Kid-Size Food Portions Guide
Portion control tips
By Bonnie Schiedel
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- Skip the huge portions on the kids’ menus in restaurants. “For younger kids, why not share your meals?” suggests Dr. Wood. “The adult portions are too big for adults anyway.” Just place an appropriate amount of your entrée onto another plate.
- If you’re dining with older kids, order entrees and salads (just not one for everyone!), ask for extra plates and serve the food family style.
- Ordering individual meals for everyone? When the plates arrive, decide what an appropriate portion size is. Before you start eating, request doggy bags for the rest.
- If you do order off the kids’ menu, ask if you can substitute veggies for the fries.
- At home, eat together and at the table, without the TV, because distractions encourage mindless eating, says Ludwig.
- Serve chips and other snacks in individual bowls, rather than munching out of the bag or one giant bowl.
- Try using a luncheon or salad plate, rather than a dinner plate—it’s tempting to fill up the larger plate.
- Repackage cookies and other treats into small bags of the appropriate serving size.
- If your child isn’t eating much lunch at school because she’s too eager to get outside and play, ask the school to try having recess first, then lunch, suggest the authors of a school lunch study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
- Take the total amount of food during the day into account. “Often, breakfast and lunch are bigger meals for toddlers,” says Dr Wood. “Then when a child doesn’t eat much dinner, a parent who hasn’t seen him during the day thinks he isn’t eating enough and urges bigger portions.”
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