Discussing serving sizes with kids???

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  • Jesea
    Jesea Posts: 376 Member
    My sons are very active 9 and 4 year olds. I try very hard to make sure they eat well-balanced meals. When they've had a bowl of cereal and are still hungry, I talk to them about what food group cereal comes from and what other groups there are to choose from and we decide together what else they are going to eat. I also limit snacks to one serving of a particular snack each day, so they don't eat all the granola bars on Monday, etc. They can have more than one snack, they just have to eat something different. I also talk to them about serving sizes, and encourage them to have one serving at a time, and then, if they truly are still hungry, come back for more. This keeps them from pouring an enormous bowl of cereal and then not being hungry enough to finish it.

    Hope that helps!
  • xoeva
    xoeva Posts: 209 Member
    Get one of those pyramids of nutrition... or I think now they are rainbows...which say you should have X number of servings of fruit/ vegetables, dairy, protein, and grains...and that she needs to eat a variety of the 4 food groups...and also any cereal with more than 4 grms of sugar is really a dessert...and it's okay...to eat...but as a dessert. I always tell my kids they have to eat a 'real' breakfast, oatmeal, eggs, etc and then if they are still hungry eat the cereal... I remember my mom making me pay for my own sugar cereal...at 13 .. and so I ended up eating lots of corn flakes because she would by those. Hope these ideas help. Here's a link to the 4 food groups you can put on your fridge.

    https://www.google.ca/search?q=4+food+groups+canada&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=lqPmUsWlFM3roATT9oKgAQ&ved=0CE0QsAQ&biw=1093&bih=490
  • JustJennie13
    JustJennie13 Posts: 218
    Well, a 500+ calorie breakfast isn't that bad, honestly. A 13-year-old girl should eat around 2,000-2,200 calories daily, typically, and if she has 3 meals and a couple snacks, it's reasonable to have 500+ calories in any given meal and then some calories from snacks also.'

    What kind of food does she eat at lunch and dinner? And remember, a "serving size" isn't necessarily the amount of food you should be eating at a given meal, it's more a unit of measure than anything. You can have several "servings" of one food at a meal if it's balanced by other foods throughout the day.

    Lunch is a sandwich (they choose between ham, turkey, or PB+J) some sort of fruit depending on what I buy for the week which is usually green grapes, halos, granny smith apples, or bananas, along with a yogurt, a cheese stick, and chips or crackers.

    Her dinner specifically is usually around 6 ounces of meat (just from eye balling it, I don't weigh it) 2 servings of veggies (again eyeballing) and some sort or starch; common potatoes, corn bread or rice. She also has snacks when she comes home from school and those are usually the lance or keebler peanut butter crackers or nature valley granola bars. Again her calorie count is not my concern. Her understanding choices and balance is.
  • crazyincolorado84
    crazyincolorado84 Posts: 26 Member
    I would explain it to her in terms of the health value of the food. Explain that fruit (in your example) is a healthier choice than the cereal. Explain that it's ok to have "some" of the less healthy option but ask her to combine that with a healthy choice.

    I wouldn't go into serving sizes, calories, etc. with a child or teenager, but they do need to be taught that some food choices are better for them than others.

    Just my two sense.

    This. I have a 6 year old in sports, she is in the 95th percentile for hieght and wieght, but is very slim and muscular. Yes, she could burn off the calories from junk all day long, but if she continues to keep those habits into adulthood she will gain weight like most previous althetes. Also, I wouldn't keep that kind of sugar laden cereal in the house personally. A) because it's not a very healthy food choice period and B) because I would probably devour the entire box when she went to bed. But that's just me. ;)

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