McShock, Revealed

This story began innocently enough.

I was running a few errands, with two of our children. On our way home, I swung into the McDonald’s drive-thru, to buy a couple of kid-sized shakes for my young passengers, and to take one home as a special treat for Rubia. She was prone on the couch, recovering from surgery, and I thought the shake would taste refreshing and soothing to her.

So I pull up to the loudspeaker, ordered a few kid-sized shakes, and waited to hear my total price.  It seemed rather high…so I repeated that I wanted KID-SIZED shakes. To which the young voice replied, “We no longer have kid-sized shakes.” Apparently “small” was the new “kid-sized.”

Fine.  So I slid up to the window, paid my dues, and inched forward to receive my merchandise at the second window. To my horror, I was handed a collection of 12-ounce clear plastic cups filled with pink shake, atop which was slathered a mountain of whipped cream, and a bright red cherry, all covered by a plastic dome. In other words, a sundae, in a drink cup.

The young lady at the window suffered through my uncontrollable laughter, and then assured me that there was no mistake, this really was their new kids’ shake. I promptly handed it back with a request to get rid of the sundae ingredients and give us just shake, please. As I was driving away, I felt compelled to investigate this further…so I parked the car, and stepped into the restaurant, requesting to speak to the manager of this establishment.

The manager was a very nice lady, who politely listened to my speech that as a concerned parent, I felt that a 12-ounce shake was simply TOO LARGE to qualify as kid-sized, notwithstanding the additional whipped cream and cherry. I refrained from using the word “irresponsible,” because after all, no one was forcing me to go to McDonalds…but I admit the word was echoing in my head. Then I asked to see what an “original” kid-sized shake had looked like…before their new ones…and she handed me an opaque cup, imprinted with the words "smile even when it rains," which to my eye, looked skinnier and somewhat smaller. She also helpfully gave me a paper placemat with nutritional information, and the name and address of the franchise owner. Armed with my evidence, and some rapidly melting shakes, I headed home.

When I arrived, I spilled out the story to my family while pulling out a measuring cup. It did not take long to confirm a nasty truth…both cups held exactly 12 ounces. To my inexpert, naive eye--and perhaps to those of other consumers--Old Kids’ Size had looked smaller than New Kids’ Size. So, if consumers thought they were getting more for their money, they would be wrong. Or if McDonald’s saw its way clear to charge more for the “new” shake, consumers would be paying more simply for the added whipped cream and cherry, not for more shake.

But even worse…all along, children across America have been consuming 12-ounce KIDS shakes! To hand a 4- or 5-year-old a 12-ounce shake and call it kids’ size seems…irresponsible.

The final revelation came when we turned our attention to the paper placemat. As I studied it, I felt sick. It is not for the faint-hearted. With very few exceptions, the amount of fat, sugar and calories listed in these foods is shocking. This is what we parents are putting into our children’s bodies? And our own bodies??

“Children, this is the end!” I announced, voice quivering. “I believe that fast food is going to kill us all. I’ve been naïve and irresponsible in establishing our eating habits, and it has to stop, or we’re all going to suffer.” I made up my mind that day that I would take seriously the fact that my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, and that I am not my own…and I would start by never again stepping foot in a fast-food restaurant.

We talked for a long time, my family and I, about the ramifications of all this. They caught my vision, and were enthused to begin a whole new eating adventure. We made lists…we prayed…we did more research…and we began immediately to implement changes.

In future posts, I will share more with you about the details of our new eating program. One item high on our list was to eliminate almost all refined sugar. As a first step in that direction, our eldest daughter Bianca began a one-month sugar fast.  But that’s her story, and I’ll let her tell it…

posted by Betsy