Why Weight? #8: Balance & Rhythm with Eating

How can regular meals and snacks influence childhood obesity?  Believe it or not, the rhythm of meals and snacks is an important defense against childhood obesity.  Regular meals and snacks help children get the myriad requirement of nutrients in their diet on a daily basis and helps normalize the hunger cycle.  Very young children require three meals and up to three snacks per day to meet their nutritional needs for growth and development.  Older, school age children and teens need 3 meals and 1-2 snacks per day.  Requiring 40 nutrients daily, all children benefit from balanced and regular meals and snacks. 

What are balanced meals?  Meals that represent most food groups, and a variety of foods within each food group.  Translated:  offer most food groups at each meal and don’t offer the same foods over and over–mix it up so that your child gets exposed to a number of different nutrients throughout the day.  A general rule of thumb is to offer at least 3-4 food groups at meals, and at least 1-2 food groups at snack time.

What are rhythmic meals and snacks?  Meals and snacks that are provided in a structured, regular fashion.   It is good for children to have a structure to their day, and with meals and snacks, this holds true.  Whatever timing suits your family schedule will work for your child too.  What doesn’t work well with children, is unorganized chaos when it comes to food and eating.  Try to set a general schedule for when meals and snacks will happen in your home.  Breakfast in the morning, lunch at mid-day, an afterschool snack, and a dinner at a predictable time.   Generally, feeding intervals of 3-4 hours seem to be most effective in preventing too much hunger and overeating in children.  Also, the emotional response from a child who is unsure about when he/she will be eating can build over time into an insecurity about food and eating and a distrust of the parental provider.  This may be manifested in fast eating, preoccupation with food, frequent questioning about timing and content of meals, and ”sneak eating” or overeating.

Not unlike dancing, keep your meals and snacks flowing during the day to a beat…timed intervals of 3 to 4 hours.  Especially during the younger years, this rhythm will build predictability and security around food and eating, and help keep undesirable behaviors, such as overeating, at bay.

Whether you are two-steppin’ or four-squarin’, you can promote rhythm in your child’s eating experiences by staying on beat.  With feeding, this takes a little bit of planning, and  practice.   The results? A child with normalized eating behaviors and less fixation on food.  Yee-haw!  Doesn’t that sound worth it?!  Why Weight?