Healthy Eating for Kids: The Problem of Portions and Serving SizesIn the other articles of this site, we discussed portions in terms of recommended serving sizes according to that of the food pyramid. We now look at portions or food servings in what has become conventional in our time. In other words, we look at the problem of receiving portions that are too large. In recent history food portions or servings have become bigger and bigger. Go to any restaurant in the United States and compare their servings to restaurants in Asian countries. You will see a big difference in terms of how much food is given to customers. The United States has the biggest obesity problem in the world, while in Asian countries, and other countries in Europe and Africa, it is difficult to find a truly obese person, a part of this is due to portions. With the boom of competition in the restaurant industry, restaurants have tried serving more and more food in order to make people feel like they are getting their money's worth. In a society that teaches children to finish their food, the bigger the plates got, the more people ate. As a result unneeded calories were consumed, and people just started getting bigger. The average restaurant serving is three times the recommended portion for that meal. When eating out, encourage your children to share food, and you should share food with them too. For example, you can order one dish and split it among yourself and your two children. Another trick is to ask the waiter to pack up half of the dish for take-out from the very beginning so your child will not be tempted to eat it all in one sitting. It is best to educate yourself well when it comes to the food pyramid so you can more or less see if the dishes you are being served are of acceptable and healthy portions. Most people who are used to large portions will look at the food pyramid's recommended portions and immediately think it is not enough food. They only think this because they are used to such large servings. Follow the food pyramid as best you can. Go for high energy fruit and vegetables in the beginning of your “portion downsizing project.” This is recommended because when you first stop eating such large portions (which were likely to be of unhealthy foods or foods filled with fat, sodium, and sugar) your body will go through a type of withdrawal and you may feel weak in the beginning. This is only in the beginning, and it will pass. Going for higher energy providing fruit and vegetables will help you stay energized, and after your body adjusts you will feel better and more full of energy than ever before! Eat slowly and encourage your children to eat slowly as well. Eating too quickly may make us overeat before our bodies give us our cue to stop eating. Encouraging children to eat slowly can lessen the amount of servings or portions they have. If your child wants a second serving, tell them to wait a few minutes and then see if they are still hungry. If they are, they may have seconds, if they aren't then that means their body has already given the cue to stop. Finally, understand what “serving sizes” on the back of food labels means. Serving sizes on these labels tell you how much of each of the nutrients found in the food you will get for every so many units. For example, a serving size written on a jar of peanut butter may be 2 tablespoons. This means that for every 2 tablespoons of peanut butter, we will be receiving the corresponding nutrition facts listed on the label. We know, however that 1 tablespoon of peanut butter is already considered one protein serving. Just because the serving size on the label says 2 tablespoons, it doesn't mean we have to have two. We can have more than two, say three tablespoons (if we want three of our protein servings for the day to be peanut butter) or we can just have half a tablespoon. Understanding serving sizes will help you better calculate and judge how much food you should or shouldn't be eating so that you can properly space out your daily-recommended portions per day. |
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How To Get Your Kids To Eat Healthy Food - Without A Fight!
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