Moderation: Important to Any Healthy Diet

Lorren C. Mendoza,

What is moderation? In essence it means eating only as much food as your body needs. You should feel satisfied in every meal you take and not stuffed. For many of us, moderation means eating less than we do now. But it doesn’t mean eliminating the foods you love. Here are some tips in order to observe moderation in eating:

1. Try not to think of certain foods as “off limits”.

When you ban certain food, it’s natural to want crave those foods more and then feel like a failure if you give in to temptation. Start by reducing portion sizes of unhealthy foods and not eating them as often. As you reduce your intake of unhealthy foods, you may find you’re craving less or thinking of them as only occasional indulgences.

2. Think smaller portions.

At home, visual cue, can help with portion sizes. Your serving of meat, fish or chicken should be the size of a deck of cards and half a cup of mashed potato, rice or pasta is about the size of a traditional bulb. By serving your meals on smaller plates or in bowls, you can trick your brain into thinking it’s a larger portion.

3. Take your time in eating

It actually takes a few minutes for your brain to tell your body that food, so eat slowly and stop eating before you feel full.

4. Eat with others whenever possible.

Eating alone, especially in front of the television or computer often leads to mindless over eat i n g.

5. Eat breakfast and eat smaller meals throughout the day.

A healthy breakfast can jumpstart your metabolism, while eating small and health meals (rather than the standard three large meal) keeps your energy u all day.

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The author is Teacher II at Nuestra Señora Del Pilar Integrated School

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