An 8-year-old with diabetes? A 10-year-old with heart disease? Impossible to imagine.

        Yet with childhood obesity tripling since 1980, it’s true. Overweight and obesity among our children can create lifelong struggles with weight, early onset of severe medical problems such as diabetes and heart disease, and shorten lifespan. Who wants to foster an unhealthy, shortened lifespan in their child?

        Why do we have fat kids? One major factor is the huge increase in portion size. Twenty years ago, a muffin had 100 calories and was about half a cup, today most muffins are around two cups and 300 to 600 calories. A cheeseburger in those days was the size now found in children’s meals and had 330 calories, now a burger is 400–650 calories. Spaghetti, that easy dinner standby, used to be a trim 500 and now is a walloping 1,000 calories. As servings explode, so do our waistlines.

        The smaller cheeseburger fed an adult to fullness only a couple of decades ago—why the portion increase? New studies show that we often don’t eat according to appetite and fullness.  For most of human history, food was never abundant and was sometimes truly sparse. We now eat what we can, when we can, as much as we can.

        Controlling portions is the key to controlling pounds, while still giving your children enough food to grow up, not out. Portion control is easy to learn and with a few simple, inexpensive changes, it’s easy to implement.

        Let’s start with children’s portions. Remember, these are general guidelines. If your child is more active, the portions should be increased. The age groups are also a range. Your child may be experiencing a growth spurt, for example, and need more food (but not a lot more!).

        Children ages 4–8 should have a cup and a half of  vegetables and fruits, three to four ounces of meat,  four to eight ounces of grains, and four teaspoons of fat each day. For older kids, ages 9–13, two cups of vegetables and fruit, five ounces of meat and grains,  and around five teaspoons of fat are recommended.                   

        A quick primer for eyeballing amounts: One cup is the size of your fist. One half cup is a tennis ball. Three ounces is about the size of a deck of cards, or what you can hold in your palm comfortably. One teaspoon is about the tip of your thumb.

        How do you control portions while cooking dinner in the midst of regular American chaos? Do you have to carry around a deck of cards? Stick out your thumb every moment? No. A few tricks will have the whole family eating the correct portions.

        Buy a few sets of measuring spoons and measuring cups. Use the spoons and cups while cooking and serving. Instead of putting heaping serving bowls on the table to be passed around, take the plates to the stove or counter top.

        About plates—these too have expanded. A standard dinner plate is now 12" across instead of eight. A 12" plate can make any but the oversize portions look meager, and makes it too easy for everyone to be in the “clean plate, over-ate” club. Coffee cups used to be six ounces, now mugs are 12 to 16 ounces. Even our silverware is larger than before. But there’s an easy fix. Buy inexpensive child-sized place settings for your children, and smaller dinner plates for yourselves—that’s healthy downsizing.

        The same thing goes for containers. Buy food-safe small containers in a variety of sizes, six ounces, eight and twelve ounces. Buy the half-size sandwich baggies. If you’re buying in bulk, never just pass around the monster bag; take a reasonable quantity out of the bag and put into a smaller bowl. If you like to bake, use the old-fashioned small muffin tins. Make “dollar" pancakes instead of “Frisbee” pancakes and “baby” meatballs instead of “Swedish.”

        Eating out, with our culture’s emphasis on value for your money, is harder. Ordering from the child’s menu helps (and try a half-order or an appetizer, or from the senior's menu) or order sides instead of a meal. Fast food restaurants are even tougher, coming prepackaged and with a toy! If possible, feed your child only half the burger and half the fries. And keep the toy.

        If this seems a bit difficult, relax. Developing a sense of normal portions becomes second nature very quickly. Also, without the trigger of too much food, appetites reduce down to normal proportions, often along with body sizes.

        With controlled and appropriate portions, your child will have a great start on a lifetime of healthy eating.

Conda V. Douglas has lost five pounds in four weeks just by using an eight-inch dinner plate instead of twelve. Try it, it works! For more healthy tips visit her web page, www.delightfit.com.