Portion Police!

With jumbo portions and super-size options, it's no wonder 69% of Americans are obese.

By nature I am a bit of a "grazer", eating small meals every couple hours, and because my body has adjusted to this it makes it easy to keep things in check at meal times. I eat until the first twinges of “fullness” happen, and then I stop. It’s not unusual for me to eat 2/3 of my dinner, wrap it up, and come back to finish it a couple hours later!

But I know it doesn’t come so easily to many people out there. In fact, one of them sits next to me at dinner every night! At least several times a week I have to BEG him to wait 20 minutes before going back for another plateful so his brain has time to tell his stomach that he's full. But old habits die hard and his 32 year old self still wants to eat like the teenage boy he once was!

Luckily, there are easy guidelines to follow when it comes to eating correct portion sizes for the foods you are eating:

*1 Serving of lean protein should be the size of the palm of your hand

*1 serving of complex carbs from whole grains is 1 cupped hand

*1 serving of complex carbs from fresh fruits or vegetables is 2 cupped hands together

And we can’t forget the kiddies! It’s essentially the same idea as posted above, just in “kid” sizes—their palm, their cupped hand, etc. And making sure veggies are unlimited!! (You'll also want to be sure to follow the Dirty Dozen/Clean 15!).

I know it might seem daunting, but portion control gets easier and easier the longer you follow it. Pretty soon your stomach will actually SHRINK! Yes, that’s right, your stomach adapts to the amount of food you put into it—if you’re overeating, it expands to accommodate this food bolus. But if you start eating less, it will pull a 180 and shrink down to the size of these smaller portions. Pretty amazing, huh? Built in portion control if you think about it!

One trick is to use a smaller plate. I know when I'm going to eat something that I really like and may want to over-eat, I will grab one of our salad plates instead of a dinner plate because it tricks me into thinking I'm eating "a lot" of that food because it fills up the plate! This image proves this point:

So the next time you fill your plate for dinner, take a look and see if your helpings match the guidelines for healthy eating. And if they don't, use some of the ideas in this post to help you reduce your portions, and maybe your waistline too! ~Briana

Sources:

CDC

The Eat-Clean Diet, by Tosca Reno