Attention parents: Think small, when it comes to getting your preschooler to eat a more balanced diet, rich in fruits, vegetables, and other healthy foods.
New research finds young kids will eat more nutritious foods if they’re served up alongside smaller portions of main dishes at lunch time.
To reach their conclusions, Pennsylvania State University researchers served preschoolers – aged 3 to 5 years -- six variations of the same lunch over a week’s period. Some days the kids received small portions of the main dish -- a half-cup of macaroni and cheese – along with green beans, applesauce a whole grain roll and milk. Other days they were served larger portions of macaroni and cheese – more than one and one-half cups.
Researchers found kids tended to eat less of the healthy side dishes when the main dish bigger. The smaller the serving of macaroni and cheese, the more healthy foods the kids ate, they said. In fact, kids served the smallest entrée ate the most -- almost half -- of their healthy side dishes.
“Serving smaller age-appropriate entrée portions may be one strategy to improve children's nutritional profile by decreasing intake of energy-dense foods and by promoting intake of fruit and vegetables served with the entrée,” researchers reported in the study, was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
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