Dairy Queen is a fast food restaurant chain that offers burgers, fries and hot dogs as well as a large variety of sweet treats. The kids' meals that are offered contain varying amounts of fat, calories and sodium, but are high enough in all that if you feed them to your child on a regular basis, it can lead to several health concerns, according to HelpGuide.org. This includes heart disease and obesity.
Calories
According to the American Heart Association, the average school age child needs between 1,200 and 1,800 calories per day, depending on age and gender. Eating fast food too often means getting too many calories, which leads to weight gain. At Dairy Queen, the cheeseburger kid's meal with french fries contains 580 calories and the grilled cheese meal with fries contains 510 calories. Choose the chicken strips kid's meal with applesauce for only 360 calories.
Fat
A diet too high in fat increases your child's risk of being overweight and developing heart disease as an adult. If you are eating at Dairy Queen, give your child the grilled cheese kid's meal with applesauce for 13 g of fat instead of the hot dog kid's meal with fries, which has 25 g of fat. The hamburger kid's meal with fries has 23 g of fat, but if you substitute applesauce for the fries, the count falls to 14 g.
Sodium
Most fast food kid's meals, Dairy Queen's included, are high in sodium, which puts your child at risk of high blood pressure if eaten on a regular basis. The cheeseburger kid's meal with fries has 1,310 mg of sodium and the grilled cheese kid's meal with fries has 1,410 mg. The hamburger kid's meal with applesauce is the best choice with 710 mg of sodium. The daily recommendations regarding salt intake are 1,500 mg to 2,300 mg per day, depending on your child's age, according to the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. It is very easy to surpass this limit if your child eats fast food often.
Recommendations
When buying your child a fast food meal at Dairy Queen, choosing the right options means a healthier meal. HelpGuide.org recommends limiting sauce, mayonnaise and cheese on a burger, having a salad or fruit as a side instead of french fries and choosing grilled chicken instead of fried. Soft drinks add unneeded calories to your child's meal, so have her drink low-fat milk or water instead.
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