In a busy family on top of having to manage various food preferences and eating styles, one of the challenges can be managing portion sizes for differing energy needs across a range of people.  The ideal amount of food for each family member will depend on their age, sex, height and how active they are across the day. 

I’m nearly 50, about average height and quite active.  My 16-year old son is 6 foot tall and plays a huge amount of sport - so he needs MORE veggies, MORE high quality carbs and a little MORE protein than me.

Here’s how I plate up our meals to allow for our different energy needs using our hands as a portion guide:

Here’s what I like to do: 

• Veggies 2-3 fists each.  Veggies are filling and full of fibre, nutrients and phytochemicals.  Ideally we should aim to fill half of our plate with non-starchy veggies like green beans, broccoli, capsicum, cauliflower, mushrooms, spinach, zucchini, asparagus, cabbage and other leafy greens.  Over the day we both should aim to eat 5-6 fists worth of veggies.  Here we’ve got baby spinach, pumpkin and a kale salad

• High Quality Carbs: A cupped handful each or ½ - 1 cup depending on your activity level. Carbohydrates are the body’s preferred and most easily used energy source. High quality carbohydrates include wholegrains, legumes or starchy vegetables. These keep you fuller for longer, fuel your brain, give you energy to exercise and are fibre-rich for good gut health. I think this can be where we often come unstuck in the family meals by unconsciously eating a larger carbohydrate portion than our energy needs may require.  This is particularly easy to do with highly processed “white” carbs – so choose a carb that is fibre rich which will keep you nice and full.  Our carb here is a freekah pilaf.

• Lean Protein: a palm size piece each.  Often people serve more protein than they need and can take up the place of salad and veggies on the dinner plate.  About 70g-100g cooked is a good size.  Tonight we are eating steak. 

• Good Fats: Fat is an essential nutrient to make hormones and help absorb some vitamins. Good fats are found in fish, nuts, seeds, avocado and extra virgin olive oil.  A thumb size is a good amount each.  This is covered by some extra virgin olive oil in the salad dressing and some walnuts in the kale salad.

If you’re trying to keep an eye on what you eat - don’t just cut your portions!  This will make you feel deprived and potentially hungry!  Instead use the strategy of “crowding” – filling up your plate with lots of veggies to crowd out the less healthy options.  By focusing on the foods you want to eat more of you'll feel full and you won't feel deprived.   

Some other tips are to plate up in the kitchen instead of at the table and portion out tomorrow’s lunch too while you are there.  Your future self will thank you!

Do you need help getting your healthy eating back on track?  My 6 week customised nutrition program is specially designed to help you establish healthy eating habits, gain or lose weight,  or recover from the diet cycle.  Find out more here.  

Rachel is a university qualified Clinical Nutritionist based in Balmain.  She is also the busy working mum of two teenagers, so is practical and realistic with her advice . Rachel offers private consultations to improve your family's health and well-being. You can find her on Facebook and Instagram for more healthy tips and tricks.