“Toys, in and of themselves, do not make children obese.” But a Mcdonald’s Barbie Happy Meal toy sure does make those 700 calories more appealing.

McDonald's Toy Happy Meal

McDonald's Toy Happy Meal

Happy Meals began their reign as your child’s favorite meal in June of 1979. Placed in the original Happy Meal bags were a classic cheese burger, salty fries and a plastic wrapped McDonald’s happy meal toy accompanied by a classic coke. Something sweet, something salty and a toy? Who could resist?

But 31 years and over 42 trillion calories later, McDonald’s is being pressure to rethink their super salty, sinfully sweet Happy Meal menu. 2.5 million Happy Meals are ordered each year and too many children are growing up unhealthily.

McDonald's Happy Meal Toy

McDonald's Happy Meal Toys

The Santa Clara County Board Supervisors are now threatening to ban Happy Meal Toys on meals they declare as unhealthy. This includes meals over 485 calories and items with excess sodium, sugar or fat. Ken Yeager, who I quoted in the beginning of this blog is the president of the board and hopes that this new law will eliminate the, “incentive to choose fatty, sugary, foods over healthier options.”

McDonald's Happy Meal Toys
McDonald’s Happy Meal

Other country’s McDonald’s banned toys already. But so far, the addition of apple dippers to their kids menu is the only “somewhat” healthy option that has been added. Now, Santa Clara is seeing the affects first hand. 25% of all 7th, 9th and 11th graders are either overweight or obese. That’s 1 in every 4 students in that grade. That means that in a gym class of 30, about 7 students will be trailing behind as they sluggishly run, jog walk the track.

So to combat the rise in obesity, McDonald’s Happy Meal toys are going to get the boot. At least until they figure out how to incorporate “healthy” into a $2.99 fast food meal.Will eliminating the toys from McDonald’s Happy Meals help kids choose healthier foods? Or will it just lead to a ton of whiny, crying kids and unhappy parents. No worries, just grab some 1200 calories of comfort food. You’ll feel better in no time.