You may have noticed my serving sizes in some of my plated foods photographs, and I’ve mentioned portion control a few times. Portion size is a huge factor in health and weight. People can even become obese eating the wrong portions of the right foods. When I started following serving sizes and not taking heaping helpings of seconds – in addition to ditching processed foods – I started dropping weight like crazy. I was carrying something up the basement stairs recently and my shorts fell off! Now I have to get new clothes – that’s a bummer, right? Here are some of the things I do to keep our family portion sizes under control:
Eat on smaller plates and bowls if you have the option. I have very old dishes and they are smaller than modern ones (the dinner plate diameter is just over 9”). As Americans started super-sizing everything, our dishes, cups (now mugs), and glasses all got bigger so naturally our portions did too – along with our bodies. If you have two sizes of bowls, switch to the smaller ones and even if you take a small second helping you’ll be eating less.
Keep the leftovers on the kitchen counter or stove. I serve each person a serving size of each food and do not put serving bowls or pots on the table. It really helps keep people from grazing on food that’s sitting right in front of them. If someone wants more and there’s enough, he/she waits until everyone finishes their first serving before getting up for seconds. Often portion control has to do with the speed of eating. When you have a habit of eating past your full point before your body has a chance to know it’s full, you increase your appetite threshold.[1] Fast eaters aren’t immediately rewarded with another helping; maybe waiting will help them realize they are starting to feel full.
Avoid eating anywhere but at the table, including in the car or in front of the TV where you’re distracted and not focused on the food, and often eating faster. We’re putting a lot of effort into meal planning, so hopefully that will help get people to the table even if it’s in shifts. This morning my son was standing in the kitchen eating his breakfast out of his hand, so I moved him to the table with a napkin and a glass of juice.
Keep the fruit bowl front and center in the kitchen. Besides training the family to snack on healthy foods, if they don’t feel desperately hungry there won’t be such an urgency to rush through dinner eating as much as possible.
Be careful buying in bulk – immediately split the food into small quantities. One time I bought granola bars at Costco and had this giant box in the cupboard where there was usually a small box. They went almost as quickly as the small box and I realized the kids were taking them two at a time because there were so many. It proved to me how natural it is to eat more when you see it in a larger quantity. I don’t buy many foods like that anymore but I know now to divide up bulk foods and keep the extra in the basement until we need it.
Make the meat dish one of the sides. It’s best if the main entrée is a nutrient-dense plant food (preferably local and organic). Eating less meat can literally save the planet. I’ve referenced this book before but I’m going to write out the title here instead of in a footnote because it’s a great title: The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World. It’s by John Robbins, who is the son of the Robbins in Baskin-Robbins. Yes, someone who grew up eating ice cream sometimes three meals a day wrote this excellent book on food and nutrition.
Please share any other ideas you have for the readers.
[1] The Fat Fallacy, William T. Cower, Perusal Press, 2001.
