Portion Contortion

So, apparently, we eat a lot!  I kind of knew we did, but never had I realized it the way I have this week.  We have a 17 year old Japanese exchange student with us for two weeks.  This girl has the smallest portions on the planet.  And apparently this is common for the people of Japan.  She thinks I’m crazy because I often ask her if she’s hungry.  She is always patting her stomach and saying, “No, no, no more food!” One day I saw her eat 1/2 cup of rice for breakfast, some Miso soup for lunch, and a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner!  That was all.   I took her grocery shopping and she was shocked by how large our food was.  She took a picture of the watermelons.  Couldn’t beleive we even had them that big.  She pointed to our Mini-mini-mini containers of Haagan Daaz Ice cream and said they had those in Japan HALF the size! WOW.

Anyway, I get asked often how much kids should be eating.  My reply is always “You decide what they eat, and they can decide how much they eat.”  This is mostly the reason I didn’t put serving sizes on the plates.  But I do beleive parents need a little guidance so they don’t overwhelm their children with a mound of spaghetti, and half a loaf of french bread, then have a power struggle cause little Johnny isn’t eating very well.

Truth is, children need much less food than we give or offer them.  So these are just guidelines for your average 4-8 year old

• Fruit; 1-1/2 cups per day  (Or 1/2 Cup at each meal or snack)
• Vegetables; 1 1/2 cups (Or 1/2 Cup at each meal or snack)
• Meat or protein; 3 oz (1 oz equals 1 TBL Peanut butter, 1 egg, 1/4 C beans, 1 oz meat)
• Grains; 4-5 oz.  (1oz equals 1 slice of bread, 1/2 Cup rice, 1/2 cup pasta, 1 cup cold cereal)

That’s it! For the whole day.  I know some people are thinking, but my Bradley doesn’t even eat that much food in a day (Corey), but that’s O.K.  You will know if they are malnourished if they are lethargic, they fail to thrive, they aren’t growing, sick a lot, etc.

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