Simplicity in Portion Control

We need a portion control intervention. Over the past decade we have forgotten or lost our ability to know what a reasonable serving size is. Our eyes have grown to match our expanding waist lines.

Eating establishments and fast food restaurants serving sizes have doubled the last 15 to 20 years. Everywhere we go; it seems that we are being given larger portions. Research has shown that it doesn't matter how much food is set in front of a person, they will eat it. No wonder we are becoming an obese nation.

So the question of the day is how do we wean ourselves from super-size servings and train ourselves to recognize reasonable amounts? We could always weigh and measure everything we eat but how do we do that at a restaurant? A more convenient way is to use familiar objects to help gauge how much we are eating, and to buy products that can do the portion control for us.

In the book, Portion Teller , author Lisa Young, PhD. RD. loves to us the "handy" method. She says that 3 ounces of meat is the size of your open palm, and a cup of rice is the size of your fist. A shot glass is another neat portioning tool. Since we all seem to put too much salad dressing on our salads, Young suggests picturing a shot glass when putting on salad dressing. A shot glass equals about 2 tablespoons of dressing.

Lisa Young also gives some tips for eating out in restaurants. She says it is one of the most dangerous environments for portion control. She says it is as easy as 123.

• Don't go into a restaurant hungry
• Share your meal with a friend and order extra salads to get your vegetables
• Take home the extra part of your meal for another meal the next day

There are several tools that you can use at home that will help you keep your portions right, you probably already have them in a drawer. There are also certain food packages that will also help you with portion control.

Portion Control Tools

These tools will help your portion your foods into 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup servings:

• Snack size baggies hold about 1 cup if they are fully packed and 3/4 cup if they are loosely packed. These baggies are good for portioning out crackers, nuts, pretzels, baked chips, dried fruit and cereal.
• Foil cupcake liners hold a third of a cup. These are perfect for baked goods and snack foods.
• Mini foil pie pans are perfect for portioning side dishes.
• Large muffin cups (the muffin pans that usually hold about 6 muffins) hold about 3/4 of a cup. This is the right size for holding chili, casseroles, and shepherds pie.
• A ladle holds 1/2 cup, it is great for portioning stew, spaghetti, steamed rice, mashed potatoes.

Portioned Food Products

• Small cereal boxes hold about 3/4 cup of cereal and usually come in several flavors.
• Power bars are about 2 1/2 ounces and come individually wrapped. Watch for the high fiber, low sugar ones and avoid the high sugar bars..
• Pita bread makes wonderful sandwiches and is a great way to portion out your sandwiches. If possible buy the whole grain variety. If you fill half of your pita with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions first and then put in the chicken, turkey or whatever protein you are adding you are less likely to eat too much filler.
• Ready to eat soup (14.5 ounce can), the kind that you just heat and serve usually is portioned for 2 people at 1 cup per serving. If you choose one of the soups that are made with broth or tomato juice and have no more than 5 grams of fat per serving, you will eat only about 250 calories even if you devour the whole can.
• Individually wrapped light ice cream bars make for a great dessert. Its portion size usually runs around 1/2 cup depending on the brand.
• Individual microwave mini popcorn bags hold about 2 cups of popcorn. Look for the light version and keep the serving moderate.
• Individual boxes or a bottle of 100% fruit juice is an 8 ounce serving of juice. Eating the fruit is better than drinking juice. My suggestion is to eat fruit but these boxes are also the perfect portions for fruit juice.

There are many things on the market that help us control our portions. There are also the many different 100 calorie snack boxes with chips, crackers and cookies that will also help in controlling your portions.

Back :: Next