Why Your Kids Should Never...

French fries are getting a bad rap and for good reason. Learn more here about why your kids should not eat French fries and what you can replace them with. Read on for the hard truth.

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By: Dave DePew

Eat French Fries - And What You Can Give Them Instead
As Americans, and as parents, are we willing to trade the health of our children for the convenience that fast food offers? Are the lives of our children worth the crayons and color-your-own placemats?
Perhaps you believe that reports of fast (and fatty) foods being unhealthy is an over-statement and meant only for those who indulge in such a lifestyle. Are you willing to gamble the health of your children?

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I will tell you what I believe, and you can make up your own mind, but just remember the health of your children rests on the decisions you make. I believe it is time - no, far past time - that we focus on what our kids are eating. The choices they make and the ones we make for them are critical to their growth and development.
I could talk to you about chicken fingers, burgers, grilled cheese sandwiches, macaroni & cheese and so many others, but for the sake of focusing my rant I will just keep to the subject of French fries.

French Fries: The Problem

What kids' menu is complete without French fries? French fries alone have enough calories, bad fats, and salt as any three other items combined on most kids menus, and yet they are considered the "extra" or the "side", but you know as well as I do that most kids dive into the fries first. The fries are most of the time the last bite as they run off to play on the fast food play ground.
French fries are the fast-food staple for most consumers - a consumer unaware or unconcerned about their health or waistlines, that is. Well, you can be sure that our kids don't care about either until it is too late. That is why as parents it is our job to do everything we can to keep them safe and healthy.

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I do think the word is getting out that French fries are bad for us, but still there are government reports that suggest French fry production is up every year by as much as 2-3 percent from each year before. Even with the low carb craze, while potato growers say sales leveled off, as a whole, Atkins and the Zone movement had little effect on French fry production.
If people are eating fewer fries, this is bad news for the potato industry, but would be good news for our health. However, it is clear that people are passing more on the potato as a whole. It appears that the blame is on potatoes instead of the real culprit, the French Fries.
Perhaps parents are finding it difficult to "Just Say No" to French fries...?
As a parent, I know it can be difficult and that is why I have put together 3 reasons why it is so important for the health of your children why you never give your children French fries. After these 3 reasons, I hope that you can see why fried potatoes are a risk to the growth and development of your child.

Three Reasons To Boycott French Fries

     1. French Fries Contain Bad Fats

Frying up our food is sure tasty, but Bad Fats or Saturated Fats are what turn a potato into a time bomb for heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Not all fats are bad and more Americans are learning that fats come in the categories of the "Good Fats" and "Bad Fats." While good fats like vegetable oils, sunflower, and olive oil may actually have some protective effects on our health, the "Bad Fats" or saturated fats are directly linked to the clogging of arteries, it is the bad fats that are doing far greater damage. Damage caused by saturated fat is found in margarines, vegetable shortening, and anything that says "partially hydrogenated!"

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Bad fats have been shown to raise levels of "bad" cholesterol or Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL). Saturated fats also stay in the body longer and raise circulating blood triglycerides that lower the "good" cholesterol or High Density Lipoprotein (HDL).

	What Are Triglycerides? Triglycerides are the main components of vegetable oil and animal fats, and form much of the fat stored by the human body. They consist of glycerin (a sweet, syrupy liquid) plus 3 individual fatty acids all mixed together. Triglycerides play an important role in metabolism as energy sources. They contain twice as much energy (8 kcal/g) as carbohydrates. In the human body, high levels of triglycerides in the bloodstream, however, have been linked to atherosclerosis, pancreatitis, and, by extension, the risk of heart disease and stroke. Cardiovascular exercise and low-moderate carbohydrate diets containing essential fatty acids are recommended for reducing triglyceride levels. When these fail, statin drugs are used to reduce triglyceride levels.

When our children are consuming these bad fats they are making the platelets in their blood stickier. These sticky little platelets then form clots that attach to the walls of arteries that supply vital areas of the body with oxygenated blood. These sticky little clots create a wall of plaque that can eventually lead to heart attack or a stroke.

     2. French Fries Are Made Of The Bad Carbohydrates

No potato in its natural state is bad for us, but rather we make it bad because of how we eat it or when we decide to eat it. A potato is a starch and it is made up of simple carbohydrates. Most conventional French fries are made up of white potatoes, and white potatoes have been proven to more easily convert in the body to sugar. When our body takes in these quickly-absorbing carbohydrates we are forced to use them as energy right away or store them in fat. Unless we are headed to the gym after we eat or are consuming them after exercise, we are more likely to gain weight from these kinds of potatoes. When we continually consume quickly absorbing carbohydrates, the high conversion of sugar causes a surge in insulin production. When we continually spike our insulin, we develop a resistance to insulin that has been linked to a higher risk of diabetes and heart disease.

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Sadly, our kids are not an exception to this process. Some will argue that kids need lots of carbs and many nutritional experts push whole grains, but the reality is that healthy whole grains are becoming more and more difficult to find. In theory, raising the whole grains in our kids' diets is a good suggestion - as whole grains are more difficult for the body to convert to energy, producing a slower and steadier supply of carbohydrates. Choosing the right grains is important and many companies have found ways of turning a good thing into something "more profitable." Bigger profits are made on things that are tastier and can stay on the shelf longer.

     3. French Fries Contain Trans Fats And Eating French Fries
         Expose You To Carcinogens

Frying up our food is sure tasty, but Trans Fats or Trans Fatty Acids are what turns a potato into a ticking-timebomb for heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Not all fats are just "Good Fats" and "Bad Fats." Fats also come in the "Damaged Fats" category. Damaged Fats act as carcinogens in the body. French fries have high levels of acrylamide, reported to be a possible cancer-causing substance. While there are not yet any conclusive studies in children that show a link has been established to consuming French fries and cancer, it has been reported that cancer in children is on the rise in kids' ages 2-4 years old. It makes sense to keep the French fries out of the hands of your children until more is known. That is unless having your fast food is more important than the health of your kids...