What happens?  You eat the skimpy portion – decide you’re still hungry – and then go back for more.

If the serving dishes are right in front of you there’s potential for making caloric matters much worse.

Get Those Serving Dishes Off The Table

If you want to make it a little easier for yourself to save on calories, one thing you can do is to get those serving dishes off of the table.  According to an article in the May 2011 Nutrition Action Healthletter, when serving dishes are left on the table men eat 29% more and women 10% more than when those serving dishes stay on the counter.

Why?

It’s harder to mindlessly shove food into your mouth if you have to get up to get it. Sticking out your fork and shoveling more onto your plate while your butt remains firmly planted in your chair makes it far too easy to refill your plate without much thought about the quantity of food that’s going into your mouth.

According to the article, men chow down on more servings than women because they tend to eat fast  — impatiently gobbling food while they wait for everyone else in the family to finish. As a result, they end up eating seconds and thirds while other people are still on firsts.  Women usually eat more slowly so they’re not as likely to get to the seconds and thirds.

Pay Attention To What Goes Onto Your Plate

To help avoid the temptation of going back for seconds:

• figure out a reasonable portion of food that is within reason but not so skimpy that you’re no where near satisfied when you’re finished
• fill your plate with that portion from stove or from serving dishes on the counter
• eat and enjoy knowing that you’ve selected a healthy meal that’s satisfying but neither too skimpy nor too large.

This article is part of the 30 day series of blog posts called: 30 Easy Tips for Looser Pants and Excellent Energy.

The post No Seconds: Here’s A Useful Tip appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

The post Don’t Miss This Snapshot Of How Portions Have Grown appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

1. Fill your plate once, whether it’s from a buffet or just from the stove top.  That’s it.  No seconds – and double-decking isn’t such a great idea, either.
2. Use the smallest plates, bowls, and glasses you can to help you feel full even when you’re eating less. The smaller the plate the less food that can go on it. You probably won’t even know the difference because your eyes and brain are registering full plate. According to the CDC, a study looked at how adults reacted to four different portion sizes of macaroni and cheese given to them on different days. The larger the portion, the more people ate, eating 30% more when they were given the largest portion compared to the smallest one, yet they ranked their hunger and fullness similarly after both meals.  Only 45% noticed that there were differences in the size of the portions they were served.  The same optical illusion applies to glasses.  Choose taller ones instead of shorter fat ones to help cut down on liquid calories.
3. Keep the serving bowls off of the table.  Put food on your plate and then sit down to eat it.  Serve reasonable portions on individual plates instead of helping yourself out of bowls on the table. According to an article in the May 2011 Nutrition Action Healthletter, when serving dishes are left on the table men eat 29% more and women 10% more than if those serving dishes stay on the counter.
4. Leftovers lead to overeating so make only what you need. If you do cook enough for multiple meals pack up the extras and put them away immediately. Avoid eating the little bits of leftovers in the pots – those calories really add up – as do all of those tastes while you’re cooking and preparing.  Do enough nibbling and tasting and you come close to eating two meals.
5. Distractions equal mindless eating. Excess calories and the size of the package your food comes in influence how much you eat. The larger the package, the more you tend to eat from it.  If you have a bag of chips in your lap as you watch TV or surf the net you don’t even realize how much you’re eating – and, in many cases, don’t gauge whether you’re full of not – so you keep eating.  If you do watch TV or work at the computer while you’re eating, don’t eat straight from the package.  Divide up the contents of one large package into several smaller portions. Put it in a bowl or on a plate.
6. Don’t eat off of your kid’s plate, your spouse’s plate, or your friend’s plate.  The calories from someone else’s plate still count – and are oh so easy to forget about.
7. Hide the stuff that tempts you.  Out of sight, out of mind is really true. We all tend to eat more when it’s right in front of us.  Food we like triggers cravings and eating.  So, keep the veggies in the front of the fridge and the rice pudding in the back.  Get rid of the candy dish and the stash of pop tarts in your desk drawer. If you buy jumbo size packages, put the excess somewhere inconvenient so you’ll have to work to get at it.
8. Don’t feel obliged to eat out of courtesy – even if you don’t want the food or you’re full – just because you don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings.  Get over it – the calories are going into your mouth, not theirs.  If someone really hounds you about trying something you can always claim an allergy or that you’re eating heart healthy (claiming an upset stomach might buy you an early exit or other guests avoiding you like the plague).
9. Pick your dining companions carefully. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine seems to indicate that if you’re struggling with your weight, there is a good chance that your friends and family are, too. You also tend to mimic your table companions.  If they eat fast, you eat fast – if they eat a lot, you eat a lot. In his book, Mindless Eating, Brian Wansink, PhD cites a study that shows how strong the tendency is to increase the amount you eat when you eat with others.  Compared to eating alone, you eat on average:

• 35% more if you eat with one other person
• 75% more with four at the table
• 96% more with a group of seven or more.

The post 9 Easy Ways To Eat Less appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

Portion size is critical to managing your weight.  One helpful idea is to use commonplace objects as visual guides to “guesstimate” portion sizes.

One Cup Is About The Size Of A Baseball

The suggested serving size for many food items, particularly produce, is a cup. (The suggested portion size for many denser items, like pasta, rice, or ice cream is a half a cup, so two servings – which is what, at least, most of us eat, would equal a cup.)

