Most of you are too young to remember the importance of the words, “Clean up your plate.” You don’t hear it very much today but maybe we should.

Food is important to us. It provides us with the nutrients we need and it also is a great source of satisfaction. It also is something to learn about in order to get the best from what we eat.

Keeping a good balance in feeding your children is important. But pitfalls are all around. You know some of them: Limit the sweets, eat more fruit and vegetables, avoid drinking unhealthy soft drinks, have salads, be careful with alcohol, don’t overdo beef, etc. Some we do and others we just ignore.

One area is new or is at least one we have a tendency to ignore. This is the amount of food we throw away. We throw it away at home, in restaurants, in school cafeterias and homemade lunches and even in grocery stores. The amazing statistic is that Americans throw away almost half of their food.

They do this even when people in our country and throughout the world go hungry and the ones who aren’t going hungry frequently are overweight.

In addition, the size of portion in restaurants has exploded in recent years. First we had extra large, then super-sized, now we mega-size. Some fast-food chains are mending their ways, but too many people still see huge restaurant portions as the standard serving size and try to replicate that at home. Maybe we should consider splitting more meals and ordering less.

Take a close look at what you do in your home. Does your son eat all the cereal he puts into his bowl? Does your daughter finish her sandwich or do you see part of it in the trash can? Do you take more potatoes than you can finish but throw them away along with the last portion that no one ate?

See which foods are left on your child’s plate but look at your own plate, too. Can you cut back in some way? Don’t do it drastically but do pay attention to what is thrown out.

You can not only learn to not waste food, you also save money. If we waste half our food, think how much money we can save by buying less.

It also is interesting that many places help people lose weight by emphasizing using smaller plates for their dinners. If you take smaller amounts of food, you usually eat smaller amounts. There go the pounds.

Try making a change today. Buy less, throw away less, eat less. Maybe with a little attention you can ask your child to “clean your plate” at each meal.

Cynthia Martin is the founder of the First Teacher program and director of Parenting Matters Foundation, which publishes newsletters for parents, caregivers and grandparents. Reach Martin at pmf@olypen.com or at 681-2250.