Preschool food portions

Many Americans eat too much and their food portions are too big. It is important to start young children off with the right eating habits by eating the right portion sizes and the right foods.

Here are some guidelines and recommended portion amounts for young children:

Toddler Portion Sizes

While many older children choose oversized portions and overeat, toddlers often have the exact opposite problem. They may eat what parents think are small portions and may not even eat three meals a day.

One reason that parents often think that their toddler's diet isn't good enough is that they overestimate how much they should be eating at each meal.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, a good guideline is that a toddler portion size should equal about a quarter of an adult portion size.

Examples of toddler size portions include:

• 1/4 to 1/2 slice of bread
• 1/4 cup of dry cereal
• one to two tablespoons of cooked vegetables
• 1/2 piece of fresh fruit
• 1/3 cup of yogurt
• 1/2 egg
• 1 tablespoon of smooth peanut butter (if no risk of food allergies) spread thinly on bread or a cracker
• 1 ounce of meat

If your toddler wants to eat more, you can always give seconds, like another tablespoon of vegetables or the other half of a piece of fruit. The only important nutritional limits are not to overdo it on milk and juice. Any more than 16 to 24 ounces of milk and four to six ounces of fruit juice will likely fill up your child so that he isn't hungry for real food.

Preschoolers and Younger School-age Portion Sizes

As your child gets older, his appetite will likely grow and he will eat more. Hopefully he will eat a variety of healthy foods from the five food groups and won't overdo the junk food.

How much food is too much at this age though?

A good guideline is that portion sizes for your preschooler or younger school age child, kids from the age of about four to eight years old, should be about a third of an adult portion size.

Examples of portion sizes for these kids include:

• 1/2 slice of bread
• 1/2 cup of dry cereal
• 1/2 cup of cooked vegetables
• 1/2 piece of fresh fruit
• 1/2 cup of yogurt
• 1/2 cup of low-fat milk
• 1 egg
• 1 ounce of meat