Childhood obesity is a common problem in the United States. I see families struggling with it daily in my practice. Often the issue is not that the kids are eating too much food, but rather they are eating the wrong foods. Most food is much better for you in its original form. Kids (and their parents for that matter) need chicken breasts, not chicken nuggets, fish, not fish sticks, pork or beef, not hotdogs, apples, not applesauce or apple juice. The original forms of foods usually tell us when to feel full, take longer to eat, and have less unhealthy ingredients. And often, with the original form of foods you don't have to worry much about portion sizes, because your body will naturally know when to stop eating.
Often a few simple concepts can make it much easier for kids and their parents to make good choices when it comes to eating. One of my favorite concepts is "Rot or Not". This is a phrase I teach kids to help them figure out if a food is healthy for them. When kids reach for a snack or seconds, ask them if that food rots or molds? If yes, it is probably good for you. If not, it probably is not good for you. Now I know kids are smart and if you have them read this, they will inevitably come up with an example of a healthy food that doesn't rot, and an unhealthy food that does. Like all rules this has exceptions, but in general this works the vast majority of the time. Let's go back to apples. If you ask 10 kids if they like apples, 9 or 10 will say yes. If you ask 10 kids if they like Oreos, they will first look at you like you are crazy, and then all 10 will say yes. A medium apple has 90 calories. One and a half Oreos have 90 calories. Now think back and ask yourself when was the last time you had four apples in a row. When did that happen? My guess is never, even though you like apples. But, because they are a real food, after 1-2 your body instinctively says "Hey, no more apples." Let's say someone forced you to eat 4 apples - how long would that take? 2 minutes? Nope, you would choke. 30 minutes? Maybe, but you would feel really gross and your jaw would be super sore. The point is, it is extremely hard to eat too many apples. Now let's go back to Oreos. 4 apples have the same total calories as 6 Oreos. So, when was the last time you had six Oreos in one sitting? Probably not that long ago. And what did you want after a sixth Oreo - you guessed it, another Oreo (although some of my kids say milk!). How long did it take to eat those 6 Oreos? Probably a few minutes tops, and you definitely didn't feel full afterward. This example is enlightening to a lot of people. I remember for years I had a large plastic box that used to be spinach. The box was empty since spinach rots. I would show that to a kid and tell them that the whole box had as many calories as one Oreo. I would then hold up an opened Oreo to compare. 4 years later I was using the same open Oreo for that demonstration! Then one day a kid grabbed it and ate it before we could stop him, and it tasted the same as when it was opened. The point is all the garbage we have in our pantries is not "real food", but processed junk that our body doesn't know how to handle correctly.
The other crucial concept I tell kids is the "Fist Rule." I have them make a closed fist and tell them if a food is good for you, your serving size is the size of your fist or bigger. So, if a kid wants to have a food that rots like carrots, chicken, green beans, etc, they can have an unlimited number of servings. If the food doesn't rot or is a pantry food like mac n cheese, Doritos, crackers, granola bars, etc, they should have the size of their fist or smaller with no seconds the entire day. Additionally, every dinner and lunch should have 3-5 kid sized fist of different foods, with at least one being a non-potato vegetable, and one being a protein. The Fist Rule works for everyone because our fist grows proportionally with us. Now the exception to the rule - potatoes are not good for us unless we are literally starving, but they do rot. In general, treat all forms of potatoes as a fist portion or smaller food.
Try these two tips for a few weeks and see what it does for your family! Rot or Not and the Fist Rule are intuitively easy to learn and get eating back to basics.
Until next time, good luck parenting!
Dr. William J. Fisher, MD
Fisher Pediatrics
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