Get your portions under control...

In a culture where more is great and super-sized is even better, most of us see a healthy portion of chicken (3 oz) and a small plate of pasta as a snack. But our heaping plates and tall orders are causing us to become WAY bigger people as well. It’s time to retrain our brains and stomachs to eat appropriate and healthy amounts of food.

 I find the following comparisons helpful (if some of the objects seem a little out of date or you don’t know what they are (i.e. check book, CD), look them up

J

• ½ cup pasta or rice= a small fist or light bulb
• 3 oz cooked meat= a deck of cards or two iPhones stacked
• 1 muffin= large egg
• 1 bagel=a can of tuna
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter= a golf ball
• 1 pancake=a CD
• 1 oz cheese=2 dice
• 1 apple=a baseball
• 1 cup cooked veggies=a baseball
• 1 baked potato=a computer mouse
• 1 tablespoon butter, margarine, mayonnaise=a poker chip
• 1 brownie=dental floss dispenser
• 1 cookie=2 poker chips
• 1 piece of cake=deck of cards
• 1/2 cup ice cream=light bulb
• 1 cup french fries= a baseball
• 1 slice pizza=2 dollar bills
• lasagna=baseball
• sub sandwich=a checkbook

You might be surprised at the actual portions that we all should be eating. It’s definitely a change in thinking and eating. But eating in this way will not only help you become or maintain a healthy weight, but can help improve your grocery budget not to mention your eating out spending. When a restaurant serves you a bowl of pasta with 3-5 servings of pasta (and they will), eat your portion and save the rest for later!

People, we just need to change our way of thinking...more is not always better and super sized is just plain worse. If you don’t feel comfy eyeballing your serving sizes, check out these printable portion reminders by clicking here. Armed with these tools there's no reason for us to overeat!

Extra Tips!

•  Eat from a desert plate instead of dinner plate. Filling a smaller plate will trick your brain into thinking that you’re eating more, not less.
• Buy sectioned plates with two small sections and one large section. Fill the large section with veggies and the two smaller sections with protein (meat) and starches (rice, pasta, potatoes)
• Do not eat straight from the bag. Portion out a serving size,  put it on a plate or whatever and close the bag up and put that thing away!
• Split a meal-half the size equals half the calories

• Get a kid’s meal (some kid’s meals are still super-sized, so watch it)

Enjoy your healthy portions!