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Health Tips for Parents
How can I encourage healthy eating habits?
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Encouraging healthy eating habits in a child—especially a finicky eater—can be a challenge, but the USDA’s new food guide in the form of a colorful, divided plate may help parents help kids make healthy choices.
The new USDA food guide, known as MyPlate and available online at ChooseMyPlate.gov, was designed to replace the old Food Guide Pyramid, which contained vertical stripes to represent the five food groups plus fats and oils.
The new divided plate features four sections for vegetables, fruits, grains and protein, and a side dish of dairy. Half of the plate is fruits and vegetables, with the vegetable section slightly larger than the fruit section. On the other half of the plate, grains are slightly larger than proteins.
“I think the plate sends a great message and is a good guidepost for every parent, family and individual for what you need to stay healthy and well,” says Wendelin Slusser, M.D., medical director of the FIT for Healthy Weight Program at Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA.
While the proportions of fruits and vegetables to protein and grains are the same for adults and children, young children’s portions should be significantly smaller than those for older children or adults, Dr. Slusser notes.
“A portion size of a fruit or grain is the equivalent of a fist and that fist should be a quarter of the plate for the person eating from it,” Dr. Slusser says.
Parents should also encourage young children to serve themselves onto their own plates so they can determine the amount they want or need and not make them finish all of the food on their plate, she says.
Consider what your young child eats weekly, not daily.
Parents of toddlers who eat so little that they seem to “live on air” should be comforted to know that it is normal for a young child’s appetite to vary from day to day. Instead of worrying about their toddler’s daily intake of food, parents should consider the child’s consumption of calories and nutrients throughout the week, Dr. Slusser says.
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