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Small Portions & Diets

Eating small portions is one of the keys to losing weight and keeping it off. As you reduce your portion size, you'll be on the path to a healthier lifestyle. While you can control your portions on your own, popular diet plans have been created to take the thinking out of the process; after all, the dieting may be tough enough without having to calculate each meal and snack.

  1. Defining Serving Size

    • As you embark on your new healthy lifestyle, you'll need to know how much you're eating. To help with that, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has determined a single serving size for a wide range of staple foods and drinks. For example, one slice of whole grain bread or a 1/2 cup of cooked rice/pasta is considered one serving. Other examples are a ¼-lb.hamburger, 3/4 cup of vegetable juice or 1/2 cup of cooked vegetables. But if you don't want to spend your time reading labels or memorizing USDA lists for serving sizes, you can determine them yourself.

    Simple Method To Gauge Serving Size

    • The easiest way to determine a serving size is to relate your food servings to objects which resemble the correct serving amount. Make a fist with your hand to determine one serving size for fruits and veggies. To determine the serving size of meats, slice the portions to the size of a deck of cards. Other examples include an apple the size of a baseball, pancakes the size of a compact disc, cheese as thick as your thumb from tip to base or steamed rice that can fit into a cupcake wrapper.

    Portion Control At Restaurants

    • If you're out on the town, it can be tough to gauge how much food is going to show up at your table. Some restaurants pile it on while fine dining may leave your hungry. The best way to ensure you're getting a healthy (small) portion size is to ask for a half order or use your now highly trained eyes to gauge one serving for each of the dish's elements and take home the rest of the food.

    Popular Small Portion Diets

    • Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers are well known diets based on portion control. The premise behind these diet plans is small portions of good food. This way you're eating foods you love in moderation. Other fad diets play with the protein, carbohydrate and fat levels present in your diet to affect weight loss, but may be detrimental to your health. Eating smaller portions keeps your body's nutrient balance in place.

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