Top 6 Mistake Parents Make At The Dinner Table

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Weight loss is the number one new years resolution made by both men and women, but what about your kids? Childhood obesity rates have tripled in the last thirty years. Sixteen percent of kids between six and 19 are overweight. Another 15 percent are at risk of becoming overweight. Helping your kids choose the right foods is key to helping them get or stay healthy. Here are the top five mistakes parents make when it comes to their kids nutrition.

With four kids, and a fulltime job, mealtime at Lori Schroll's house is always a challenge. She tries to keep meals as healthy as possible.

"We don't do any white bread any more," Schroll told Ivanhoe. "We don't do any white pasta. You won't find any pop in the house."

But while we all face a hectic schedule, mistakes happen.

"Just looking at the label you may be thinking you're eating a healthy food, but you're eating two or three servings and the calories really add up," Amy Lockwood, R.D., of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, explained.

Be careful what you drink. Don't mistake Sunny D for orange juice. One glass has 260 calories and 60 grams of sugar. That's the sugar equivalent of a dozen Chips Ahoy cookies. Be choosy when choosing bread. Lockwood says picking whole wheat isn't enough.

"When you're reading the label you want to look at the fiber," Lockwood explained. "You want it to have 3 grams of fiber and you want to have whole wheat as your first ingredient."

Kids need two servings of fruit a day.

"You want to look for fruits canned in natural juice or water," Lockwood said.

Do the numbers. Heavy syrup has 20 to 25 grams of sugar, compared to 10 in fruits canned in their natural juice. A better breakfast cereal choice … Cheerios, with less calories, less sugar and more fiber. Another health food mistake -- choosing the best yogurt for your family.

"If we're comparing two vanilla yogurts, even though their both low fat, one of them has 220 calories, and 35 grams of sugar, where the other one has 110 calories and 15 grams of sugar," Lockwood pointed out.

If your family likes to snack before dinner, try this…

"One trick you can do is put out cut up veggies on the table for the kids to snack on," Bethany Thayer, R.D. of the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Mich. said. "If they overeat on vegetables, who really cares?"

And soon your family will be passing on the bad foods, and fighting for the healthy ones.

Portion size is important. Think about this … the typical burger fries and soda that was served in the '70s now has 214 more calories. That's enough to add at least three pounds of weight a year to your child's body, even if they eat fast food just once a week.

If you would like more information, please contact:

American Dietetic Association
http://www.eatright.org

For more about nutrition for kids, click here.