Top Portion Control Tips

Helping kids learn proper serving amounts is a key component to healthy eating. One of the nice benefits of eating at home is you can always have seconds if you are still hungry. And that is what we want to teach kids, to start with smaller servings.
How can you teach your child what a healthy portion is, without the added fuss of measuring? Don’t worry. Here are some simple tricks you can use to help the whole family control their portions.
✰ Use a salad plate for dinner. It is easier to control the amounts with a smaller plate.
✰ Use small serving spoons or tablespoons to serve dishes
✰ Let kids serve their own scoop. It gives them a little independence and helps them begin to realize serving sizes.
✰ Include water as part of a healthy meal, its great for the digestion.
✰ Provide a nice variety of foods from each of the food groups.
✰ Encourage your child to take one scoop from each of the food groups.
✰ Have a couple vegetables and fruits to choose from. Even fresh and sliced is okay.
✰ Kids like to dip. You can have some vegetables cut up and a low fat dressing.
✰ Encourage kids to have fun coloring their plate with foods that have color. You’ll see that colorful foods tend to be the healthier foods.
✰ Include one healthy carb from the grains food group. For example, serve just whole wheat bread, brown rice or whole wheat pasta instead of pasta and bread.
✰ Cut lean meats into small portions before placing them on the table.
✰ Avoid sodas, sugary drinks and fruit juices during meals. But if they insist on some juice, one six-ounce glass a day of 100% fruit juice is plenty.
✰ Encourage your child to eat their food but if they say they are full, it’s okay.
✰ Kids don’t have to eat all their food to have a healthy meal. Learning to listen to their internal hunger clock is part of learning proper portion control.
✰ Limit snacks to specific snack time so kids will be hungry during mealtime.
If your child eats a balanced food with some foods from all the food groups, portion sizes will naturally be more sensible.