Lately I feel the real culprit in managing my weight is portion size. It’s not what I eat, it’s how much I eat. I’ve been learning the hard way that the amount of food I used to eat at 20 or 30 is making me gain weight! Old eating habits are hard to break too.
When I was growing up, my father told me to “clean your plate.”
The problem is that dinner plates, especially in restaurants, have gotten bigger. And so has the amount of food we put on them. If I clean my plate now, I’m overeating.
If you struggle like me with portion sizes, the best help might be right in the palm of your hand.
Photo by Nsey Benajah on Unsplash
Use Your Hand To Figure Out Portion Sizes
Your fist = the size of a cup
The palm = the size of 3 ounces of meat
Your thumb = the size of 1 ounce of cheese
Another helpful tip is to check food labels and restaurant menus for hidden calories. Learn to “eyeball” your food to gauge what’s too much — and what’s just right.
The good news is that experts agree that when you downsize to healthy portions, your body will, too!
Love New Recipes?
Join the happy healthcare host, Mr. Divabetic for this free Virtual Cooking Party with special guest, Author of The Beginner’s Guide To What To Eat With Type 2 Diabetes, Registered Dietitian and Certified Diabetes Educator Jill Weisenberger MS, RDN, CDE, CHWC, FAND on Zoom on Tuesday, March 2, 2021, 7-8 PM, EST. Jill shares her favorite quinoa recipes with us!
It only takes is trying to read one food label for anyone to become extremely frustrated when trying to decipher exactly how much added sugar is contained in a specific food product. Unfortunately for us many food marketers like ot use sexy-sounding health-claims, fancy buzzwords, and seemingly “good-for-you” taglines that make it downright difficult to know what types of foods actually contain added sugar in them, and which ones do not.
To tell if a processed food contains added sugars, you need to look at the list of ingredients and have a dictionary handy. Sugar has many other names. Besides those ending in “ose,” such as maltose or sucrose, other names for sugar include high fructose corn syrup, molasses, cane sugar, corn sweetener, raw sugar, syrup, honey or fruit juice concentrates. Learn more about reading food labels.
For the record, the American Heart Association’s recommended maximum amount of added sugars is much lower than the amount most Americans consume. For most American women, that’s no more than 100 calories per day, or about 6 teaspoons of sugar. For men, it’s 150 calories per day, or about 9 teaspoons. he AHA recommendations focus on all added sugars, without singling out any particular types such as high-fructose corn syrup.For more detailed information and guidance on sugar intake limits, see the scientific statement(link opens in new window) in the August 2009 issue of Circulation, Journal of the American Heart Association.
My food friend and mentor, health and wellness pioneer Kathie Dolgin aka ’High Voltage’ has a wonderful mantra ’no more than 24 grams in 24 hours’ that makes it easy to remember.
Here’s why:
The phrase, “No Sugar Added” or “No Added Sugar” on packaged foods is our #1 pet peeve. For one, it’s everywhere lately (especially since it’ll be mandatory on labels by 2018). It’s also tricking you into thinking you’re purchasing something that it’s not (that is, a nutritious food for you and your family!).
According to the FDA, food manufacturers may use the term “no added sugar” if “no amount of sugars, or any other ingredient that contains sugars that functionally substitute for added sugars is added during processing or packaging.” The loophole? Juice, of course. It’s made up of the simplest sugars on the planet, allowing it to immediately enter your digestive tract and be absorbed by the cells of your bloodstream.
While the FDA states that “concentrated fruit juice” can’t be used as a sweetener in a product labeled “no sugar added,” you bet many food products can still use “fruit juice from concentrate” (water plus fruit concentrate) as a form of added sugar.
You’re better off eating the whole fruit, not just the juice that fruit contains — regardless of the processing technique, price point, packaging, or celebrity endorser.
Added sugars contribute zero nutrients but many added calories that can lead to extra pounds or even obesity, thereby reducing heart health.
Kathie Dolgin aka ‘High Voltage’ talks about added sugar and shares an easy way to stay on track with your daily sugar consumption on October’s Diabetes Late Nite podcast with music from Sade. LISTEN NOW
