Kitchen Tip Tuesday: Portion Control

I happen to have a stomach that rarely feels "stuffed" or "full". I could just keep eating. Not a good thing if you'd like to lose weight! Over the last several years I've done little things to help with my portion control. I observe people when we go out to eat, whether it be at buffets, fast food restaurants, or other restaurants. People like to eat, and eat alot! There often isn't much self control in these settings. And we wonder why so many Americans are overweight or obese. I myself would like to lose about 40 pounds so I would probably be considered in one of these categories I suppose depending on who you talked to. But I am making the effort at portion control. Do I always succeed? No, but I do my best. When my girls were little I used to order all of us "happy meals" at McDonald's. But it never failed that they couldn't finish theirs, and I would end up eating my food plus theirs. Finally I just let them order, and whatever they had left, I ate. I no longer ordered my own meal. Now I just order smaller menu items. When we go to sit down dinners as a family, hubby and I almost always share a meal. This helps us in the self control area. If I have my own then I make sure I'm not eating more than I should. I also do not cook an evening meal if we have gone out to eat at a restaurant earlier in the day. We just fix something light, like cereal or salad. I am often not hungry again after eating at a restaurant but know if there's a full meal later in the day I will eat anyways (and I don't need to do that). Buffets....holy cow! What a feast. But I've learned to just take little bits of the things I like. I always start off with salad. I find that if I can have a small sampling of everything, I'm happy. I was also observing the other day in the grocery store the things that people put into their carts. I always hit the produce section first and probably at least 1/4 of my cart is filled with fresh fruits and vegetables. There aren't too many pre-packaged items to be found in the cupboards unless they are healthy or an occasional treat. I'm on a constant journey of healthier living. Sure I still use canned beans instead of dried ( I just rinse them first), and my girls do love a box of mac and cheese or a can of soup, but we are leaps and bounds ahead of where we were a few years ago! And that's the way I want it.
At home I try to eat off a smaller plate or just put less on my larger plate. Making sure there are more veggies on the plate than other items. I've been trying to cut up some fruit or have carrots to snack on before we actually eat. This keeps people from picking at other less healthy items. I'll have some recipes to share hopefully in the next few days, so pop back in. With Joy UNquenchable,

Comments

  1. Even though I am no expert on this matter, at a size 10-12, I like to observe people who's figure I admire. If they stop that gives me a clue. And taking one bit or two less at every meal can help.

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  2. This yr we began doing the kids' meals for my dh and I. If we didn't eat the kids' meals - we'd have to forgo eating out b/c the calories/fat is just so high. I couldn't give up my McDonalds and TBell - so we compromised :)

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  3. This post really hit home, I've done ALL of these things, especially eating a big meal at a restaurant and then again later even if I am not hungry, just because there's a full meal.

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  4. I love your philosophy, I do the same thing at buffets, but I haven't tried very hard with grocery shopping, I like avoiding processed foods, that might be a good trick

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