MendoGal
03-20-2002, 03:39 PM
I've always been a big eater, and unfortunately it shows! <img src=icon_smile_blush.gif border=0 align=middle> Diets that offer unlimited portions of anything (i.e., Atkins especially) have always appealed to me, but in truth portion control plays a big part in any diet. The other day I looked at one of those small, lunch-sized bag of Fritos (the kind I put in my daughter's lunch, not in mine!) and noted that a "serving" is approximately 32 chips, and the small bag contained about 2.5 "servings"! Whoever eats just 32 chips out of one of those little bags??!! If I have one of those bags, the whole thing is gone pronto and I'll wish I had more!!
We Americans have gotten used to giant-sized everything and it's no wonder we don't know what a portion or a serving consists of.
Anyway, I recently read an article in Prevention Magazine about the "plate" diet, in which you don't count calories, carbs, or eat or not eat certain foods. Basically, you just look at your plate (an 8" plate at lunch and a 10" plate for dinner), and divide it in half. Fill that half with fruits and/or veggies. Then take the other half and divide it in half. Fill one of the quarters with a card-deck serving of protein, the other with a serving of starch. No fair piling the protein and startch up high, either, although you can do that with the veggies and even have seconds of veggies. Generally, that's what you want to be doing in terms of portion control. (For things that don't go on a plate, such as morning cereal, they suggest putting fruit in the bowl first so you're not piling on too much cereal.)
Now, someone like me will probably want more protein and less starch, because my body seems to work better that way, but generally you get the idea. I've tried following this for a few days and it seems so simple, yet in many ways it's hard (and I completely blew it with the pasta I made last night!).
Keep on trying!
Edited by - Stephanie_T-Tapper on 09/07/2002 12:24:54 AM
We Americans have gotten used to giant-sized everything and it's no wonder we don't know what a portion or a serving consists of.
Anyway, I recently read an article in Prevention Magazine about the "plate" diet, in which you don't count calories, carbs, or eat or not eat certain foods. Basically, you just look at your plate (an 8" plate at lunch and a 10" plate for dinner), and divide it in half. Fill that half with fruits and/or veggies. Then take the other half and divide it in half. Fill one of the quarters with a card-deck serving of protein, the other with a serving of starch. No fair piling the protein and startch up high, either, although you can do that with the veggies and even have seconds of veggies. Generally, that's what you want to be doing in terms of portion control. (For things that don't go on a plate, such as morning cereal, they suggest putting fruit in the bowl first so you're not piling on too much cereal.)
Now, someone like me will probably want more protein and less starch, because my body seems to work better that way, but generally you get the idea. I've tried following this for a few days and it seems so simple, yet in many ways it's hard (and I completely blew it with the pasta I made last night!).
Keep on trying!
Edited by - Stephanie_T-Tapper on 09/07/2002 12:24:54 AM