This is the second article in our 10-part series that drills down on each individual point in 10 Ways to Make Your Kid Fat. Stay tuned for more.
The upward trend of superabundant portion sizes in restaurants and fast food chains is making its way into our homes and onto our plates. Decade by decade, we’ve been losing sight of what once used to be sensible portion sizes. We always want more. And then some more. Do our kids even still know what “enough” actually looks—and feels—like?
We eat several hundred more calories per day than we did 30 years ago. After decades of going bigger, our food consumption now greatly exceeds the federal standards by twice and in some cases up to 5 times more than is recommended, equating to more calories consumed every time we sit down to eat. And portion sizes for children are no exception.
How portion sizes for children and adults have changed over the decades
Beverages, pasta, muffins, bagels, French fries, burgers and even chocolate have doubled… even tripled in size over the last 20 years. Even cookbooks have used the same exact recipes that were published in the 1970’s, but modified yielding amounts to be bigger portions today. In the Better Homes and Garden Cookbook’s 1972 edition, for example, the Fluffy Omelet yielded three to four servings, while in the 12th edition from 2002 it’s now called the Puffy Omelet and yields two servings with the same ingredients and amounts. The typical serving size of pasta generally went from one cup to two cups (or 500 to 1,000 calories). Bagels went from three inches in diameter (140 calories) to six inches in diameter (350 calories) today. Brownie mixes that once yielded 30 brownies now only yield 16 from the same amount of batter, which means they are much bigger today. The same Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe that 20 years ago made 100 cookies now indicates just 50 servings.
As a result of the massive food overproduction in our country, we are offered a lot of variety in our food, which stimulates us to eat even more. Over time, our hormone signals for hunger (ghrelin) and fullness (leptin) begin to break down, leaving us in a vicious cycle of never feeling satisfied during a meal and always looking—waiting—for the next meal.
Appropriate serving sizes for kids – they’ve no idea
Growing up in this gorge-yourself environment can mess with our kids’ perception of what eating food is about—refueling our body. Do our kids still know how to listen to their tummy to know when they are truly hungry and when they’ve eaten enough? To our kids, these supersized portions have become the norm; it’s what they see all the time. It has therefore become difficult for them to recognize what is a healthy amount of food for them, considering their height, weight and activity level.
The food industry and restaurants will not change portion sizes for children, as long as we keep buying and our kids are eating it up. That’s profit, after all. It’s up to us as parents to model moderation and teach our kids that what they get dished up is not necessarily the amount of food that’s appropriate for them.
Here some tips for your family to keep your and your kids’ portion sizes in check, no matter where you eat:
- Eat out less. At home, you are in charge of your family’s portion sizes.
- Use smaller plates and bowls – this will give the illusion of more food and signal a sense of being satisfied when the dish is empty.
- Cut bagels and muffins in half before you bring them to the table. This encourages your family to help themselves to half as one serving.
- Make your own single-serving packs of your kids’ favorite snacks immediately after you bring the big bag home from the store.
AT THE RESTAURANT
- Request meals to be divided before they are brought to the table – half goes on your plate, the other half goes in a doggy bag right away for take home.
- Share a meal with another adult or your kid. Or have your kids share a meal.
- Order appetizers in place of a lunch or dinner entree.
ANYTIME YOU EAT
- Drink lots of water before a meal to keep from overeating.
- Eat more slowly, savor your food and enjoy your company. Give your body time to let your leptin kick, signaling a feeling of fullness.
- Empower your kids to know when they have eaten enough and choose for themselves to stop – no matter if there is food left on their plate or in their snack bag. It’s something in their little lives they can be in control of.
- The relationship between portion size, calories and weight gain can be too abstract a concept for children. But if you illustrate for them how many times they have to run around the track or how long they’d have to swim to burn off that huge portion of spaghetti at the restaurant, they can relate much better.