What is a portion size any way?

I asked a friend how she recently lost 20 pounds and she told me she relearned what a reasonable, healthy portion size was. Through the course of time, she had completely lost all sense of what made a healthy serving size. It is not entirely her fault. Go to almost any restaurant and you will be served exaggerated portions; we get them all of the time so we have come to accept them as normal and healthy.

You do not have to subject yourself to the deprivation and disappointment that comes with dieting. Losing weight is easy. First, make sure the majority of the foods you eat are real foods. Real foods do not come with a label, and they give you more nutrition and fiber than manufactured or processed foods. Second, eat smaller portions than you are eating now. For the sake of discussion, let’s say you normally eat 5 cups of food. Do not force yourself to go from 5 cups to 1 cup, instead put 5 cups on your plate, then take ¼-cup and put it back in the pot or serving bowl. You will not miss that quarter cup. Get used to that for at least a week and really study what the new amount looks like on your plate. When you are ready to try less, take another ¼-cup and put it back so you have only 4 ½ cups of food on your plate. Continue that for at least two weeks to let your body get used to the lesser amount. Then take another ¼-cup away etc. Eventually you will be eating half the amount you used to, you will be losing weight and not even miss the extra food because you did it gradually. The same is true for snacks. Do not avoid them or deny yourself the pleasure of salty and chocolate goodness. Denial will set you up for a binge. Take the amount of chips you usually eat and put ¼ back etc.

This will teach you to eat less without feeling hungry, you will be eating more real foods, you will not feel deprived, and you will lose weight slowly and permanently. Sounds like the perfect diet plan.

Cooking is easier than you think and you are worth the time and effort it takes.

Simple cooking idea: Hard-boiled eggs are easier to peel if they are old. Buy them in advance and let them sit in your refrigerator 10 days or longer before you cook them.

Copyright ©2010 by Gigi Centaro. All Rights Reserved.