 A Baseball, Not A Softball

A cup is about the size of a baseball – a baseball, not a softball.  So a cup of cooked greens, a cup of yogurt, a cup of beans, or a cup of cantaloupe should all look like the size of a baseball – but with obviously different calorie counts due to the food’s individual differences in food density and energy (calories).

Here are a few more of the CDC’s examples of one-cup servings:

• 1 small apple

• 1 medium grapefruit

• 1 large orange

• 1 medium pear

• 8 large strawberries

• 1 large bell pepper

• 1 medium potato

• 2 large stalks of celery

• 12 baby carrots or 2 medium carrots

• 1 large ear of corn

The post Let A Baseball Be Your Guide appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

If you’re a goner and there’s no stopping the oncoming ice cream assault, here’s a way to modify it – somewhat!

The Size Of the Container

The size of the container – or plate – or bowl – can often determine how much you ultimately eat.  If you stand there with spoon in hand and just attack the container, in the blink of an eye it’s possible to polish off an entire pint or the better portion of a quart.

If there’s no turning back from the ice cream, at least try to make a deal with yourself and scoop some into a bowl – and make it a smaller dessert bowl not a monster size cereal or soup bowl. Then you’ve practiced portion control and had your ice cream, too.  You actually might not hate yourself so much in the morning.

The post Late Night – Open Freezer Door – Spoon In Hand Scenario appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

Despite all of the information about why we should eat more fruit and vegetables, according to the State of the Plate: 2010 Study. from the Produce for Better Health Foundation, 93.6% of Americans don’t hit our vegetable target and 92.4% of us don’t reach our fruit target.

How Many Fruit And Veggies Should You Eat?

The 2010 Dietary Guidelines makes a point of telling us to increase our consumption. But, here’s a question for you:  do you know how many carrots or grapes or broccoli florets are in a 1 or ½ cup serving?  Probably not. How much do you need, anyway?

The recommended amount is going to vary depending on your age, gender, and level of activity.  Go here for some general recommendations – or, trying filling up half of your plate.

Some Visual Portion Guidelines

But, it isn’t always so easy.  What if you pack your lunch, grab lunch at a deli, or snag a piece of fruit off of the platter in the conference room?  Or, maybe you eat out a lot and you want to guestimate the portion on your plate.  Here are some general visual guidelines from the CDC:

One cup servings:

• 12 baby carrots or 2 medium carrots
• 1 large ear of corn
• 1 large sweet potato
• 1 medium potato
• 2 large celery stalks
• 1 large bell pepper
• 8 large strawberries
• 1 small watermelon wedge
• 1 large banana
• 1 small apple
• 1 large orange
• 1 medium pear

One-half cup servings:

• 16 grapes
• 1 large plum
• 1 small (1/4 cup) box of raisins
• 1 medium slice of cantaloupe
• ½ medium grapefruit
• 5 broccoli florets

The post How Many Carrots Are In A Portion? appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

Fortunately, for them, they have knowledge and their skill in the kitchen at their disposal to make food more flavorful, perhaps downright delicious, while cutting back on the use of sugar, fat, and salt.

What The Slimmed Down Chefs Do

According to an article in The Daily News, what they do is:

• Reengineer their palates:  Richard Blais of Top Chef fame followed a vegan diet for 30 days to jump start his 60 pound weight loss.  He says it was a palate cleanser that made him aware of how sweet, fatty, and salty his food was.  Art Smith, Oprah’s former chef, lost 95 pounds by changing the way he ate – incorporating more whole foods, eating six meals a day, and making uncomplicated food, often following the same menu most days of the week.

• Eat smaller portions:  Aside from eating smaller meals more frequently, some chefs like Houston’s Ronnie Killen, who lost 215 pounds, eats four ounces of a 16 ounce steak and saves the rest for another meal.

• Find new ways to add flavor and devise new ways to add taste but not tons of calories:  New York City’s Michael Psilakis poaches garlic in olive oil and then adds the garlic to various foods to really punch up the flavor of lower calorie items like mussels and gigante beans.  Many of the chefs use onion, garlic, and many herbs and spices for flavor.

• Indulge occasionally (or have a planned cheat day):  Many of the chefs, like Art Smith, build in a cheat day or leave room in their calorie budget for the occasional indulgence by eating lighter meals and fewer calories in anticipation of the indulgence.

• Exercise:  almost all of the chefs move around more than they did.  New York’s Rocco Dispirito became a triathlete, but Art Smith, who has a rigorous workout routine, says he sometimes just blasts music and dances.

The Bottom Line

Whatever routine a chef follows, they all seem to have become aware of  portion sizes.  They’ve learned about calories and the overabundance of sugar, fat, and salt in many recipes.  And, they move more.  They do not deprive themselves.  They may restrict the amount of food that they eat – but they are eating whole food with good flavor and they’re making room for the occasional, not daily, indulgence.

Art Smith cautions that dessert is a treat. As he says, “If you have dessert every day, then it’s no longer a treat.”

Try following their strategies when you’re cooking at home – or even when ordering in a restaurant.

If we could just get more chefs to offer smaller portions of delicious and healthy whole foods in their restaurants and food companies to do the same with their prepared products it would be a whole lot easier to lose and/or maintain weight and to be mindful of portion size.

The post Have You Noticed That Some Well-Known Chefs Are Shrinking? appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.