Tips for Portion Control

FreddieRaechel

So this is certainly not my own article, and not my own ideas; however I have found most of these tips to be incredibly helpful in learning to control my portions. For others who are just starting out, like myself, keeping things like this in mind are a helpful way to start off on the right foot. Here's the article I'm pulling from:

http://fitbie.msn.com/slideshow/20-mindless-portion-control-tips

---Use big-box shopping trips to your advantage

Melissa Joy Dobbins, RD, founder of Sound Bites nutrition practice, calls it the “Costco Effect”—if you want to eat more of something, make sure a huge amount of it makes its way into your grocery cart or home. “The presence and volume of it will make you eat more of it,” she explains. Instead of picking up a case of chocolate chips cookies, go big on spinach, eggs, and other healthy eats when you hit up big-box retailers, she suggests.

---Don’t buy foods labeled “low fat”

When “low-fat” labels are placed on snack foods, they encourage people to eat up to 50 percent more and take in 84 extra calories than they would if the claim wasn’t present, according to researchers at Cornell University. Consumers see “low fat” and assume the food has fewer calories, the scientists concluded. On average, study participants underestimated the calorie counts for “low-fat” M&Ms and granola by 48 percent and 50 percent, respectively. Low-fat labeling also caused them to increase their perception of an appropriate serving size by 25 percent.

---Add veggies for volume

“If you miss large portions, bulk up your dish with non-starchy vegetables,” suggests Erin Palinski, RD, CPT. “For example, adding large chunks of tomato to a pasta dish allows you to see a bigger serving, but you are eating less pasta and having more low-calorie high-fiber veggies.” Produce can also add volume to your plate. Fill half of it with fruits, vegetables or a salad and you’ll leave less space for higher-calorie protein and grains, says Joy Dubost, RD, PhD.

---Choose fragrant foods
(Freddie's Note: This is one of my favorite tips, it SERIOUSLY helps me personally eat less in a meal)

The stronger your food smells, the less of it you may need to feel satisfied. Subjects in a study published in the journal Flavour took smaller bites of a vanilla custard dessert when they simultaneously sniffed an intense cream aroma than they did when the smell was weaker. Pay attention to the scent of your centerpiece, too. When obese and overweight people whiffed green apples, bananas or after-dinner mints before a meal they ate less and lost 60 pounds, on average, over six months, according to a study from the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago.

---Sip from taller glasses

Adults pour an average of 19 percent more liquid into short, wider glasses than they do into tall tumblers, according to a study published in the Journal of Consumer Research. Our brains tend to focus more on an object's height than its width, so short glasses don't appear quite as full, the scientists suggest.

---Use smaller spoons
(Freddie's Note: And you can pretend like you're an elegant giant)

Stick with teaspoons, even when you’re dishing food onto your plate. In another Cornell study, people who used three-ounce serving spoons shoveled out nearly 15 percent more food than those who scooped using smaller two-ounce spoons.

---Set your fork down between bites

Slow down—clearing your plate is not a race. “There’s no need to preload your fork for each bite,” says Marisa Moore, RD, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “Taking breaks will extend the time it takes to eat your meal and possibly reduce the amount of food you eat since it takes 15 to 20 minutes for your brain to get the signal that the stomach is full.”

(Freddie's note: My dietician actually requested that I keep a hidden timer for all of my meals. So I set a 20 minute timer when I start eating, and she is trying to have me become more aware of exactly how quickly I am inhaling my meals. I've been doing this for a week straight, and have yet to break out of my 17 minute speed eat. Setting the fork down is new advice to me, and I am looking forward to using this technique as a way to extend my meal times!)

---Limit dinnertime distractions

Turn off the television and don’t invite your laptop or phone to the table, suggests Dubost. When electronics and other distractions have our attention, the amount of food that we’re putting into our mouths does not—it’s the perfect environment for mindless eating, she says.

---Recall visual cues

If you don’t have a measuring cup handy, use a visual shortcut. For example, a 3-ounce serving of meat is equivalent in size to a deck of cards; a cup yogurt should take up as much space as your fist; 2 tablespoons of peanut butter are the size of a ping pong ball; and a half-cup of cooked rice or pasta is equal to half of a baseball.

---Brush, floss, or chew gum

When you’re done eating, keep your chompers busy with a piece of gum, or head to the bathroom to brush and floss. “Keeping a clean mouth may be motivating enough to keep us from mindlessly grazing on food,” says Heather Mangieri, founder of Nutrition CheckUp, LLC. She suggests trying this tip between meals and while cooking as well.

---Don’t eat from the bag or box
(Freddie's Note: This technique helps me make sure the food I enter into the MFP app is correct, and makes packing my lunch so much easier)

Instead, place food on a plate or in a bowl so you don’t plow through the entire package, suggests Moore. Or make your own 100-calorie packs. “As soon as you get home from the store, divide cereal and snacks into single-serving zippered baggies,” says Taub-Dix. “That way you won’t have to think about serving size later.”



I hope this was as helpful to you as it was to me!
Thanks y'all!
-Freddie

llkilgore

My best tip is to always, always, ALWAYS eat standard full sized servings, at least of calorie dense foods. Eating super sized servings is how we got fat. Eating under sized "diet" servings will leave you feeling deprived and isn't sustainable for most people. It doesn't train you for maintenance, which puts you at a higher risk of regaining the weight when the diet ends. But consistently eat "what normal people eat" and it will become normal. Two years ago a size 4 pair of jeans would have looked absurdly small to me, and now size 14 jeans look HUGE. With sufficient reinforcement, the same thing happens to your perceptions of food portions.