Food

Yep that dirty four letter F word! For some it is just a word to describe something you eat, for others it is an addiction. I am in the latter category. I love food! I do! I could eat everything I love every day!

But I can’t, can I? Because it’s not healthy to eat EVERYTHING you love is it? Because usually what you love is not the best thing for you. You can eat what you love in moderation but it is hard to draw that line. That tiny, small, miniscule gray line that defines just enough from too much.

That brings us to portions, what is a portion of food? I’ll be honest here when I first realized what a portion was I just about fell out of my chair! THAT IS NOT A PORTION I countered! That is what BIRDS eat!!! He, He Snort, Snort, but alas it was in fact a portion.

Here are some common foods and their portion sizes:

Meat, fish and poultry: Deck of cards—a serving of meat, fish or poultry or the palm of your hand (don't count your fingers!) – for example, one chicken breast, ¼ pound hamburger patty or a medium pork chop. 3oz of meat is a portion.

Fruits and Veggies: Woman's fist or baseball—a serving of vegetables or fruit is about the size of your fist. 1 cup is a portion size.

Pancakes or Waffles: Compact disc—about the size of one serving of pancake or small waffle.

Baked potato: Computer mouse—about the size of a small baked potato

Butter or Margarine: (I don’t recommend eating the latter but if you do )
The size of the tip of you thumb, this is also true for peanut butter. This works out to about 1 teaspoon.

Cheese: Four dice, this is approximately 1 oz.

So that was portions 101 what do you think?? Small compared to how we get served at restaurants and fast food places isn’t it? Therein lies the problem, we are used to eating a large amount of food at a sitting.

Take for example a meal at you local sit down restaurant. You are actually getting around 3 servings of food on your plate. No wonder we can’t lose weight, why doesn’t your plate come with an instruction manual??!!

Too much of anything is not good for you, that includes fruits and veggies! So portion control is very important in the weight loss process. Pay attention to what you are putting in your mouth the more aware you are the less likely you are to over eat.
Portion control is hard in the beginning, you will be hungry (or so your mind will make you think) but you are not actually hungry so finish your meal with your well controlled portions grab a bottle of water and go DO something else.

Do not sit in front of the TV, you will eat.
Do not sit at your computer, you will eat
Do not play video games, you will eat

Do go outside to play with your kids, dogs, cats, husband etc.
Do get on your bike and go for a ride.
Do go to the gym if you have a membership
Do get on your treadmill.

I hope that this is helping others as it has helped me. Recipes are next! I have some good ones stay tuned!

Valinda