Tips on Portion Control

The amount of food you eat plays a significant role in gaining, managing, or losing weight. If you eat more calories than your body burns, you gain weight. If you eat the same amount of calories that you burn off, you manage your weight. If you eat less calories than you burn, you lose weight. It is that simple! Most people need guidelines on how much they should be eating. An easy way to do that is use your hand as a tool for measuring your portion sizes. At a meal when you have a lean protein and a complex carbohydrate ( brown rice, sweet potatoes, wheat bread, etc.), your protein portion should be about the size of your palm and you complex carbohydrate portion should be about the size of you fist.

If you are eating packaged foods or casseroles, pay close attention to the serving size. Sometimes the portion of food in the package is more than one serving. The difference between a portion and a serving is that a portion is how much you choose to eat whereas a serving is the amount of food listed on the product’s nutrition facts. Looking at the nutrition facts will give an idea of how many servings are in one package. A general rule when eating packaged foods would be to eat only 1 serving instead of several. It could be a healthy choice like Baked Lays or pretzels, but it is still important to stick to one serving. I can remember a time back in the 1990’s when I thought if a food was low fat, you could eat as much as you wanted. Wrong! Boy, was I in the dark! You can overeat on healthy foods and end up eating more calories than you burn off in one day. (Meaning you gain weight!) If you are eating casseroles, you have to guess or estimate what a reasonable portion would be. A rough estimate of an appropriate serving would be about the size of your fist. Of course, it depends on what kind of casserole so if it is questionable, find something else to eat. The following are some quick and easy ways to keep your portion sizes in check.

Quick tips for measuring portion sizes:

• When eating something like baked chips or pretzels, measure out one serving instead of eating out of the bag.
• Measure out dry cereals
• Measure drinks like milk and juice
• When eating out, box up ½ of your entrée and save to eat for the next day or split an entrée with a friend.
• Use a small salad plate when eating at home and divide it into thirds.( 1/3 lean protein, 1/3 complex carbohydrate, 1/3 vegetables)