Portion sizes & healthy eating

Generally, portion sizes refers to how much food you actually put on your plate. Getting into the habit of checking how big the portion sizes you're consuming are can really help in controlling your calorie intake. Of course, it's not just how much you eat but also what you eat that makes a difference. Your portion sizes need to be large enough to give you all the calories you require as well as representing the major food groups as part of a balanced diet.

Many of us, since we were small children, have been told to finish what's on our plates and not to waste food. We've gotten into the habit of eating what's in front of us, often beyond the point where we actually feel hungry. For example, often what we consider a normal serving of pasta is actually far beyond what's recommended for one person on the packet. It's worth checking out if how much you're eating matches what the food producer considers to be a serving. Some easy guidelines to follow include knowing that one cup of pasta is roughly the size of a tennis ball while a deck of cards represents the size of approx. three ounces of meat, roughly how much a meal should contain. With today's obsession with super sizing and all you can eat buffets, we're being actively encouraged to eat beyond what we actually need. Remember small, light meals give your body more of a chance to digest properly and burn up fat. You don't have to starve yourself but think about the quantity and the quality of what you're eating.