Should I be concerned that my child is constantly hungry?

My little girl is almost 6 and she has always been in the lower percentile on the growth chart at the drs., but otherwise healthy. In September of this past year she grew from wearing a clothes size 4 to now wearing a 7.  Great!  It was a shock to everyone that saw her-she was always a peanut. . But, I do feel that now she is in a "bad habit" of eating.  She is not overweight...but, she will eat a full meal-while looking at my plate and asking me to save her some of mine.  Then 30 minutes after 2 helpings, she is in the kitchen literally crying that she "needs to eat".  In the beginning I had  a hard time denying her food.  Now I try to do healthy snacks.  Rice cakes, apples and granola bars-things like that. But she is relentless.  She would eat herself sick if I let her. But, my fear is that she can eat herself into a health problem.   Can she over eat for a long period of time and develop diabetes or another health problem-even though she isn't technically "fat"?

Thank you,

Chrissy

[Renee Radenberg]

Her weight is between the 75-90th percentile and her height is between the 75-50th percentile for her age. She is normal. Based on her weight / age, she should be consuming approximately 1800 calories per day for her to grow as recommended the following; Fruits = 1.5 cups; Vegetables 2.5 cups; Grains (cereals, breads) = 6oz equivalents; Meat & beans = 5oz equivalents; Dairy products (milk, yogurt) = 3 cups; Oils = 5 tsp; Additional calories to be used discretionary = 195. This food needs to be divided up between 3 meals and snacks between meals daily. Hoped this helped you.