You don’t have to live in Mt. Airy to want easy tips to help you lose weight faster. One key to weight control is understanding portion sizes. Portion size is different from serving size. Labels describe serving size based on what people normally eat, not whether eating that much is wise. Portion size is what you end up eating. That can be larger or smaller than the serving size on the package. Another helpful, easy-to-use technique is mindful eating. How can knowing both help you? Here’s how.
Portion size should be a healthy size.
If you’re working on healthy eating, you won’t eat as much from boxes and bags, and more whole foods. So, knowing the right portion size is imperative. Eating in a restaurant can be hazardous to your weight loss program, especially ones that pride themselves on big servings. You can use ordinary objects, including your hand, to judge how much you should eat. One portion of meat should be the size of your hand or a deck of cards. Butter or margarine should be the size of the upper part of the thumb from the first joint to the top. One portion of cheese is the size of three dice put together.
Mindful eating makes you eat slower, which leads to eating less.
How often have you been ravenous and consumed an entire meal in a few bites? When eat fast, your stomach doesn’t have time to tell your brain it’s full. Nerve receptors in the stomach wall are just stretching and haven’t triggered a message to the brain it’s full. Ghrelin, the hunger hormone, is slowly decreasing, and leptin, the satiety hormone, is slowly increasing. Before that cycle completes, you’ve guzzled hundreds more calories.
You can incorporate these two tips into your eating habits.
Eating slowly may seem easy, but if you normally wolf down food, it can be hard to slow yourself. It takes focus. Chew each bite for as long as possible. As you chew, focus on the texture and taste of the food. Savor the flavor. Eating slower helps you appreciate each bite while giving your stomach time to communicate with the brain.
- Preplan your meals and divide the food into recommended portion sizes. Divide snacks into single portion-size bags.
- When you eat in restaurants with large serving sizes, share your meals or save half and take the rest home for another meal.
- If you find it difficult to stick with smaller portions, you probably aren’t eating mindfully. Reducing the amount of food you eat is easier when you slow the process.
- Mindful eating includes snacks. When you think about everything you eat, you’ll be less likely to grab handfuls of candy and eat them when you pass a candy dish or clean the last bit of food from the casserole dish by eating it.
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