Portions today are out of control.Super-size this… Never-ending that… We are constantly presented with larger portions, more servings, bigger helpings, extra slices and so on. The amount we eat has grown dramatically over the past few decades. Bigger-is-NOT-better and yet this motto has taken over the food industry. Here are some examples of how certain foods and restaurants have changed their menu items to offer larger portions. • Pizza pies were 10 inches in diameter back in the 1970s. Today the average size for apizza is between 16 and 18 inches! • A Hershey chocolate bar weighted 0.6 ounces its first year on the market. The standard bar now weighs 1.6 ounces. That’s almost 3 times its original weight! • All of the most popular fast-food burger restaurants have increased the size of their hamburgers. The original Burger King burger weighed in at 3.9 ounces and today a Double Whopper is 12.6 ounces! McDonald’s original patty started out at 1.6 ounces, and not the Double Quarter Pounder is 8 ounces…holy cow! • Starbucks once offered the “short” cup of coffee at 8 ounces, but it is no longer on the menu. The smallest cup you can order is the “tall.” At 12 ounces, this cup is nearly twice the size of what was once considered a regular cup of coffee. • If you compare the new edition of the classic cookbook The Joy of Cooking to the original, you will find identical recipes for cookies and brownies, except that the new recipe makes fewer servings. For example, the new recipe for brownies is now 16 servings and the old recipe said 30 servings. The modern portions are twice as large. Bigger portions mean we eat more than we need. Lisa Young, PhD, RD, author of The Portion Teller, says when a larger portion is placed in front of us, we tend to eat 30% to 50% more! Most of the time, we don’t even realize we are eating more. It is just there, in front of us, so we can’t help it, right? Wrong! Here are some tips to help keep your portion sizes under control without counting calories or affecting your waistline! #1 – Cook and eat at home! We all make excuses for why we choose the drive through window or pick up the phone to order take out, but the truth of the matter is, this is what is causing American’s to be the sickest and most obese country in the world. We must cook and eat at home as often as possible! I could go on and on and ON about how important cooking at home is to your health. In terms of portion size it is important because YOU get to decide how much you put on your plate. A good rule of thumb is to divide your plate up into 4 equal sections or, for you percentage people, say the full plate equals 100%. In 2 sections or on 50% of the plate, put vegetables, yummy, delicious vegetables, whatever you like! In one section or on 25% of the plate, put protein, either an animal or vegetarian protein. Finally, in the last section or remaining 25%, put a good whole grain like brown rice, quinoa, or whole wheat pasta. This will provide you with not only a well-balanced meal, but a well-proportioned meal! #2 – Don’t feel like you have to eat everything! I don’t think my mom ever actually said this but I still remember hearing, “Eat all your food. There are starving children in Africa!” I am a huge advocate of not wasting food, but guess what? Apparently so many people have refrigerators in their homes that there isn’t even a statistic that I could find on how many homes have refrigerators. The only statistic I could find was that almost 20% of all households have a second refrigerator. My point: take your leftovers home and make a second meal out of it! This will not only save your waistline, it will also save you money. If you are a Subway eater, it is something like $1.75 to go from a 6 inch to a footlong sub. I am not promoting Subway or saying you should eat there. I just want to give you an example of taking advantage of the less for more type mindset. In this case, go ahead and get the larger portion but save half and eat it for a meal the next day. #3 – Share a meal when you go out! When my husband and I eat out, this is usually what we end up doing. Restaurant meals tend to contain 2, sometimes even 3 more than the recommended serving size, which means that one meal is typically the perfect size to share! Plus, there is something romantic about sharing a meal so give it a try! #4 – Immediately ask for a to-go container when you order at restaurants! If you don’t want to share a meal, this sounds like that next best option! I have not personally tried this but a friend said it is something she does and I thought it was a great idea. When she orders at a restaurant she immediately asks for a to-go container. Then, she divides the meal up and puts at least half in the to-go container. Then she closes it up and sets it aside. She says this helps her to not overeat and to not continue picking at her plate till the server comes. Plus, it provides a meal for another day! #5 – Stay AWAY from Buffets! There are not a lot of things I say "do not" about but buffets are one of them! First of all, they can’t be sanitary and second, it is incredibly hard not to overeat when you are at a buffet. There are actually full articles and how-to guides on getting your money’s worth at all-you-can-eat buffets. Don't read these, I am just saying this is their sole purpose in life, to get your to overeat! Therefore, avoid the temptation all together and just don’t go! These are just a few ways to help you stay aware of how much you are actually eating. However, no one is perfect and there are always going to be occasions when we super-size, or take that extra slice, or lick the plate clean at dinner. Remember: BE NICE TO YOURSELF; grant yourself some grace and then get right back on track. What obstacles do you face with portion control? Is it something you struggle with? How do you help to keep your portion sizes within reasonable means? I would love to have your thoughts below or visit me on . To your health success! Randi Randi's passion is to create positive change in a person's life that leads to prolonged health and happiness. She works with individuals who wish to lose weight, increase their energy, lower stress and manage and prevent disease through the use of natural health solutions. She is a Certified Holistic Health Coach, exercise enthusiast and rep for Young Living Essential Oils .
