Eating disorders in kids

Remember that an adult portion, a teenager portion, a kids portion and a toddler portion are all very different things, this is often overlooked. Whe we should eat differs with age, sex, and activity level.

Food Portioning

  • 2 ounces of meat on a child's dinner plate is actually a good portion, it may look small but remember that your child is also small.
  • Meals should be spread out throughout the day, many children are natural "grazers" and eat many small servings over the course of the day. The reason they are naturally like isn't a cooincidence, it's mostly instinct and that's how we're supposed to eat during the day. Unfortunately as adults we feel the need to "live by the clock" and have meals at fixed times.
  • A good rule of thumb is that a portion should be no larger than the palm of your hand when placed on your plate, look at the palm of you hand, then look at the palm of your child's hand it's a good visual reference for a serving size.
  • Just because something says single serving on it doesn't mean that it really is a single serving, it may be too much for some children in our "super sized" world. Use your common sense.
  • Place a few bites of each thing on the plate at dinner time, if they are still hungry they will ask for more.
  • When it comes to snack time it often helps to put the food into a snack size cup to actually see how much of something you are giving, crackers are a good example, its easy to overeat them out of the box but if you pour them into a bowl or cup it's easier to find a proper portion.

Some portion examples

meat - 2 or 3 ounces cooked and cut up
chicken nuggets - 3 or 4 pieces
peanut butter - 1-2 tablespoons
eggs - 1
milk - 8 ounce cup
yogurt - 4 to 8 ounces - a full cup might be too much, look for the smaller kids portions at the store or split in half and store the leftover half in the fridge for the next day or later
fruit - 1/4 to 1/2 a cup of cubed up fruit
baby carrots - 8 baby carrot sticks is a fair sized portion for little fingers at snack time
cheese - 1 or 2 slices of american cheese