Portion Control

Control the portions or they will control you!

Throughout the decades, the portions of a single serving of food have grown particularly in the fast food industry.  This phenomenon of “super sizing” everything has created a “portion distortion” for the general public.  Critics claim this has added to the obesity problem in America as people fail to realize that often times they are eating two and a half tines the amount of calories in one sitting.

Learning proper portion control is an important link controlling calorie intake. 

Tips for portion control at home:

• Use a smaller plate for dinner instead of a regular sized dinner plate.
• Try not to use home-style passes with platters of food. If you fill everyone's plate based on the portion control tips, it will teach the whole family what normal portions should be.
• Put a deck of cards,  one cup measure , a half cup measure, dominoes, a tennis ball and other visuals on the table to remind yourself of portions until you have retrained your eyes to know the difference.

Tips when dining out:

• Ask that a “doggie bag” be brought with the food when you order your meal out. Before you take a bite of it, put half of the food away for dinner on another night. Restaurant portions are typically 2 to 2 and half times larger than a normal portion.
• Have an appetizer instead of an entrée but make sure it is one portion and not super-sized. If they are, plan to share them.
• Ask the restaurant if they sell small plate versions of the dinner meals or if you can get a lunchtime-sized version.
• Go online ahead of time to the restaurant’s website and look at the menu so you can select healthy choices before you get there. Don’t go to the restaurant starving.
• If you have to stop at a fast food restaurant while on a road trip, try splitting a plain sandwich (without mayo) with someone else if possible and get a side salad with low fat dressing to round out the meal.

Take the Portion Distortion quiz to help hone your portion control skills.

For additional information, visit Portion Control Resources.

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