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Control Portion Size

It’s not just what kids eat, but how much. Portion control is essential to maintaining a healthy weight for everyone. Teach your child about serving sizes. “With larger plates, portion sizes have doubled,” says Venkat Narayan, Hubert professor of global health and epidemiology at Emory University. “People tend to eat everything on their plate.”

“My husband is big on [the kids] eating everything on their plates,” says Tanya Mathis of Ellenwood. “But now we realize they know when their next meal is.” Parents reared with the notion of cleaning their plates and not wasting food have some new rules to adjust to, but experts agree that allowing a child to eat until they are full is a better measurement for kids to maintain their own weight, rather than the “clean the plate” method.

Parents need to help kids understand the difference between hunger and fullness, says Caro. If they are snacking and drinking all the time, they never get fully hungry, so they can’t gauge hunger on their own, she adds. “They become programmed to eat when they aren’t hungry,” says Caro. “So when they are home and can eat, they eat too much.” Teach kids to listen to their bodies, she says.

What is the right amount for a child? Whiteacre suggests using the child’s fist size to determine the amount of lean protein and carbohydrates to offer. Plate size may not always matter, but for an overweight child, allow them to fill the plate only once, rather than going back for seconds.

Parents need to be in control of what food is offered to the child, says William Dietz, director of the nutrition and physical activity division at the CDC in Atlanta. “What are they loading up on?” questions Whiteacre. “If food is balanced – they have a lean protein, a little fat and veggies – they won’t feel hungry. Without fat, they might feel hungry. She suggests parents pair a mostly carb-based meal, like pasta, with a lean protein to help kids feel more satisfied, without overeating.

Strategies for Success

Parents faced with an overweight child often see it as the child’s problem, but it’s definitely a family affair, say health experts. A single family may have one thin child, while another child is overweight. Unfortunately, if they have the same eating habits, it’s only a matter of time until the health and weight of the thinner child begins to catch up to an overweight sibling, says Miller-Kovach.

As role models, parents have a huge job to provide guidance on healthy habits and help kids understand nutrition. What message do we send our children if we eat ice cream in front of the TV while telling them to go outside to play?

Parents who establish healthier changes for their child have to be prepared to endure the same treatment, says Miller-Kovach. Do not impose on children something that you will not do yourself. No TV in the bedroom or no more sodas – do the same for yourself, she adds.

“Parents should be more controlling on screen time and less controlling on food,” says Miller-Kovach.

Snacks or Treats?

Kyle Mathis, a fourth grader who participated in Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s Fit Kids program, says he has learned better habits when it comes to food. “No more eating chips and drinking soda,” he says.

From a very young age, parents teach children that they need a snack between meals. Miller-Kovach agrees that snacks – a mini-meal that holds one over to the next meal – are essential for kids. But what she finds is the word “snack” is confused with the word “snack food,” which is often thought to be something savory or sweet.

“We misjudge how many snacks per day a child needs,” she adds. “It is such a part of our culture that we believe they’ll starve to death.”

Kids who love snacks can have fun creating their weekly stash, with a weekend snack-time assembly line involving the whole family. Making your own trail mix or peanut butter crackers is more fun, healthier and less expensive, says Caro.

Parents of non-overweight kids are also on guard about snack habits. They see the health of children taking a downward spiral. One Marietta mom claims that nearly every sporting activity her children participate in is accompanied by a snack at the end. Children expect the treat for a job well done, usually washed down by a sugary drink, like Gatorade or a juice box, she says.

Miller-Kovach believes treats can be a good thing and should not be eliminated. This advice to include treats is given in her book, Family Power, as one of the five simple rules for a healthy-weight home. “If there’s a no-no food, everybody craves it,” says Csukas. “You can eat ice cream, but it doesn’t need to be a daily occurrence.”

The Flip Side

Love warns parents that eating disorders are another concern among children, particularly tweens and teens.
Kathy Ramspeck of Cumming was worried when her 11-year-old daughter Kaitlin starting taking her new 25-pound weight loss lifestyle to extremes. Now there’s balance, she says. She believes her daughter’s initial weight gain may have been triggered by a divorce four years ago. “I believe she has a fear in the back of her mind that she might gain the weight back,” says Kathy.

Eating disorders like anorexia, characterized by self-starvation and extreme weight loss; bulimia, characterized by secretive binging on food, then purging it; and binge eating, characterized by uncontrolled, compulsive overeating, can arise from a variety of potential causes, according to the National Eating Disorders Association.

“Dieting among adolescent girls is leading to meal skipping and food avoidance,” says CDC’s Dietz. “Those strategies may actually increase weight gain.”

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