Control yourself like a boss

Today, it's all about control. Portion control.

I had once had a nutrition professor tell me her personal story on this topic. She had flown to Europe with her husband on business. After several hours of being stuck on a plane, then dealing with foreign authorities and airports, she was hardly feeling perky. Her husband's European partners offered to take them to dinner, which lifted her mood quite a bit. When the waitress at the restaurant delivered their food, she took one look at the plate and was shocked. The size of the meal was fit for child. Having had a long day and not feeling her best, she blurted out, "That's it?!" The European businessman looked at her for a minute and then said, "That, that is the amount you are supposed to have. But you Americans are used to eating bigger portions than you need." Needless to say, she felt ashamed and realized that he was absolutely right. And the European meal did indeed end up being enough.

So yes, American portions have become extravagant, verging on absolutely ridiculous. But what's so sad is that we are used to eating that much, so to cut back makes us feel like we are STARVING! When I was trying to lose weight and tried some portion control, I did not feel good the first couple of days. But afterwards, my stomach got used to it. And I am much better off.

At first, I didn't know how to do portion control at all! But then I researched the government's "Choose Your Plate" and that helped me figure out what my meals should look like. Also, taking a few nutrition classes in my nursing program helped too ;-). So the Choose Your Plate program shows how much of certain foods you need in your meals. But they make it sound really complex, like, "At dinner, protein should make up 40% of your meal". Yeah right, like I'm gonna measure my chicken to make sure it's exactly 40% of my meal. Please. Eating does not need to be rocket science people. I simplified their program into a meal plan that anyone can do, while still keeping all the key principles! However, if you still want to look at the program, here's the link: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/

So here's the basis for meal planning. You take a plate and cut it in half (with your mind, not a knife). Then you take one of those halves and cut it in half again. So you should have 3 areas consisting of 2 quarter pieces and one half piece. One of those quarters is for carbs, the other is for protein. The other half of the plate is designated entirely for....Vegetables! YAY! Oh come on, get excited. So your plate should look like the one below.

Your carbs can be anything from pasta to bread to oatmeal. Most of your grains will qualify for the carbs section. So essentially, if you're going to have the spaghetti, you're going to have to give up the garlic bread. Remember, it's all about moderation and portion control! It only gets one quarter of a plate for a reason.

Proteins are mostly going to be your meats, but eggs, beans, and peanut butter are also in the protein category. I learned something mind-blowing about meat in one of my nursing classes. Ready? Your meat portion should only be the size of your palm. Not the whole hand including fingers. Just the palm of your hand. When I told my steak-loving husband about this, I almost feared for my life (sarcasm there). 

And the vegetables. Well, they take up half the plate for a reason. First of all, they are really really good for you. Packed with tons of vitamins and not so many calories. I try to eat the vegetables on my plate before moving on to the other areas. That way, if I end up getting full halfway through the meal, at least I ate the quality, less caloric, less fatty item.  Half a plate of vegetables is much better than a 11 oz steak. Please understand, I'm not harping on carbs and meats. I love them just as much as the next guy. Your body needs them too, just in much smaller portions.

Your dairy should be included in some meals, but you don't need so much that it gets its own area. It generally gets incorporated into the meal somehow. Usually this will be the cheese in your salad or a side of yogurt with your lunch. If you need, pour yourself a small glass of milk (I don't like this option though, because water is sooooo much better).

I am putting a picture of an ideally portioned meal, one that I served just recently at my house.
Notice how the veggies take up half the plate. I used salad for my vegetable item. The pasta takes up the upper quarter of the plate, and the chicken parmesan takes up the lower quarter. There is cheese covering the chicken, so that's my dairy. Like I said, this type of dinner is fairly common at my house, so you don't need to spend hours and dollars at the store trying to find super healthy food. And it can be something that tastes oh so delicious too! Just use portion control and you're set to go. By the way, sorry for the crappy picture. I was using paper plates that night, as I neglected to do dishes that day. Hey, no one's perfect. Also, you don't have to always separate your meats and pasta. I mean, are you seriously going to do that when you have meatballs and spaghetti? Just make sure that if you DID separate the items, they wouldn't take up more than a quarter plate each. 

So anyway, that is your plan for lunch and dinner. Breakfast is different only in the sense that you have half a plate of fruit instead of veggies. Say it with me...YAY! Here is what an ideal breakfast would look like. Eggs for protein, one slice of toast for carbs (I know it looks like more than a quarter of a plate, but the rule with bread is that one slice=a quarter of a plate), and yummy strawberries. The yogurt is the dairy here. Also, remember my smoothies (click here if you don't: http://healthylikeaboss.blogspot.com/2012/08/make-smoothies-like-boss.html)? They are the perfect breakfast, as they have tons of fruit, oats for the carbs, peanut butter for protein, yogurt and milk for dairy. Bingo!

And if you are still hungry after these perfectly portioned meals? I suggest that you wait at least half an hour, to see if you are actually still hungry. Sometimes waiting gives your stomach a chance to catch up with all the food you ate and it realizes that you actually are quite satisfied. If after half an hour you still feel like you are starving, load up on two things: more produce (try fruit if you just had veggies and vice versa. Variety does wonders for your diet), or more water. These things are low in calories, but will expand your stomach and trick your mind into thinking you're full.

Allright friends, go start meal planning! Speaking of fruits and veggies, I have a delicious tropical salad that I'm dying to try for dinner tonight. If I like it, I'll post the recipe :-)

 Boring scientific note: There is this wonderful thing called peristalsis. On a very basic level, it moves the food from our stomach to our intestines. Let me explain further what it is. Your stomach is made of muscles. When these muscles sense food in the stomach, they contract and puuuuuuuuullll the food in different directions to break it up. Once the food is in smaller pieces, it can move to the small intestine. Now you know that all your muscles are controlled by nerves in your brain right? Well there is this one nerve called the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is stimulated by food in the digestive system and then it tells the stomach muscles to contract. However, if there is a lot of fatty food in the stomach, a hormone is released that actually keeps the vagus nerve from being stimulated. If the vagus nerve can't be stimulated, peristalsis can't start. So fatty foods actually slow down your digestion, which can cause all sorts of bloating, digestion problems, and constipation. And that is only one of many reasons to keep your meats and animal proteins to only a quarter plate.