Do Your Portion Control Efforts Measure Up?

Portion Control......hmmmmmm

This is one of the most confusing parts of losing weight.  We are all aware of how food has become gargantuan in the past 20 years, but do we know how to make it the right size on our own?  From the infamous "Super-Size" to "Go Large" to "Biggie Size" restaurants everywhere have blown up the food.  But this is the thing about the food industry.  It always changes. When Americans figure out what the food companies are doing to make them gain weight, the market researchers just change it up and camoflauge the calories in other manners.  For example when the report on supersizing food came out, restaurants like McDonalds for example changed all of their portions to "large" as the biggest one except for super-size.  Many of the other food chains followed suit. So even though this may seem like a large change for the better, the food unfortunately was already blown up in the first place, so it's still not doing you any kind of benefit.

so lets look at things a different way.  Lets take some everyday items and shed some light on this seemingly confusing detail. 

Proteins:

Usually (depending on your Daily Energy Requirement) you will be recommended to have 3-5 ounces of meat.  Lean Protein includes lean chicken/ fish/ steak for example.  This piece of meat should be no larger than a BlackBerry Curve. 

Vegetables:

This should be the majority of your plate.  Two bars of soap on a standard sized plate should fill that requirement.  Note: There is more Vegetables than your lean meats based on this rule of thumb.  Keep that in mind.

Carbs:

Starchy foods such as potatoes or pasta are something that you will want to limit a little bit more than the previous categories.  We have all heard about how bad carbs are for you, but they serve a purpose.  You just have to watch the portion.  You want to make your Carb portions no bigger than a baseball.

Condiments:

This is the sticking point for a lot of my clients.  This is one of the easiest ways to make a healthy meal the caloric intake of a big mac. The recommendation for this piece is no bigger than a carmex container. Also if you are having a salad, the salad dressing should be able to be filled up in a shot glass.

If you want more information on Portion Control and Portion Sizes, Please take a look at this tool HERE that will allow you to take certain foods and it will show you the portion relative to other objects not identified in this post.