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JEFFERSON CITY, MO. -- For decades the term "kids meal" not only meant greasy food in friendly packaging, it also meant a toy from the latest movie, TV show or kid craze, but now, that could all be changing.

One fast food giant has put kids’ meal toys in a time out.

KRCG's Meghan Lane spoke with a local nutritionist about how nixing the toy could help children across the country in Friday’s Facebook story of the day.

The nation's fifth-largest hamburger chain, Jack in the Box, will no longer include toys in its kids’ combo meals.

The company said its shifting focus to cater more to the frequent fast food customer, in other words men 18 to 34.

Instead of toys, the San Diego based company is adding a new food choice for kids: apple bits with caramel.

"As it evolves and more kids aren't getting toys, I think they will get use to that idea and instead of getting a toy, have that piece of fruit," St. Mary’s Health Center’s registered dietician Denise Coots said.

Nutrition advocates nationwide are pressuring fast food companies to stop giving out toys to children.

The said it makes children too tempted to want to eat the fatty foods and contributes to the epidemic of childhood obesity.

"Childhood obesity is a very sensitive subject, a very sensitive one, but by the same token, it has to be brought up,” Coots said.  “Otherwise, we're never going to see this end; it's going to be a progressive problem."

About 10% of children from infancy to age 2 and slightly over 20 percent of children ages 2 through 5 are overweight or obese.

Coots said parents play an important role in their child's eating habits.

“Seize every opportunity that you can as a parent to instill this feeling of wellbeing and healthy eating and they will grow up doing the same," Coots said. 

The rates of excess weight and obesity among children ages 2 to 5 have doubled since the 1980s.

Meanwhile, other fast food restaurants are pushing full steam ahead with new kids’ toys.

For example, it's Pokémon month at the golden arches, where even Ronald McDonald himself is coming under fire from health professionals as a promoter of unhealthy foods.

Some city and county governments across the country aren't waiting for fast food restaurants.

Two counties in California have “happy meal bans” which prohibit restaurants from offering toys to children with meals that are high in calories, sugar, salt and fat.