Sunday, April 8, 2012

Portion control

When was the last time you took the time to actually measure out some portions?  I've been really trying to do this lately and I find myself pleasantly surprised at how small some portions of things are.  On my healthy eating/being fitter quest, I've kind of gone off the rule that I can eat as many veggies as I want and really balance the other things.  I've cut out a ton of processed foods (yay) and I'm working on reducing my sugar and salt intakes (hard work for sure!), but I was pleasantly surprised to see that I still wasn't losing weight. 

So I started counting calories again (see previous post about tech gadgets) and to do it accurately, I've started measuring portions.  My whole wheat chex this AM - 3/4 cup is a serving, with a 1/2 cup skim milk.  It fills less than half the bowl.  Quite different from what I would have poured myself, that's for sure.  But it was pleasantly satisfying.  I also added in some bananas as a filler (gotta get in those fruits and veggies remember!)

I was checking out one of my favorite new shows - Drop 5 Pounds on Cooking Channel. They had some really great visuals for figuring out portions.  Serving of meat - think the size of a smart phone.  I use that all the time since I don't have a food scale.  Serving of chocolate - size of two dice. LOVE IT!  I've also gotten some great recipes from that show...but I'll leave that for another day.

So, circling back around, my point here is...measure out some portions.  Take the time to read the nutrition label.  You'll probably be just as surprised as I was!

Until next time,
A

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