It’s Saturday night and you’re gathering all the essentials to watch a movie. The large bag of chips or the family-sized popcorn comes out and your hands keep dipping for handfuls at a time until it’s empty. Sometimes the intention is to have a little and put away the rest but oftentimes this doesn’t happen. Similar scenarios also play out with other foods, including nutritious options, so it’s not limited to the example previously stated.
While it's important to maintain balance and consume nutrient-dense foods, the issue may not always be what we're eating, but rather how much we're consuming. Yes, the foods may be considered healthy, but it's equally important to pay attention to the quantity. This is where understanding portion control comes into play.
Understanding Portion Control
The terms serving size and portion size are often used interchangeably which may denote that they’re the same but actually, they have a distinct difference. Serving size is a standardized amount of food. It is usually used to quantify the nutrients on the nutrition facts label and one of the criteria used to develop this is the typical consumption patterns of consumers. Therefore, serving sizes act as a guide to inform you of the contents in a specified amount of food but not necessarily how much you should eat. Portion size is actually how much you actually eat, regardless of whether this is more or less of the stated serving size of the food. For example, a serving size of bread is one slice but if you’re making a sandwich, you may use two slices so your portion size in this instance will be two.
Tips for Practicing Portion Control
Read the Nutrition Facts Labels on Foods
Get in the habit of turning around those food items and reading the label! The nutrition facts label will help you understand the serving size and the nutrients associated with it. For example, the values listed is usually stated for one serving of the item but quite often food items have multiple servings in them. Therefore, if the food item has 4 servings and you consume all of it, you’d have to multiply all the stated values by 4 to know how much calories, carbohydrates, total fat, etc., that you had.
Visualize Serving Sizes
Once you’ve mastered reading food labels, it’s now time to understand what a serving size looks like. Take out those measuring cups and keep them close! When cooking or dishing out food, measure the serving size so you’d be able to ‘eyeball’ what it looks like on your plate. This can seem tedious at first, but once you do it a few times for foods that you have all the time, eventually, you won’t need to do it as much.
Use Smaller Plates/Bowls
If you’re having issues controlling your portions, try using smaller bowls or dishes when having meals. Placing smaller amounts of food in a large dish may leave you feeling dissatisfied because it seemed that you didn’t have enough.
Try the 20-minute Rule
Are you still feeling hungry after eating? Wait 20 minutes as it can take some time for the brain to realize that you’re feeling full. If you’re still hungry after this, have some water, a cup of tea or even some more food depending on how you’re feeling.
Remember- serving size is a standard and can be used as a guide when eating whereas portion size is how much you actually eat. Get into the habit of reading food labels when you pick up items to determine how it fits into your day. For example, some snacks may actually be two servings so may consider having one serving and then putting it away for later. Similarly, if you’ve planned an intense workout session that day, you may actually want to eat the two servings to ensure you have energy for this. It’s all about you and how foods fit into your day! Be mindful with what you’re eating and equally pay attention to how much.
