Over the last two decades, human being has seen the dramatic changes in life quality, especially in nutrition aspect. People now are able to afford bigger and better meals than they were before. For this reason, they tend to expect that the larger amount of food they receive, the greater the value. Nevertheless, this can cause some problems to health, for instance, weight gain or even worse obesity, dyslipidemia… Moreover, health care services will be more expensive which cost you time at the hospital and medications fee.
For this reason, we should learn to control our portion by using the healthy plate model for meals planning. This method supplies a filling meal with sufficient but not excessive calories and balances our meal as well as provides good nutrition.
4 simple steps to build a healthy plate:
- Split the plate into quarters
- Fill half of the plate with non-starchy vegetables (carrots, cabbage, broccoli…)
- More than 100 grams of lean protein (Chicken, fish, beef, tofu…) should account for one quarter of the plate.
- The last quarter consists of about half a cup of starch including corn, beans, rice or pasta.
Besides the plate, we can enjoy a fat-free or low-fat cup of milk or yogurt. Also, we can add a small amount of fat such as butter, oil or salad but the ideal serving size is one teaspoon (approximately 45 calories).
Though we plan a healthy plate, sometimes we may eat something else, which are different from the discription of the healthy plate. We will probably wonder how much we should eat in this case. One simple solution is start tracking our intake and compare to the calorie goals of the day. By this, we can determine what size is appropriate for us.
According to many research, people who track what they eat will be able to lose twice as much weight as those who do not have the habit of tracking their intake. If you want to lose weight, it is better to start tracking to make the best results.
Foods are usually packed in a package, so we have to check the label. On the label, we can obtain many important information such as the serving size. Take a closer look and make a comparision to your calorie goal to make sure if the food is suitable and fits into your eating plan.
Plus, we give you some other useful tips for easy portion control:
- Drink one or two glasses of water before meal
- Use small plates while eating at home
- Non-starchy vegetables should be included more often in every meal
- Split meals with friends when eating out
- Be the last one to finish your meal, eat slowly
- Never eat while watching TV or doing other distracting activities like reading or using laptop
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