Helping Kids Make Healthier Food Choices

DR. RODGERS: Hi, I’m Dr. Griffin Rodgers, Director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at NIH.

I'm joined by Joel Gamoran, head chef and founder of Homemade, author of “Cooking Scrappy,” and host of Scrappy TV.

Today, one in five children is considered to have obesity. What can concerned parents do to help their kids manage their weight and build healthier habits?

JOEL GAMORAN: I would say always looking at the plate and making sure that at least half the plate is vegetable-forward. So, having a quarter of it be some sort of carbohydrate, quarter of it being a protein, but really the most of that plate is vegetables.

There's so many interesting ways to make vegetables exciting and fun, so if you're really, really worried about those obesity rates, it's about making sure that kids start to visually see that plate as mostly being healthy.

DR. RODGERS: For more information, follow us @NIDDKgov.