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portion size

Want To Decrease Your Dinner Calories? Change The Size Of Your Plate

May 13, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN 1 Comment

12-inch-to-10-inch-dinner plateDoes the size of your plate make a difference other than for convenience?  You bet it does.Since 1960, the size of the average dinner plate has increased 36%. Today’s dinner plate measures 11 to 12 inches across — a few decades ago they were 7 to 9 inches. A European plate averages 9 inches and some restaurants use plates that are about 13 inches across.

We Feed Our Stomachs And Our Eyes

We eat most of what’s on our plate regardless of the size of the plate.

Six ounces of cooked rice with a little chili looks like a good-sized portion on an 8 inch plate. The same amount on a 12 inch plate would look paltry and most of us add more — increasing both the portion size and the calories.

When you switch to a smaller plate you eat a smaller serving. You eat, on average, 22% less when you switch from a 12 inch plate to a 10 inch plate.

Go Small – But Not Too Small

It sounds too good to be true, but using smaller dishes can also help you feel full even when you’re eating less. Studies show that people are more satisfied with less food when they’re served on 8 inch salad plates instead of on 12 inch dinner plates.

But — be careful not to go too small with your plate.  With too little food you might end up going back for seconds. A plate 2 inches smaller than the one you normally use is probably about right.

Filed Under: Calorie Tips, Healthy Eating, Food Facts, Eating with Family and Friends, Food for Fun and Thought, Lose 5 Pounds in 5 Weeks, Manage Your Weight Tagged With: decrease your calories, eat less, lose weight, manage your weight, portion size, size of dinner plate

Let A Baseball Be Your Guide For A One Cup Serving Of Food

May 12, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

baseball-equals-one-cupIt’s awfully hard to gauge how much food you’re putting on your plate – and even harder to figure out how much food you’re popping into your mouth when you eat directly from a multi-serving bag of food – like a big bag of chips.

Portion size is critical to managing your weight.  One helpful idea is to use familiar 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, at minimum, what 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.

Here are some 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 carrot
  • 1 large ear of corn

It’s easy to visualize a small apple or a medium potato as about the size of a baseball.  It’s more difficult with an ear of corn!  But, for most food products it is possible to think “baseball” and pour or cut or pick (as in the case of fruit) a similarly sized portion.

This is Tip #3 for Week 3 of the “lose 5 pounds in 5 weeks challenge.”  Let everyone know how you’re doing! Post your results and/or struggles and suggestions on Eat Out Eat Well’s page on Facebook.

Filed Under: Calorie Tips, Healthy Eating, Food Facts, Food for Fun and Thought, Lose 5 Pounds in 5 Weeks, Manage Your Weight, Snacking, Noshing, Tasting Tagged With: a cup of food, baseball as a one cup visual cue, diet, lose weight, portion size, serving size, weight management

How Big Are Your Dinner Plates — And Why It Matters

May 1, 2012 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN 1 Comment

Have you eaten in some restaurants where the plates are so big that the server can’t find room to comfortably fit everything on the table?

Maybe your plates are so big that you have trouble getting them into the dishwasher.

Does it make a difference other than for convenience?  You bet it does.

The Size Of Your Dinner Plate Can Affect Your Weight

We eat off of big plates. Since 1960 the overall surface area of an average dinner plate has increased 36 percent. The average dinner plate we commonly use today measures 11 or 12 inches across. A few decades ago plates measured 7 to 9 inches.

In Europe, the average plate measures 9 inches while some American restaurants use plates that are around 13 inches in diameter.

Portion Sizes Have Increased Along With Plate Size

1960 sized portions would look a little lost on today’s large plates.  Plop a small portion of spaghetti and meat sauce in the middle of a large plate and the temptation is to add more – usually pasta – to fill up the plate.  That’s how you feed both your eyes and your stomach.

The additional problem – aside from eating more food at the meal — is that with more food piled on your plate, the idea gets embedded in your brain that a larger portion is better and that it takes a larger amount to fill your plate. Your brain then figures that If you need that much food to fill your plate then it takes that large amount of food to make you feel good.

Some Easy Things To Do

When you switch to a smaller plate you eat a smaller serving.

Control your portion sizes by decreasing the size of your plate. Try switching from a dinner plate to a salad plate or look for vintage plates that are smaller in diameter. Research has shown that by switching to a 10 inch plate from a 12 inch plate you eat 22 percent less.

Incredibly, smaller dishes can also help you feel full even though you’re eating less. Studies show that people are more satisfied with less food when they are served on 8 inch salad plates instead of on 12 inch dinner plates.  But don’t go too small because eating too small a portion might send you back for seconds.

Keep This In Mind

We eat an average of 92% of what we serve ourselves. Since we pile more food onto larger plates, the larger plates means we eat more food. A two inch difference in plate diameter  — decreasing the size of our plates to ten inches from 12 inches — would mean a serving that has 22 percent fewer calories.  It’s a smaller serving but not small enough to leave you still hungry and heading back for seconds. For an average size adult who eats a typical dinner of 800 calories, the smaller portions that would result from using a smaller plate would lead to a weight loss of around 18 pounds a year.

Filed Under: Calorie Tips, Healthy Eating, Food Facts, Entertaining, Buffets, Parties, Events, Manage Your Weight, Restaurants, Diners, Fast Food Tagged With: calorie tips, calories in portion sizes, dinner plates, eat out, eat well, food facts, food for fun and thought, healthy eating, myfoodmaps, portion size, weight management strategies

Let A Baseball Be Your Guide

October 21, 2011 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

It’s awfully hard to gauge how much food you’re putting on your plate – and even more difficult to figure out how much you’re popping into your mouth when you eat directly from a multi-serving bag of food.

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

 

Filed Under: Calorie Tips, Healthy Eating, Food Facts, Eating on the Job, Eating with Family and Friends, Entertaining, Buffets, Parties, Events, Manage Your Weight, Restaurants, Diners, Fast Food, Shopping, Cooking, Baking, Snacking, Noshing, Tasting, Takeout, Prepared Food, Junk Food, Travel, On Vacation, In the Car Tagged With: calorie tips, food facts, fruit, one cup portions, portion control, portion size, produce, vegetables, weight management

Why Are Americans Getting Fat???

June 10, 2011 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

The reasons why Americans are getting fat at an alarming rate might surprise you…

An infographic courtesy of Healthy Meal Experts.

 

fat americans
Learn more about Healthy Meals

Filed Under: Food for Fun and Thought, Manage Your Weight Tagged With: fast food, food consumption, food facts, high fructose corn syrup, portion size, portions, snacks, weight, weight management strategies

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