Portion Control

Hello All,

There are so many reasons to be grateful today! It's a beautiful day here in Texas, and I lost 3lbs since last Monday! The hard work is paying off! One thing that I am starting to do, however, is watch my portions. Now, we all know that America restaurants doll out enough food for three people on one plate. Here in Houston (area), it's even more likely that you'd get enough food to last you the whole day in one sitting (and the calorie intake too). This being considered, I have to be very careful of my food preparation at home. To the left you can see that I switched bowls. I used to eat out of the blue bowl. Now, I eat out of the clear bowl. "But what if I'm still hungry?", you ask. Fear not. Here are some other tips I found to help with portion control and stamp out hunger:

1. Break Leftovers Down

When you cook, put leftovers away before you even fix a plate, that way you will be able to pull it out in a perfect portion size without trying to figure out how much is too much.

2. Say Yes to Salads

Eating a salad before lunch or dinner to fill yourself up and get your serving of veggies. This isn't just a small iceberg either. Used dark leafy greens and colorful vegetables to load variety, flavor and best of all needed nutrients to your diet. Plus, the fiber from the salad will make you fill fuller.

3. Single out trigger foods

Round up the "usual suspects" and divide them out into snack healthy portions. It's easy to go through a whole bag of chips (or cheeze its in my case) when you're not paying attention. However, if you're done with a 12oz bag, then you're done. (A caveat: if a healthy portion is less than a serving size, you probably shouldn't eat it.)

4. Master mini meals

Eating small meals during the day helps to keep hunger at bay. Ideally, you should have six small meals.

5. Keep Seconds out of Sight

This goes alone with number 1. After cooking, just put away the food. I like to serve plates and put the food away before we even sit down.

6. Serving Standards

Perhaps the most important, know what serving standards look like. Learn to "eyeball" portions. A 3oz portion of meat looks like a deck of cards or audio tape. A 1oz portion looks like a matchbook. 1 cup of potatoes or rice looks like a tennis ball.

7. Last but not least...indulge.

I ate a piece of cheesecake Sunday. It was VERY good. But it tasted so good because I had worked so hard to enjoy. Give yourself a a treat and know that it's worth it. Make it worth it. Don't splurge on a cheap Little Debbie Snack, get a gourmet delight that will make you say, "That was perfect".

I hope these help. They are helping me, along with patience and diligence.

Ciao!

Barbie