Aileen Wen - Nutrition for Kids: Healthy Eating Habits for Children

Over the years, portion sizes have become increasingly large, to the point where a restaurant-prepared meal contains up to three regular servings. This is known as portion distortion, where people have misconceptions about what amount of each food actually is considered an acceptable food portion to meet recommended nutritional requirements.

Due to portion distortion, children are becoming increasingly overweight or obese and developing health ailments traditionally seen in the older population. More and more young children are being diagnosed with diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. This epidemic has not been seen in any previous generations.

If you question the fact that food is being served or manufactured in larger quantities, just look at a bagel. Twenty years ago, a standard bagel was three inches in diameter and contained 140 calories. In today's marketplace, a standard bagel is six inches and will pack an excessive 350 calories. The diameter alone has doubled from yesteryear to today. Yet, according to the average person, today's bagel is the standard size.

A standard blueberry muffin used to contain 210 calories and weigh 1.5 ounces. In today's marketplace, this same muffin will supply you with a whopping 500 calories while weighing in at five ounces.

Young children need to consume enough calories to support proper growth and development while maintaining a healthy body weight. Consuming more than the needed calories contributes to the overweight epidemic we are seeing now.

The best way to manage weight is to eat a well-balanced diet that contains foods from all food groups at the recommended amounts, known as portion control. Food groups include dairy, protein, fruits, vegetables and grains. You need to concentrate on feeding your child foods that are low in saturated fat, calories, added sugars in all forms, salt and additives.

To develop properly, your child needs to eat a variety of foods that contain ample amounts of needed nutrients including protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. Concentrating on eating nutrient-rich foods to the exclusion of higher-fat foods will not only cut calories, but help your child develop a lifelong preference for healthy foods.

Eating out can be a special treat for your family, but you still need to consider your youngster's portion size. Many restaurants offer children's menus, but can still have too much food on the plate. There are some things you can do.

• Cut the portion size into a more manageable amount by cutting the food in half. Encourage the child to eat half while dining out and take the other half home for another meal. This cuts down on calories and helps the family budget.

• Have your young child share a meal with another family member instead of eating the entire plate contents.

• Order items prepared without heavy sauces, gravies, creams or extra butter. All these contribute to additional calories and fat, both a hindrance to a healthy meal plan.

• Encourage your young child to order foods from the menu that are marked as heart healthy and explain how it will be fun to experiment with new foods that are prepared in a healthy manner.

• Order foods that are prepared in a heart-healthy manner including poaching, steaming, broiling, baking, parbroiling, stir frying and/or boiling. Your child can eat all the healthy foods in the world, but if they are not prepared in a low-fat, low-calorie method, the purpose is defeated.

Fruits and vegetables make up one-half of a healthy plate. Eating a variety of these foods will provide many benefits to your young child.

• Fruits and vegetables are naturally low-calorie foods, making them ideal for managing weight and fitting in with portion control. Overall, these food groups contain large amounts of water which is a natural appetite suppressant.

• Fruits and vegetables contain rich amounts of dietary fiber, which helps fill you up and leave you with less desire for other foods.

• Remember the brighter color the fruit or vegetable has, the greater the amount of beta carotene, a form of vitamin A, the food contains. Fruits and vegetables also contain large amounts of antioxidants like vitamin C which keep the immune system operating well.

• Making fruit a dessert, instead of sugar-laden cakes or cookies, is a great way to introduce young children to the joys of using fruits as sweets. Introducing your children at a young age to the unadulterated taste of fruit, instead of commercially-prepared sweets, will teach them to choose fruit over refined sweets. You will be helping them develop a natural sweet tooth. Poach an apple, pear or make a fresh fruit cocktail to share the wonders of nutrient-rich fruit.

Visualizing a plate is the new way to determine portion sizes. According to the U.S Department of Agriculture, the new healthy eating program known as MyPlate replaces the food group pyramid. The purpose of MyPlate is to "discourage super-big portions, which can cause weight gain," according to Kids Health.

Get a dinner plate and look at it. One half of the plate needed to be fruits and vegetables, with the majority being vegetables. The other half needed to be divided into two portions, one being slightly larger than the other. The larger portion consists of starchy vegetables or whole grains. The other portion needs to be lean protein. This is because in order to get proper nutrition, young children need to eat less protein and more grains. And, to complete the well-balanced meal, your young child needs to have a serving of dairy.

Lean Protein

Protein needs to make up less than a quarter of a healthy dinner plate. Choosing lean protein over other versions lets your young children get needed nutrients without all the fat and calories that can lead to future heart disease.

• Lean protein includes legumes, which is another name for beans. Legumes do not contain saturated fat or cholesterol, a benefit for your young child's heart functioning. Beans contain rich amounts of plant-based protein and minimal amounts of saturated fats. Foods in this group include lentils, navy beans, garbanzo or chick peas, white beans, soy beans and foods made from them, kidney beans, varieties of split peas plus red and/or black beans. A recommended portion size of legumes is one-half cup.

• When choosing animal products, know that all contain some level of saturated fats and cholesterol. Cutting off excess fat before cooking and avoiding deep frying will are two ways your young child can lower their fat content and save their heart health. The recommended serving size of fish equals three ounces, precooked.

• Encourage your young child to consume cold water fish to receive ample amounts of low-fat protein and high amounts of Omega-3 fatty acids to enhance heart functioning. Cold water fish include salmon, tuna, mackerel, trout, herring and sardines.

Dairy

Dairy plays an important role in a well-balanced diet by supplying needed calcium, that helps build strong bones. A portion size of milk, for instance, is considered one cup and, according to PBS Kids, your youngster needs to consume the recommended amount of three cups daily to receive optimum nutritional benefits.

• Dairy includes milk from a variety of animals such as cows, goats, or sheep. Choosing low or nonfat varieties over higher-fat versions will save on calories and saturated fat as part of a heart-healthy meal plan.