A wide number of people think that it is impossible to exercise over their diet. The major reason behind this is portion distortion. This is because people make wrong choices in what they eat. All of us have a distorted perceptive of how much we eat daily and what our portion size is. But once you get an idea of the number of calories you intake every day you will be shocked. To remain away from this, you must concentrate on portion control.
When it comes to portion control, it is each and everything about how much and when you eat. It is an essential aspect to live a healthier life. This will help you in moving towards healthier choice so that you can reach a balance in the intake of food.
So, now you’ll be thinking of how you can control of portion distortion? Need help to figure out the proper portion? This guide will give you an idea how you can control it and remain healthy:
Remember the Size of Plate
The greater the plate will be, the more we tend to heap on and eat. Furthermore, plate sizes have expanded appropriately alongside with our size of food and waistlines. So, wisely use the plate size to your advantage. Do the dressing of the salad on a bigger dinner plate and utilize a smaller plate for your dish. This might urge you to eat a greater extent of lower-calorie healthy salad and a little portion of your major dish, which constitutes of mashed potatoes and meat. In the same manner, try making use of smaller bowl for your breakfast cereal and a larger bowl for the fresh berries that majority of us typically tend to over pour.
Fill Up Your Plate with More of Vegetables and Fruits
Try to concentrate on the healthier veggies and fruits all through the day. Since the veggies and fruits are moderately low in calories, you can have a bigger portion and the fiber will influence you to feel full. This may make it less demanding to fight the temptation to overeat the processed foods and unhealthy desserts. So, try to include veggies or fruits in your each and every meal.
Pay Attention to the Portion Size
Plenty of people don’t know how to judge the portion size and don’t even bother to judge the size of portion. This implies that you don’t know the number of calories you are consuming in one sitting. It will be likely more than you think. Moreover, people considerably underestimate the number of calories which they consume. That is why portion control is very much essential for the healthy maintenance. So, make sure to keep a control over your portions and as such, you can have a control on the intake of calories.
Controlling Food Portion Size At Home
- Ensure that the veggies fill only half of your plate. Leave out 1/4th of the plate for your starch, for example – bread, pasta, rice, etc. and 1/4th for the protein, for example – beans, chicken, fish, etc.
- Serve the plates directly off the stove rather than placing the whole serving dish right in front of the table.
- Make use of smaller plates and glasses
- Portion out the snacks in the small ziplock bags rather than eating right out of the vessel.
- Read out the nutrition labels – check out the size and number of servings
- Eat meals after every 2 to 3 hours to prevent yourself from overeating. This helps in boosting your metabolism to a great extent.
Controlling Food Portion Size at Restaurants
- Ask for the dish in which you want to eat comes in half portion
- Order a small soda or even skip it and order an iced tea or a glass of water.
- Share your meal with whom you are eating with
Avoid High Calorie Beverages
There is a small to no nutritional value found in the energy drinks, juices, sodas and caffeinated beverages. Indeed, they are frequently ‘hidden’ sources of unnecessary calories in our diets. Hence, you must eliminate all the prepackaged juice and soda from your diet. In case you have a juicer at your home place, you can prepare fresh vegetables or fruit juices. Keep in mind that these juices contain many calories. So, try to avoid the sugary juices that you purchase in the markets and eliminate the caffeinated beverages and energy drinks from your diet.
Drink a Lot of Water
Most of us don’t have a habit to drink enough of water but remember water is very good for our health. Adequate intake of water is important for you all body functions. The more you will drink the easier you will cut down on the calories and you lose weight. You can try to take an intake of hot water with lemon or else you can have decaffeinated herbal tea.
Avoid Taking Intake of Trigger Foods
Majority of people generally overeat two or three favorite foods, generally the snacks, slices of bread, sweets, pastas or meats and remain stick to them. So, intake such foods very carefully as you can. Begin slowly. For this, eat some portion of rice and pasta or you can go with half of a sandwich rather than a full.
Eat with your stomach, Not Your Eyes
It is obvious that your eyes are bigger than your stomach. It significantly implies in what manner or capacity a huge number of us manages to deal with our portion sizes. We heap on the food, taking more than we need, and only then we feel satisfied. So, it is recommended that tune into your internal body signals and eat till the time you are satisfied with. Wait for a while taking pairs or wanting to complete what is on your plate. Slowly eat and put your fork down between the nibbles.
Portion control plays a pivotal role to lead a healthier life. So, follow up the above tips and you will see extreme changes in your health without a minimum amount of effort.
Author Bio:
Clara Williford is working as a blogger for Precise Portions. Precise Portions Nutrition Learning System helps you to lose weight naturally and stay fit by developing healthy eating habits for the lifetime.