Control Your Portions & Manage Your Weight
When life gets busy and schedules get tight and you’re expected to be in 50 places at once it can be a bit of a challenge to make the appropriate choices concerning your health and nutrition. This is definitely true when you are seeking to balance and maintain a healthy weight or you are transitioning from a restrictive diet. Learning how to monitor and manage what you eat without having to track macros or count calories (unless that is something that you want to do which is TOTALLY fine). Let’s discuss the benefits of portion control.
Counting calories, track macros, measuring food out to the gram, while these are wonderful and advanced tactics used by those that are seeking to either manipulate their body aesthetically or for performance reasons can be a bit overwhelming for the average person that just wants to focus on becoming healthy. Cultivating simple yet effective habits that promote balance, flexibility and making healthy choices when it comes to the foods you eat will go a long way in maintaining a healthy weight while maintaining your sanity ESPECIALLY when life gets difficult. Discover more about my holistic and mindful approach to health and nutrtion and why it’s one of the main areas of focus in my wellness coaching programs.
While maintaining a healthy weight is important for health and wellness this doesn’t always have to translate to following a diet, or meal plan or specific eating regimen. Finding simple ways to monitor and track your daily intake can go a long way into managing your weight. Utilizing portion control and mindful eating are also great if you are transitioning from a restrictive diet or seeking to improve your relationship with food.
How to Implement
Understanding portion control and implementing portion control are two very separate things. I have four simple tricks that you can begin to implement in your daily routine to begin to implement this healthy approach to living.
Consuming your meals from a smaller plate will decrease your urge to want to fill your plate with too much food. Portioning out your food on a small plate will ensure that you are getting just enough portions that you need to fill you up and fuel your body without overstuffing yourself. If you find that you are still authentically hungry after finishing you can always go back for another helping. If this is something that is standard for you finding a medium-sized plate that will accommodate your appetite will work best for you in the long run.
This can be especially helpful for lunches and snacks, or anyone that is on the go and need to grab a meal or snack quickly and head out the door. Having designated containers for snacks and meals that contain individual slots can help you with portioning out your food and making sure you are not getting too much but instead just enough.
Learning how to consume meals without distractions or gulping down your food but instead of eating slowly and chewing food thoroughly. Putting your fork down in between bites, and paying attention to your hunger and satiety cues and stop eating when you feel 80% full. These tips can prevent you from overeating and will help you become more in tune with your body’s natural intuitive response to the food that you are consuming. Another way you can develop a more mindful approach to your eating habits is to get rid of foods that are calorie dense, highly processed, high sugar and contain a high amount of industrialized fats such as hydrogenated fats and trans fats. These foods can interfere with your natural intuitive responses and trigger the need to consume more of these types of highly palatable foods. Saving these treats for a special occasion and not making them a part of daily consumption can help you become more mindful regarding what you eat. Replacing these types of foods with whole, minimally processed foods or deciding to make your own treats and snacks is a better and healthier option.
Learning how to create a well-balanced meal is a key component of this. Understanding a balanced meal typically consists of fruits/vegetables(nutrient dense, fiber-rich, antioxidant-rich), protein (plant-based or non-plant based), carbs(complex carb sources & grains), and healthy fats (oils, sauces, nuts). A good place to start when learning how to appropriately portion out foods is to use your hands as a guideline when building your plate or creating your meals. A good beginning recommendation for females is 1 fistful of vegetables with 2-3 meals, 1 palm of protein with 3-4 meals, 1 cupped hand of carbs with 3-4 meals, 1 thumbful of healthy fats at 2-3 meals, 1 cupped hand of fruit with 1-2 meals. For males, a starting point would be 2 fistfuls of vegetables with 2-3 meals, 2 palms of protein with 3-4 meals, 1 cupped hand of carbs with 3-4 meals, 2 thumbs of healthy fat with 3-4 meals, 2 cupped hands of fruit with 1-2 meals. These are just starting points and may need to be adjusted for each individual according to specific needs. Need more tips on how to incorporate mindful eating habits into your daily nutritoin habits watch this wellness chat video that discusses a variety of intuitive eating and mindful eating tips that can help you with manage your portions for your meals. Top 5 Intuitive & Mindful Eating Hacks for Weight Management
If you’re working on creating healthier routines and seeking to manage your weight naturally and intuitively stepping into the world of portion control might be a good place for you to start learning more about how to create balanced meals that contain a healthy amount of key nutrient foods that will help to nourish and energize your body for optimal health and wellness.
Need Help with Portion Control?
I know how for some it can be extremely difficult navigating this type of transition to a more intuitive eating practice involving portion control and mindful eating habits. Implementing these types of habits can be challenging and intimidating for those that are new to them. If this is you I invite you to schedule a FREE Discovery Session where I can help you create health and wellness goals that will help you manage your weight effectively, without restrictive dieting, or calorie counting and let’s talk more about transforming your health with Wellness Coaching.
Schedule Your FREE Discovery Session!
https://www.schedulicity.com/scheduling/1FS46K
Watch My Webinar: 10 Simple Ways to Defy Aging with Nutrition
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/10-simple-ways-to-defy-aging-with-nutrition-tickets-47315704546