A Colorado company has designed dishware aimed at helping families chart an easier path to healthy living by watching their food portions at mealtime.

Livliga — a name that comes from a Swedish word meaning lively, vibrant or vivid — sells dining ware and serving utensils for children and adults. Every piece has unique indicators to help people visualize and consume appropriate portions as indicated by a recipe or single serving size noted on a package. The company’s dishware set for children is accompanied by a book, Sammie & Sax in the Land of Quinoa: The Search for a Balanced Meal, that aims to teach healthy eating for kids in a fun, engaging way.

After creating a prototype of the dishware, Livliga’s founder, Sheila Kemper Dietrich, and her husband, Walter, lost more than 50 pounds each. They’ve worked hard to share their weight-loss strategy with others.

Indeed, Americans could use help establishing healthier eating habits — which are good for mental health, too. Consider:

• More than one-third of American adults, or about 78 million people, were obese in 2009-2010, according to the Centers for Disease Control. A Duke University study forecasts that 32 million more people could be obese by 2030.
• The average American dinner plate has grown by almost 51 percent since 1900, with plates expanding from 9.6 inches to nearly 1 foot in diameter. At the same time, so have serving sizes sold by commercial entities. Think Big Gulps and super-sized fries.