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Preschool Portion Sizes - Three Food to Watch
Ever wonder how much to serve your preschooler at meals and snacks? Are you concerned that your preschooler eats too much of a single food? While it's normal for preschoolers to eat more or less at different meals and at different stages in their development, some foods might cause problems. They have the double whammy of being served in too large a portion and they are so tasty that they are easy to overeat and crowd out more nutritious foods.
1. Try to limit juice to 4-6 ounces per day for your preschooler. Dilute full strength juice if your preschooler drinks juice more than once a day so the total of full strength juice is 4-6 ounces.
2. Make sure to serve 100% fruit juice. Look for the word fruit juice on the label, or read the ingredients to make sure there is no added sugar, syrup or high fructose corn syrup.
3. Many pre-packaged juice boxes and pouches contain more than 6 ounces of juice. Try serving smaller portions from a family size bottle of juice. Choose water instead of juice boxes for on-the-go snacking or packed lunches.
4. In restaurants, stick to your rules about no soft drinks. Choose milk, water or perhaps fruit juice instead.
1. When visiting a bagel shop or choosing large bagels, ask for the bagel to be sliced or cut in half. Make it a habit to offer your preschooler half a large bagel at a time.
2. Choose bagels that offer more than refined flour. Options include whole wheat bagels, seed or nut bagels, multi-grain bagels, or even cheese bagels.
1. Search for whole grain crackers. They aren't easy to find, but using crackers with more nutritious ingredients than just white flour will improve the nutrition in your preschooler's snacks. Try oat crackers, whole grain wheat and graham crackers, rice cakes, and crackers with nuts and seeds.
2. For on-the-go snacking, instead of the plastic bag of crackers pack a complete snack and sit down with your preschooler. It beats mindless eating out of a bag anyday!
For more information about preschooler portions, see the Food Guide Pyramid for Preschoolers.
by Kati Chevaux
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Juice and Sweetened Beverages
Nutrition experts believe that the calories in drinks aren't recognized by the body in the same way as calories from solid food. This makes it easy to 'overdrink' calories. Add to this the adult-sized portions of caloric drinks found at restaurants and at the grocery story, and it's not hard to see how your preschooler can get too many calories from high-sugar drinks.1. Try to limit juice to 4-6 ounces per day for your preschooler. Dilute full strength juice if your preschooler drinks juice more than once a day so the total of full strength juice is 4-6 ounces.
2. Make sure to serve 100% fruit juice. Look for the word fruit juice on the label, or read the ingredients to make sure there is no added sugar, syrup or high fructose corn syrup.
3. Many pre-packaged juice boxes and pouches contain more than 6 ounces of juice. Try serving smaller portions from a family size bottle of juice. Choose water instead of juice boxes for on-the-go snacking or packed lunches.
4. In restaurants, stick to your rules about no soft drinks. Choose milk, water or perhaps fruit juice instead.
Bagels
Who can't resist a fresh bagel-shop bagel? The problem for preschoolers, though, is the portion size. Typical bagel shop bagels are around 4 ounces - the same as the entire day's recommendation of grains for your preschooler! Plus, most bagels are made with refined flour which makes it hard to help your preschooler get the whole grains s/he needs.1. When visiting a bagel shop or choosing large bagels, ask for the bagel to be sliced or cut in half. Make it a habit to offer your preschooler half a large bagel at a time.
2. Choose bagels that offer more than refined flour. Options include whole wheat bagels, seed or nut bagels, multi-grain bagels, or even cheese bagels.
Crackers
Like bagels, most processed crackers are made with refined flour. Preschoolers love the cracker snack and it has become common to let little ones carry around a bag of them. Before you know it, three or four servings are down the hatch.1. Search for whole grain crackers. They aren't easy to find, but using crackers with more nutritious ingredients than just white flour will improve the nutrition in your preschooler's snacks. Try oat crackers, whole grain wheat and graham crackers, rice cakes, and crackers with nuts and seeds.
2. For on-the-go snacking, instead of the plastic bag of crackers pack a complete snack and sit down with your preschooler. It beats mindless eating out of a bag anyday!
For more information about preschooler portions, see the Food Guide Pyramid for Preschoolers.
by Kati Chevaux
Like this article? Get more like it in your inbox. Subscribe today to our free weekly newsletter.