What makes children overeat?

David Kessler, the former head of the Food and Drug Administration, addresses America's ever-increasing waistlines in his new book, "The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite."

When asked about obesity and children in his Wall Street Journal interview promoting the book, he said the following:

" They [children] are getting huge portions of very stimulating foods, hyper-palatable foods. You have huge portions of sugar, fat and salt. Every time they eat those foods it strengthens their neuro-circuitry to eat that food again. It activates them. Once these cues are laid down, and the information is in your brain, it stays there and drives behavior. This isn't a disease. But we've been captured by these stimuli. In the past, it allowed us to survive. Now we have health consequences because it's available 24/7 and we've added the emotional gloss of advertising."

What would be some way to control the stimuli? Is it not giving your child the cookie the child has been asking for? Or do you give only 1 and stop at 1 and let the child cry if they want more?

Is your child eating enough calories?

How much should your child really eat?  Preschoolers in general need about 1, 000 to 1,400 calories per day. Roughly five or six mini-meals throughout the day are what is needed to keep their energy up.  

The following is a breakdown of how much preschoolers should consume for each food group:

Vegetables - 1 cup

Fruits - 1 cup

Grains - 3 ounces

Meats & Beans 2 to 3 ounces

Dairy 2 cups

Oils 3 teaspoons

Fats & SweetsLimit as much as possible



For information on what your elementary school children or high school children should be eating check out:
http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/healthy/news/nutritionalguidelinesforkids