Are you trying to make healthier choices but struggling to control portion size? It’s not as difficult as it sounds! Understanding how to practice moderation when it comes to healthy eating requires a few simple changes to your habits. Here are 10 tips to understanding portion control and ensure you’re getting the right balance of nutrition from what you eat.
1. Shedding Light on the Art of Portion Control
Many of us have heard of the phrase “portion control”. But what exactly does it mean? And how can it help you stay in shape? Here’s a closer look at the art of portion control and how it can benefit you.
- Understand Serving Sizes: Start by understanding what counts as a serving of a particular food. From vegetables and fruits to proteins and grains, these serving sizes are integral for evaluating portion sizes.
- Focus on Color: Filling half of your plate with fruits and vegetables that are different in color is one of the best ways to monitor portion sizes. This helps ensure you get all of the key nutrients from all the food groups.
- Downgrade Your Plate: It’s no secret that the plate size has grown over time, but your portions haven’t changed. Try using smaller plates for your meals, or considering to split your meal into two parts so you don’t over eat.
Once you understand how much you’re eating during a meal, you can then start to monitor your portions. This can be done by eating slower and paying close attention to how full you feel. Generally speaking, it’s a good idea to provide yourself with smaller portions, and if you feel like you’re still hungry, have a small snack or drink some water.
After monitoring your portions for a period of time, you’ll start to feel the benefits that come with better control over your food intake. You’ll likely feel more energetic, less bloated, and and you might even start to lose weight. Plus, you’ll save yourself money by not overeating.
Overall, the art of portion control is simple but important in order to be healthy. By following these tips and understanding how much constitutes a portion size, you’ll be well on your way to living a healthier lifestyle.
2. 10 Ways to Approach Portion Control with Moderation
1. Cut Up Your Favorite Foods: If you have trouble maintaining portion control when it comes to certain favorite foods, cut them into smaller pieces! By cutting them into smaller pieces, it allows you to practice portion control and still enjoy your favorite treats. For example, if you are keeping an eye on your carb intake, cut up a favorite sandwich into 4 pieces instead of eating the entire thing at once. It can be difficult to deny yourself of your favorite food, but breaking it up into smaller portions makes controlling the intake easier.
2. Don’t Gaze Into the Bottomless Pit: Try to keep your favorite snacks in small packaging. If you do keep them in large containers, take what you need for the day and put it in the individualized containers. You’ll be surprised how much easier it is to practice portion control this way. Keeping it out of sight is also a great way to keep yourself from going back for seconds. Out of sight, out of mind, so to speak.
3. Enjoy Your Meals Without Regret: Take the time to savor your meals and enjoy them, even if it means taking smaller bites. Allowing yourself to really take in and enjoy the flavors of your meals can make it easier to stick to a reasonable portion and less likely to go back for seconds. If you made the meal yourself, take a moment to appreciate the effort you put into it. Let yourself enjoy it!
4. Listen to Your Body: Check in with yourself before and after meals to see how much you feel is an adequate portion size. Listen to your body and stomach. Pay attention to what it is telling you, when you’re full, it means you’ve had enough. It also may be helpful to keep a food journal for a few days and take notice of your intake and when you started to feel full. This can help inform your portion choices later on.
5. Use Smaller Plates: This is a great mind trick that can go a long when it comes to portion control because it helps limit the amount of food you serve yourself. By using a smaller plate, you can trick your mind into thinking you’re getting enough food, allowing for smaller portions. Serving yourself assortments of smaller sized items, such as a half sandwich, can also help with getting the hang of appropriate portions.
3. Paving the Way for Balanced, Healthy Eating
Choosing healthy meals and snacks has become increasingly important for both physical and mental wellbeing. Developing healthy eating habits doesn’t need to be complicated – and it doesn’t matter where you start. All we need to do is make small changes in order to achieve big results.
Here are five tips to help you pave the way for balanced, healthy eating:
- Choose fresh ingredients – The more fresh ingredients you can get access to, the better. The fresher they are, the more vitamin and mineral content, making them nutritionally beneficial. Try planning ahead to shop for fresh produce and avoid purchasing processed food.
- Be balanced with food groups – Look to fill your plate with a balance of foods from the different food groups. Vegetables should be the main focus, followed by proteins, dairy products and grains. This will help you get a variety of vitamins and minerals.
- Cut back on sugar and processed foods – It’s inevitable to have sugary treats once in a while, but it’s best to avoid foods that are highly processed as well as natural sugar and artificial sweeteners.
- Eat from smaller plates – If you don’t want to pay attention to portion control, try using smaller plates to help you unconsciously reduce the amount of food you eat.
- Moderate your portions – The key is to enjoy food, not to overeat. Be mindful of what and how much you are eating, and you’ll make healthier choices.
When changing your eating habits, focus on one goal at a time and keep it simple. With time and practice, you can discover a world of healthy foods that taste great. might just be that little bit easier than you thought!
4. Reap the Benefits of Mindful Eating
Healthy Body, sound Mind
Mindful eating has plenty of unexpected health benefits, starting with how it can help improve your physical appearance. Eating slowly and with intention allows your body to better absorb the nutrients and calories from the food you eat. Not only does this reduce bloating and gas, it can also help you maintain a healthy weight.
Mindful eating also provides mental health benefits. When you’re truly present during a meal or snack, you’re less likely to reach for unhealthy comfort foods and drinks. When you intentionally give yourself opportunities to enjoy food with all your senses, you provide an important chance to reconnect with yourself. This act of self-care can help improve your overall self-esteem and mental clarity.
- Say Goodbye to Emotional Eating – Mindful eating allows you to check in with your emotional state and can help you become aware of emotional hunger or cravings. For example, if you’re feeling lonely or bored, asking yourself if you actually need food or if you really could do with some connection will help guide you to a healthier response.
- Learn to Make Smart Choices – By considering what nutritional benefits different foods offer, and what will satisfy your body’s needs, you might become more committed to making healthier food decisions.
- Be More Mindful of Your Own Eating Patterns – When you’re eating mindfully, you’re bound to be more aware of the food that you’re eating. This has many benefits, including being able to identify whether you’ve finished eating out of hunger or out of habit. This level of consciousness will contribute to you becoming more mindful in other aspects of life too.
Mindful eating is so calming and so rewarding. It’s an incredible way to tap into the present moment and appreciate the abundance of food around us. By making mindful eating a daily habit, you can enjoy all the amazing health benefits it offers on a physical, mental, and emotional level.
It is not so difficult to practice portion control and moderation while eating healthy. By following the 10 tips mentioned in this article, you can learn to maintain portion size, enjoy food more, and better understand your diet. Remember that the key is to enjoy your food while still being mindful of your portion sizes. With a little practice, you will be able to get the right portion sizes every time!
