Tiff here and NO, I'm not pregnant! No worries there, it's not our time just yet.
But I have a real problem. When I cook, I make enough for 4 people. There are usually only 2 of us partaking in dinner (the only meal I cook regularly). Some of you are thinking "cool, leftovers." Not. We eat the whole thing. So not only am I eating something that is probably not the healthiest meal, but I'm eating about twice as much as I should be. Not good.
Portion control is a real problem. Our eyes are too big for our stomach and we've been trained as children to clean our plates at every meal. How do I think I'm going to combat this? I think I'm going to become a portion control Nazi. Last night I had white rice and steak tips. Going by the packaging I saw that I was supposed to have about 1/4-1/2 a cup of rice and half of the steak tips. So I got out my measuring spoon. At first I was a little worried, "this doesn't look like much," I thought. But as I sat down to eat and I finished my meal (with a big glass of water) I realized I was full! Success! Now what do I do about those pesky restaurant portions that are 2-3 portions bigger than they are supposed to be? I may try this: When I order ask for a to go box at the beginning of the meal. Especially if you are eating with non dieters. This allows you to put half of your food away and you aren't tempted to pick at it for the rest of the meal. If you are brave enough to separate your meal and just leave the other half alone, you can wait for the to go box till after the meal. Your choice.
Good plan there, Tiff! I was reading a magazine article that said our brains need a visual cue that we are done eating. This is why we will keep eating past the point of being full, because the food on our plates is telling our brains we still need to keep eating. That's also why we will eat all of the Oreos in the bag instead of the 3 that make up 1 serving. For this I have 2 suggestions.
ReplyDelete1) USE SMALLER PLATES. Have you ever looked at a dinner plate? They are bigger than some car tires! If you use what is technically a salad plate, your brain will think you are still eating a lot of food because the plate is full! But since the plate is smaller, you've almost cut your portions in half.
2) PRE-PORTION YOUR SNACKS YOURSELF. Invest in snack bags. While it is awesome to have those cute little 100 calorie bags, they can get expensive. Much more so than buying a full-size bag and portion it yourself. And did you know that sometimes recommended servings are less than 100 calories? So, buy the full-size bag of pretzels and measure out the servings yourself. I set up a station in the living room and measure while I'm watching TV.
Just suggestions. Take them or leave them.