The question: I want to lose weight. How can I train myself to eat smaller portions?
The answer: Many of us know the reason for a tighter waistband is too much food, both at home and in restaurants. A steady intake of large portion sizes translates into a surplus of calories that can quickly lead to weight gain. And in a world where big food has become the norm, it's easy to get used to eating larger portion sizes than your body needs to maintain a healthy weight.
Eating proper-sized portions requires awareness and constant vigilance. Here are eight strategies to train your appetite to adjust to smaller portion sizes.
Don't get too hungry. In order to feel satisfied with less food at meals, eat three small meals plus two healthy snacks throughout the day. Spreading your food out keeps your stomach always partly full. If you sit down to a meal ravenously hungry, you're bound to overeat.
Use the plate model. To put less food on your plate, divide your plate into four quarters. Fill one quarter with protein such as meat, chicken, fish or tofu. Fill another quarter with a healthy, starchy food like sweet potato, winter squash, brown rice or quinoa. The remaining half of your plate should be filled with vegetables.
Use smaller plates and glassware. Instead of filling a dinner plate, serve your meal on a luncheon-sized plate (seven to nine inches in diameter). You'll eat less and the plate will look full. Use small glasses for milk and 100-per-cent juice, and large glasses for water.
Fill up on vegetables. Foods with low energy density, like vegetables, provide a larger portion size for fewer calories thanks to their water and fibre content. Make sure lunch and dinner includes at least one cup of vegetables.
Serve several courses. Prolong your meal by dividing it into a few courses. Start with a brothy soup; serve salad separately from the rest of the meal; offer fruit after the meal instead of eating seconds of the main meal. Doing so stretches mealtime, makes less food seem like more, and gives your brain time to register you've had enough to eat.
Don't serve family-style. Seeing dishes of food on the table encourages overeating. Keep seconds out of sight. Ideally, cook only one serving. Avoid the problem of seconds by not making too much food. If you do make extra food for leftovers or the next day's lunch, store it in the fridge before you sit down to your meal.
Slow your pace. Put your knife and fork down after every bite to slow your eating pace. Eating slowly helps you eat less food and gives your brain time to register fullness.
Read nutrition labels. Read labels on food packages to become familiar with serving sizes of breakfast cereals, crackers, snack foods, even salad dressing and peanut butter. Then measure your foods with a measuring cup or measuring spoons.
Leslie Beck, a registered dietitian, is based at the Medisys clinic in Toronto. She is a regular contributor to CTV News Channel.
Leslie Beck