|
6 TIPS FOR PORTION CONTROL
The big news in nutrition was a study that covered
cookbook recipes published over the last several decades. It
was discovered that calorie counts
have gone up as authors have increased portion sizes—the average calorie
count went from 268 per serving to 384 per serving. Nutritionist Marion
Nestle says that mainly it's just a reflection of people becoming
accustomed to eating more and more overall. What can we do to monitor
and control portion sizes?
1. Downsize
your plate. One issue the study pointed
out is that the average plate size has grown over the years and the amount of food served on
those plates has kept pace with that increase. Instead of breaking out
the big dinner plate, try eating your dinner off a salad or dessert
plate. The smaller plate will make the amount of food look larger by
proportion, a visual cue, which will trick your brain into thinking
you're eating more. You can also trade in your big dinner fork for a
more petite salad fork, which will slow down any shoveling behavior that
might occur at the dinner table.
2. Divide
and conquer. When you're cooking more than one
serving of something, immediately store the prospective leftovers in
single-serving containers. By putting out the entire dish, you run the
risk of there not being any leftovers at the end of the meal. Depending
on what the meal is, divide food onto two plates—one for that meal and
one for lunch the next day. As a side benefit, this can help you tighten
your wallet while you tighten your waistline.
3. Count
it down. If you eat your reasonably sized portion
of food in the dining room/living room/den/bedroom/bathroom, etc., and leave the
leftovers in the kitchen, it will make this next step a lot easier.
Here's the scenario: You've finished your first
portion and yet you still want more. This is far from atypical,
especially if the big plate of leftovers is sitting in front of you,
tempting you, calling to you—maybe just a half a spoonful or maybe just
a pick at the serving platter with your fork (just the good parts, of
course). That couldn't possibly have more calories, right? Wrong. The
calories from the food you sneak in after you finish eating are as
potent as the calories from the food you're served. The good news is
that if you can hold off, you won't be hungry for long.
After you have a decent-sized portion of food, it
takes your brain about 20 minutes to get the message from your stomach
that you're full. So try this: Before you reach for seconds, glance at
the clock on the wall or your wristwatch. Spend the next 20 minutes
chatting with your dining companions, or if you're eating alone, check
out the newspaper, read a magazine article, or play along with a round
of Jeopardy on TV. Then, after 20 minutes, see if you're still starving
for another bowl full of whatever. Chances are that your cravings will
have disappeared. If they haven't, maybe you do still need a little more
food to achieve satiety. Review what you ate before, and if the calorie
count seems low, treat yourself to a little extra. Or, if the calorie
count seems about right or high for a regular meal and you're still
hungry, fill up on some low-cal veggies or have a big glass of water.
Sometimes it's easy to confuse thirst for hunger.
4. Embrace
your inner child, and we don't mean have candy for dinner
. . . When you're on the road or out for dinner, don't be ashamed to look at the kids' menu.
As the adult menu has been super-sized to gluttonous
proportions, the children's menu often has the most
nutritious options. Check out the portion-control tips below, and you'll
see that oftentimes the amount of food in a kids' meal is just the right
amount for an adult watching his or her figure.
5. Sharing
is good. If you're a food lover, the hardest
part about eating out is passing up all the goodies you
want to try on the menu. Instead of ordering too much
for yourself, strategize with your fellow diners about how you can
maximize the variety of the food instead of the quantity. Most
restaurants will be more than happy to provide you with extra small
plates so you can split dishes. Make sure you actually split them! Don't
dine out with your friend who survives on a nibble here or there and
split two dishes; you'll end up eating 80 percent of the food on the
table while he or she makes do with a couple of forkfuls. In case you
ever wondered how Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi keeps her model physique
while judging up to 12 meals a week, the secret is that she doesn't eat
everything. Also, when you're figuring out how to eat family style, make
sure that at least one of the dishes is a healthy salad, a
non-cream-based soup, or a vegetable dish. That way you and your family
can get full without getting fat.
6. Learn
your weights and measurements and read labels.
It’s important to know the calorie, carb, protein, and fat numbers, as well as the
serving size. This is where the corporate food interests get you a lot
of the time,
by adjusting the serving size downward to make the
nutritional numbers look a little better. As anyone who's recently spent
a Saturday night alone with the TV can tell you, the estimate of four
servings in a pint of Ben and Jerry's or Häagen-Dazs is wildly
optimistic. Whereas the label would indicate a 300-calorie serving, keep
in mind that the entire container has 1,200 calories. And since most of
the containers taper downward, eating what appears to be half of the
container can actually amount to two-thirds.
It's definitely too much of a hassle to weigh and
measure everything you put in your body every day. Even the most
anal-retentive people among us don't have the time to be hauling out the
scale and measuring cups for every meal. But it's worth it to at least
familiarize yourself with a few standard weights and measures. Try
learning what an ounce,
a gram, a tablespoon, etc., look like. That way you can at least eyeball
how much you're eating.
Handy
Portion-Control Guide
To achieve weight loss, it's crucial to really
understand what a portion is. Here's a trick, use your hand as a
guideline to portion sizes.
|
Fist =
Fruits, Grains, etc.
Your bread, fruit, cereal, rice, and grain
portions should be about equal to the size of your closed fist.
Remember that whole grains are always preferred |
. |
 |
Palm =
Proteins
Make protein portions the size of your palm.
Protein is found in animal products, like fish, meats, and
cottage cheese. Some veggie sources include legumes (beans,
etc.), tofu, tempeh, and wheat glutens. |
|
Thumb = Fats
Fats are important but also very dense so
match portions to the size of your thumb. Good fat sources are
avocados, olive oil, nuts, and seeds.
|
 |
 |
Hand =
Veggies
Open your hand and spread your fingers as
wide as you can. That is a good vegetable portion. Raw
vegetables are loaded with fiber and nutrients, and contain very
few calories.
|
|
