What every Diet needs part one

What every “diet” needs.

Portion control, flavorful foods, fun exercise, an open mind and a forgiving heart...

For someone to “diet” well they really need to find what works for them but at the heart of every successful reducing plan are the above truths.

Portion Control

No matter what you eat, high fat, low fat, full of carbohydrates or low in carbohydrates, high fiber, low fiber, no white foods, all white foods, if you don’t control your portion sizes you’ll get nowhere with your “diet”. All foods contain calories and if you’re not following the calories in are less than calories out, it won't work. No matter how low fat a food is, how few carbs it has or whatever, you will not lose weight if you consistently eat the entire box of whatever you're eating at the time.

So just what IS a portion anyway? The National Institute of Health states that “a ‘portion’ can be thought of as what you choose to eat whereas a ‘serving’ is a unit of measure used to describe the recommended amount of food from each food group, the amount listed in the nutritional servings panel of the package of food.” They also have a nifty little guide you can print out and laminate that shows what a serving size looks like. (For example a cup of salad is the size of a baseball.)

Now, if portion and serving are not equal, what does portion control mean? Portion control is when you watch how many servings of a food you are eating. Next time you go to get a bowl of cereal, pour out your usual portion of cereal and then measure out an actual serving, based on the nutritional information panel on the box, and compare. Bet you’re eating at least twice if not 4 or 5 times what an actual serving is supposed to be. Sure that Cinnamon Toast Crunch is tasty but do you actually need 6 cups of it? There’s a reason that cereals are touted as “PART of a healthy breakfast”. ½ of a cup of cereal is not going to fill me up and keep me filled until snack time or lunchtime. So I have to decide if I want to eat more cereal (which really, cereal doesn’t keep me filled unless it’s Fiber One and even then I’m pretty hungry by lunch.) or do I want to add in a serving of fruit (1 piece the size of a tennis ball or ½ cup) or some protein? (3oz of lean meat which is about the size of a deck of cards) Eating healthy meals does take some work but once you get the hang of serving and portion sizes, you’re on your way!