Health

(WCCO) It's a new year and not only are many people watching their weight and trying to eat healthy, but they want to make sure children are eating better too. So how do we know what's best for them?

A nutrition guide called Eat This, Not That! may make you change the way you make food choices for your family, especially for our children.

It easy to understand why fast food, quick snacks, and juice on the run are so popular -- they are convenient.

WCCO-TV caught up with the Benson family at the Mall of America stopping for some food at McDonald's.

Mom and Dad are splurging on Big Macs. The kids' choices are a mix of healthy and not so healthy choices. They all chose French fries instead of apple dippers.

"Unfortunately sometimes it's more for what's cheaper than what's healthy. You go for the dollar menu cause it's cheaper sometimes," said mom, Katie Benson.

However, money doesn't have to be an issue when you're trying to eat healthy. It's really a matter of looking at all the ingredients.

The nutrition guide Eat This, Not That! boils it all down for you -- basically telling to you what to eat and what to avoid.

The very popular lunch choices for children -- mac and cheese or SpaghettiOs.

Most people think the mac and cheese would be healthier, but with 410 calories and 19 grams of fat, it's better to give the kids the SpaghettiOs, with only 180 calories and 1 gram of fat.

"I was surprised that the SpaghettiOs would actually be better than the macaroni and cheese. You would think that the cheese would be healthier, but I suppose it has more calories," Benson said.

Sue Moores is a registered dietitian and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association.

She said people should look beyond the foods in the book because they're mostly processed.

"I would hope folks would look beyond the labels. The labels are a great start and they're a great way to get a measure of the food. But it would be terrific if we could focus so much more on the flavor and the color and the texture of foods and bring all of the fun back to the table," said Moores.

However, if you are eating out, the book can be a quick reference tool and remind you that sometimes what you think is healthy is the worst thing on the menu.

At Arby's, the Melt -- beef smothered in cheese sauce with 303 calories -- is better than the Roasted Turkey Sandwich with a whopping 708 calories.

At Wendy's, a single burger with everything has 430 calories. The chicken club has 540.

"A little bit of fat adds up to a lot of calories. Whereas the burger maybe has lettuce and tomato which wouldn't hold a candle to the cheese and the bacon," Moores said.

Other recommendations in Eat This, Not That:

• V8 Fusion juice over Juicy Juice

• Spicy Nacho Doritos over Multigrain Tostitos and Sun Chips

• Triscuits over Wheat Thins

"Ideally in the snack aisle you're picking one that's the first ingredient is a whole grain. Certainly in the cracker aisle that's easy to find, in the chip aisle probably not as much. So maybe the biggest thing to look at is sodium and fat content," said Moores.

Bottom line: Eating healthy in the new year means less is more. You want to treat yourself to quality, not quantity.

"If we all start to look more towards focusing mostly on the taste and the flavor and being satisfied, by and large, we probably would be satisfied with less of it then eating more and keep trying to be satisfied with it," said Moores.

The book also lists the 20 Worst kids' foods in America.

The worst kids' meal is Chili's Pepper Pals Country-Fried Chicken with a whopping 1,110 calories. The worst breakfast cereal is Cap'n Crunch with 146 calories per cup.

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