Portions today are out of control. Super-size this… Never-ending that… We are constantly presented with larger portions, more servings, bigger helpings, extra slices and so on. The amount we eat has grown dramatically over the past few decades. Bigger-is-NOT-better and yet this motto has taken over the food industry. Here are some examples of how certain foods and restaurants have changed their menu items to offer larger portions. • Pizza pies were 10 inches in diameter back in the 1970s. Today the average size for apizza is between 16 and 18 inches! • A Hershey chocolate bar weighted 0.6 ounces its first year on the market. The standard bar now weighs 1.6 ounces. That’s almost 3 times its original weight! • All of the most popular fast-food burger restaurants have increased the size of their hamburgers. The original Burger King burger weighed in at 3.9 ounces and today a Double Whopper is 12.6 ounces! McDonald’s original patty started out at 1.6 ounces, and not the Double Quarter Pounder is 8 ounces…holy cow! • Starbucks once offered the “short” cup of coffee at 8 ounces, but it is no longer on the menu. The smallest cup you can order is the “tall.” At 12 ounces, this cup is nearly twice the size of what was once considered a regular cup of coffee. • If you compare the new edition of the classic cookbook The Joy of Cooking to the original, you will find identical recipes for cookies and brownies, except that the new recipe makes fewer servings. For example, the new recipe for brownies is now 16 servings and the old recipe said 30 servings. The modern portions are twice as large. Bigger portions mean we eat more than we need. Lisa Young, PhD, RD, author of The Portion Teller, says when a larger portion is placed in front of us, we tend to eat 30% to 50% more! Most of the time, we don’t even realize we are eating more. It is just there, in front of us, so we can’t help it, right? Wrong! Here are some tips to help keep your portion sizes under control without counting calories or affecting your waistline! #1 – Cook and eat at home! We all make excuses for why we choose the drive through window or pick up the phone to order take out, but the truth of the matter is, this is what is causing American’s to be the sickest and most obese country in the world. We must cook and eat at home as often as possible! I could go on and on and ON about how important cooking at home is to your health. In terms of portion size it is important because YOU get to decide how much you put on your plate. A good rule of thumb is to divide your plate up into 4 equal sections or, for you percentage people, say the full plate equals 100%. In 2 sections or on 50% of the plate, put vegetables, yummy, delicious vegetables, whatever you like! In one section or on 25% of the plate, put protein, either an animal or vegetarian protein. Finally, in the last section or remaining 25%, put a good whole grain like brown rice, quinoa, or whole wheat pasta. This will provide you with not only a well-balanced meal, but a well-proportioned meal! #2 – Don’t feel like you have to eat everything! I don’t think my mom ever actually said this but I still remember hearing, “Eat all your food. There are starving children in Africa!” I am a huge advocate of not wasting food, but guess what? Apparently so many people have refrigerators in their homes that there isn’t even a statistic that I could find on how many homes have refrigerators. The only statistic I could find was that almost 20% of all households have a second refrigerator. My point: take your leftovers home and make a second meal out of it! This will not only save your waistline, it will also save you money. If you are a Subway eater, it is something like $1.75 to go from a 6 inch to a footlong sub. I am not promoting Subway or saying you should eat there. I just want to give you an example of taking advantage of the less for more type mindset. In this case, go ahead and get the larger portion but save half and eat it for a meal the next day. #3 – Share a meal when you go out! When my husband and I eat out, this is usually what we end up doing. Restaurant meals tend to contain 2, sometimes even 3 more than the recommended serving size, which means that one meal is typically the perfect size to share! Plus, there is something romantic about sharing a meal so give it a try! #4 – Immediately ask for a to-go container when you order at restaurants! If you don’t want to share a meal, this sounds like that next best option! I have not personally tried this but a friend said it is something she does and I thought it was a great idea. When she orders at a restaurant she immediately asks for a to-go container. Then, she divides the meal up and puts at least half in the to-go container. Then she closes it up and sets it aside. She says this helps her to not overeat and to not continue picking at her plate till the server comes. Plus, it provides a meal for another day! #5 – Stay AWAY from Buffets! There are not a lot of things I say "do not" about but buffets are one of them! First of all, they can’t be sanitary and second, it is incredibly hard not to overeat when you are at a buffet. There are actually full articles and how-to guides on getting your money’s worth at all-you-can-eat buffets. Don't read these, I am just saying this is their sole purpose in life, to get your to overeat! Therefore, avoid the temptation all together and just don’t go! These are just a few ways to help you stay aware of how much you are actually eating. However, no one is perfect and there are always going to be occasions when we super-size, or take that extra slice, or lick the plate clean at dinner. Remember: BE NICE TO YOURSELF; grant yourself some grace and then get right back on track. What obstacles do you face with portion control? Is it something you struggle with? How do you help to keep your portion sizes within reasonable means? I would love to have your thoughts below or visit me on . To your health success! Randi 
Randi's passion is to create positive change in a person's life that leads to prolonged health and happiness. She works with individuals who wish to lose weight, increase their energy, lower stress and manage and prevent disease through the use of natural health solutions. She is a Certified Holistic Health Coach, exercise enthusiast and rep for Young Living Essential Oils .
