Portion Control

Do you have trouble with portion control? This is really a hard part of healthy living that I am really trying to work on. I could eat a plateful of spaghetti or of macaroni and cheese any day. I used to make a box of macaroni and cheese and eat the whole thing myself. I would love to eat half of a large pizza with bread sticks and cheese on the side. I have to admit, that is one of the reasons why I am overweight. Portion control is so important when a person is trying to lose weight, and I never really thought about not eating so much of one thing. I always just thought that sticking to one thing on my plate was better than eating several different things. Now I know that I need to cut down on the portions and add variety in order to lose weight and get healthy.

I do not believe that we should say that we will never eat a brownie or a certain type of food again. This is why so many diets fail. We restrict ourselves to the point where we can no longer resists temptation, and when we give in we go all in and eat more than we wanted to, and we do not even savor the taste because we only feel the guilt of “cheating.”

My daughter made brownies last weekend, and they smelled so good. I started to get depressed because I thought to myself, “No Julie do not eat or even get near those brownies.” Did I eat a brownie? You bet I did! But I ate a small piece and walked away so I would not eat anymore. I felt so good after that. I was able to eat a brownie, savor the taste, and I did not overeat all at the same time. I try to always have a vegetable, a fruit, a complex carb, and a source of protein at every meal. I have even seen where you can buy plates that divide your plate up for you. This forces you to have a variety of foods with their proper serving sizes at every meal.

Portion control is my new phrase this year. I am going to think about this every time a meal is prepared and served, and I challenge you to do the same.

Julie