Controlling your portions to avoid hidden calories
Did you know that over the past twenty years, portion sizes in restaurants have doubled, and in some cases tripled? We are being trained to eat a double portion of calories that is completely unnecessary. All because our burgers are bigger, our popcorn bags deeper, and our soft drinks are supersized. This could be a possible source of the increase in obesity since 1971, from 14.5% prevalence to 30.9%.
Thus today’s world is a scary place for those who struggle with weight. You have to always be on guard to resist eating those extra calories so readily accepted by the rest of society.
We’d like to offer some tools and strategies to protect you from monstrous modern-day portions:
Before you eat…
Measure your cups and glasses.
Know exactly how much they hold so you recognize how much you are actually eating/drinking.
Use Smaller Plates – this makes smaller portions look bigger. You will eat less and still feel satisfied that you cleaned off your plate.
Between meals…
Don’t eat out of the bag. Pull out the amount of chips or pretzels you want to eat, put it in a small bowl, then put the bag away.
Snack! Eat between meals. When dinnertime comes it will be easier to eat out of pleasure, rather than out of hunger.
At restaurants…
Plan ahead! When you order your food, have them bring you a box right from the start. Decide before you eat how much you want to eat, and put the rest in the box. You’ll have some great leftovers to eat later in the week!
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