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Help your child maintain a healthy height, weight and growth pattern by learning some of the principles of good nutrition. This is a good place to find information on what's good and what's not in the areas of fitness and nutrition for kids.

 

Stopping Kids From Overeating

Are we setting up our children for a lifetime of weight problems and unhealthy eating?

Apparently, yes, according to the first study on how serving sizes influence a young child's food intake.

The study by nutrition professors at Penn State University, published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, found that 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds in the university's Child Development Program ate about the same amount of food when served small, medium and large portions of macaroni and cheese at lunchtime.

However, the older preschoolers ignored their "internal hunger cues" and ate more than necessary. When given a large (2-cup) portion of macaroni and cheese that exceeded the U.S. Department of Agriculture's recommended serving size, the 5- and 6-year-old preschoolers ate more macaroni and cheese and likewise consumed more milk, carrot sticks and applesauce at lunch.

"It's clear from this study that serving children larger-than-recommended portions encourages them to eat more than is necessary or prudent for their long-term good health." 

Americans have to come to expect "super-sized" food items in stores and restaurants, but larger portions could be a factor in the rising number of children and adults who are overweight, the study says. Some 58 million American adults and 4.7 million children are overweight, according to the National Institutes of Health. Overeating can lead to obesity that can trigger life-threatening illnesses such as diabetes, certain types of cancer and coronary heart disease.

What can you do?

As any parent knows, mealtime can turn into wartime when you try telling your children how much they should be eating. Here are some tips from nutrition experts on how you can make peace and still give your kids healthy food:

• Go family style. Adults and children do better at controlling portion sizes when they serve themselves. Children as young as 3 or 3-and-a-half can serve themselves.  The dinner table should not be a battleground. Parents are responsible for bringing in healthy food, and putting it on the table. Then parents need to stop and give children the responsibility for deciding what, how much and even if they will eat.
• Talk to your children so they can learn from their own bodies how much to eat and to stop eating when they feel full. Too much parental control over how much a child eats can be a factor in causing eating disorders. "We need to help children trust their own bodies."
• There are no bad foods. Instead of forbidding your kids to eat sweets, provide them with nutritious foods first. Stopping kids from snacking just before dinner is wrong if they are munching on healthy foods.
• Be aware of portion sizes. At home, start with reasonable serving sizes, and keep food for second helpings in the kitchen, not at the dinner table. When you're eating out, don't feel like you have to finish everything on your plate. People need to get out of the habit of having a lot of food for not a lot of money. It's something that fast-food providers get us to think about."  "It's really not good value in the long run. It's better to make a decision to go for smaller portions."

Previous studies at Penn State have found that adults, like children, also overeat when served large portions, Rolls says. As a parent, you can set a good example for your children by eating a variety of healthy foods in moderate portions, experts say.

If you're eating because of emotional reasons, such as anxiety, loneliness or depression, try exercising, talking to a friend or doing relaxation techniques, says Rolls in her nutrition book, Volumetrics: Feeling Full on Fewer Calories.

"If you are trying to manage your weight, you need to get more tuned in to what your body is telling you."  "Food, in the long run, is not going to be the solution if you're bored or stressed."

For  More   Information:  Please  consult  your   physician  on  your  next  visit.