SHOW A LITTLE PORTION CAUTION

CHANGING THE WAY YOU DISH OUT YOUR DINNER COULD BE THE BEST THING YOU DO TO AVOID WINTER WEIGHT GAIN

It seems we’ve all grown wiser in the past couple of decades and now realise that kilojoules are not created equal. Eating a strict number of calories doesn’t necessarily guarantee a nutritious diet.

Apart from improving nutrition, another way to maintain a healthy weight is by focusing on portion sizes. If bringing awareness to the size of your meals is something you are yet to try, you may be pleasantly surprised at how simple and effective this non-diet modification can be.

In the effort of doing what’s right and not wasting food, many of us swipe our membership cards to the clean plate club at each meal.

This often unconscious habit is mostly formed during childhood when we were told to “eat everything on your plate”. We looked to our parents to dictate how hungry we were and, if we were obedient and ate everything, we were rewarded with dessert. This, along with the introduction of super-sized meals, has led us to what health experts call portion creep.

External factors also play a part in overloading our plates. With the plate, bowl and mug sizes increasing, loaves of bread becoming larger and sliced thicker, plus the availability and cost of food being more affordable for families, we find ourselves in a no-win battle. With larger servings equating to better value for money, this translates to more food on our plate, and more calories.

So what are the guidelines to follow for portion sizes? The suggested serving sizes on food labels do not accurately tell you the amount you are eating.

Rather, they are a guide to help you see how many kilojoules are in a specific quantity of that food. A portion size, on the other hand, is the amount of food you actually eat in one sitting (and quite often more than a suggested serving size), regardless of how much your body actually needs. Notice the difference?

A good guide to keeping portion sizes in check is to use your hands. A fistful for fruit, palm size for meat, inside palm for nuts, or two-thirds of a plate of salad or vegetables is hand-y to know. Knowing what the right portion size is comes down to a deeper understanding of how much food our body needs for fuel as opposed to how much it wants.

To further foster portion control management here are a few more of my tips:

1. Practice mindful eating (slowly, chewing, taking breaths, placing utensils down between mouthfuls). 2. Serve food on smaller plates.

3. Try single-serving sizes to help your family learn what an appropriate portion is. Did you know that what used to be a serving of bread (two slices) in the Australian dietary guidelines has recently been updated to only include one slice? It’s a perfect example of portion creep.

4. Maintain a steady supply of energy with balanced meals so you’re not tempted to overeat.

5. Dish out portions to a bowl rather than mindlessly munching from a packet.

6. Fill up on salads and vegetables. This adds bulk to your meal and can trick you into thinking you are eating a lot.

7. Try sharing meals at restaurants or ordering appetisers as mains.

8. Separate large cook-ups or bulk buys straight away and store them accordingly so you won’t be tempted to over-serve yourself.

9. Don’t be fooled into thinking there is better value in a larger smoothie or muffin. Be happy with a small version — it’s not worth the extra calories.

10. Serve meals in the kitchen and avoid bringing the whole dish to the table. By not keeping extra food at arm’s length you’ll think twice about reaching for seconds.