To take DD 5 to McDonald's every other weekend?

[quincyquince]

She's gluten free, so has a portion of small chips and either a small mcflurry or orange juice or sauce with the chips.

We go after swimming.

This is ok, right? My friend thinks it's awful that she goes twice a month. But it's not like she's having the processed bread and cheese and stuff all the time?

I have really fond memories of chips and curry sauce from the baths canteen when I went swimming with my mum. A McDonald's breakfast was how me and my dad started every other weekend when I saw him. Absolutely ignore your friend, have fun, eat the chips, make the memories

Simply not true. None of mine had junk or excess sugar until much older and even then was very rarely. They have a very healthy attitude to food and actually make much better choices. They don’t have an addiction to sugary shit like most other school age kids I see gorging on crap every other day!

And you’re normalising focussing on a small treat once a fortnight, and the over-thinking and obsessing with food that leads to eating disorders (as a previous poster has said her and her siblings acquired living with a mum overly focussed on “healthy” eating.

Yes, it's fine to have a 'treat' as a small part of a healthy diet. No such thing as a bad food, just a bad diet.

This !

The 'gluten free' thing is entirely manufactured bullshit. So is your mouthy chum.

Totally fine

Of course

I just mean if you’re generally doing home-cooked dinners and giving fruit and veg every day then it really doesn’t matter if you have a McDonald’s every few weeks or if your child has the odd fruit shoot or birdseye freezer tea.

I just mean those who obsesses over their toddler or young child only touching 100% organic homemade food and drinking water. There’s nothing wrong with that but it doesn’t really amount to anything more than just having a balanced but more relaxed approach.

I didn't think there was anything gf at McDonald's. But yeah, I guess in the UK the chips are pretty natural. Nothing wrong with a few chips.
I used to have McDonald's about twice a month as a kid and nearly every day as a teen once I had my own money!
You can make home made nuggets using gf cornflakes. I'm sure you know that already x

I agree but I think 2 weeks at age 5 is too frequent to be considered an “occasional” treat. It becomes very much routine, and too familiar.

You know it depends on what the rest of her food diary looks like?

If she’s having junk Monday-Fri and then McD every other week that’s quite different to being health conscious 95% of the time and then your bi-monthly McD snack.

There are a lot of McD snobs on here. It’s not like a chocolate bar or packet of crisps is any better you know.

My gluten free daughter (13) averages about one a week, despite my best efforts to keep it as a ‘treat’ 🙈
Her argument is that her friends get to try other takeaways and will mix it up with other cuisine whereas where we live, she is pretty limited with having to find gf options.

I’ve got 4 DDs, 3 of which were until recently elite gymnasts training between 16 and 30 hours a week. We had McDonalds probably twice a week for 4 years on the way home from training. The other 19 meals of the week were all perfectly well balanced and nutritious. They’re incredibly fit and healthy, not addicted to salt or junk and seem to have survived the ordeal 🤪

That’s interesting. I’m not coeliac but became incredibly unwell last year with a range of digestive / gastric issues. My GP suggested I try an elimination diet, starting with gluten which seemed the likely culprit based on a 3 month food diary.

Guess what?

Two months after cutting out all gluten from my diet, my symptoms have all cleared up.

im interested to know who has manufactured what in this scenario. Was it me? Manufacturing symptoms? My GP- manufacturing the “gluten free thing” for shits and giggles?

Slice a gluten free roll and take it with you.

order a cheese burger and customise to remove the bun. Add extra sauce.

gluten free sorted. Done many many times 😄

I'm not sure what you mean by "okay." She won't develop massive health problems. But why would you want to support, and have her develop a fondness for, a company like that?

But they are still too thin, and absorb more oil than a proper chip because of surface areareal chip shop chips are healthier

You're confusing correlation and causation. Common fallacy. Look it up. Hope your health continues to improve.

The mendaciousness of the 'gluten free' thing is well documented. You just need to search and keep an awareness of how susceptible the human mind is to dietary fads.

www.mic.com/articles/135813/why-your-gluten-free-diet-is-probably-bullshit

But usually not GF, do not healthier in that way, which is required in this instance.

My kid won't eat chunky chips either. Or anything that remotely tastes like potato. So given her "chips" / potato intake is so low, I wouldn't worry about skinny chips every 14 days being unhealthy.

Providing the other meals across the fortnight are decent, one where the chips are skinny is still balance.

does anyone else remember the poster who said that ham sandwiches were a treat in her house..?

Well done you.

Have your "I won at parenting" badge.

Meant to tag you in this comment which doesn't really make sense on its own @JustMeHello

Quite right too.

Op, your child will be fine. She'll eat a lot more junk than that later on when she goes out with friends.

It’s generally children that find going to be a treat, I doubt many adults find McDonalds food an actual treat except like you say for the convenience and not having to cook.