When your eyes are hungry and your plates are big, you’re putting a big multiplier on portions.
I posted on portion control back in August, but with a topic so difficult for our super sized society to comprehend, it bares repeating.
Portion control comes in four levels: shopping, cooking, eating and mental/snacking.
Shopping:
The beginning to portion control starts in the grocery store. A Sizable Apple is stocked with tips on how to shop smart. The issue that many struggle with is the want to eat because it’s there. Don’t buy more than you need. Stock your house to survive for the week, and not the year.
If you’re into buying bulk, break it up and repackage it back home. Stock the remainder in the basement/garage/somewhere away from the kitchen! If you’re a snacker (or live with snackers) break open big boxes and separate them into smaller bags.
Yes, this takes some extra time, and an extra buck every now and then for zip lock bags (which you can reuse!) but small steps can make a difference.
Cooking:
This one took me a little while to master. Eating while you cook is a bad habit I’ve almost fully broken. Try not to wait until you’re starving to cook. You’ll make too much, and eat too much in the process. Make less instead of more. If the pasta is almost done and looks like it’s not enough for two, make a side dish of vegetables to go with it. Best advice- you can always make more, but you’d have to throw out, save, or eat the rest.
There are some great tools out there to help you manage your portions before you even sit down to eat. Although I couldn’t find it online, my mom has a great tool to measure serving sizes of pasta before you toss them into the pot. It’s a little plastic sheet with cut out holes for different serving sizes.
Eating:
Here’s where the trouble sets in, unless you’re paying attention! Using smaller plates or even eating out of a Tupperware can control your portions. Plate your food and put the rest away. Left-overs should go immediately to the fridge. If you’re really hungry and need more, you’ll have to go through heating up extra instead of subconsciously loading up your plate again or standing in front of the pot working on extra before it’s even left over.
If you’re serious about portion control, you can buy a food/calorie scale, or special dishware, shown also here, here and here.
These tools are great for someone looking to change their habits. The dishes with sizes on the bottom are especially helpful if you’re trying to alter the portions of children.
