other two meals you'll eat that day! The USDA sets guidelines for health and they are:

The number of calories you eat in one day should equal the number you burn, but when you eat more calories than you burn, you gain weight. And if you eat too much fat, it builds up in your arteries, making it hard for your heart to work right and increasing your chance for heart disease. Too much sodium is also bad for your heart, and it will raise your blood pressure. Look at how many calories, grams of fat and milligrams of sodium are in some common fast food meals!

	Kid’s Daily Value	McDonald’s Big Mac, Large French Fry & Large Coke	McDonald’s Cheeseburger, Medium Fry & Large Coke	KFC’s 3 Strips, Potatoes & Gravy, Biscuit & Large Pepsi	Wendy’s Jr. Cheeseburger, Medium Fry & Medium Coke	Taco Bell’s 2 Tacos & Nachos
Calories	1,800	1,400 (78% of all calories	980 (54% of all calories)	1,000 (56% of all calories)	890 (49% of all calories)	660 (37% of all calories)
Fat	25-35% of calories 45-63g of fat	29g (87% of 63g fat)	29g (46% of 63g fat)	38.5g (61% of 63g fat)	34g (54% of 63g fat)	39g (62% of 63g fat)
Sodium	No more than 2,400mg	1,360mg (57% of 2,400mg)	980mg (41% of 2,400mg sodium)	2,280mg (95% of 2,400mg sodium)	1,240mg (52% of 2,400mg sodium)	1,230mg (51% of 2,400mg sodium)

*Information from USDA.gov, McDonalds.com, KFC.com, Wendys.com and TacoBell.com*

These meals contain most of the calories, fat and sodium that you should have for an entire day! One easy way to reduce calories, fat and sodium is learn about cooking at home. Eating meals and snacks from home are usually better for you. Follow the links to find some yummy recipes to try!

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