5 Ways to Manage Your Portion Size
Bigger is better, or is it? Well it definitely isn’t when it comes to our meal sizes. Unfortunately, the restaurant and food industry doesn’t agree. But we can’t solely blame them. Consumers continue to frequent restaurants which serve ridiculously large portion sizes, enough to make the bottom line very worthwhile for them.
So what this means is simple, you as the consumer has the choice to make, actually many choices. Where you eat, what you eat, what you drink, and finally how much of all the aforementioned you will choose to do. At the end of the day it is always more advantageous to eat at home. You just have so much more control over food prep and portion size. But the reality is The average American adult buys a meal or snack from a restaurant 5.8 times a week.
That is roughly 23 meals a month! This trend does not seem to be changing anytime soon; in fact, it will more than likely trend up with convenience and accessibility seeming more and more important.
So I would like to share 5 very helpful tips, that have worked for me personally in managing portions:
1. Ask for a to go box to be brought with your meal. Once you receive your dish immediately divide what’s on your plate into two portions and place the second half in the to go box.
2. If you know the restaurant usually brings out bread to the table, let the server know when they come out to take your drink order to NOT bring out the bread.
3. It’s of course better to stick to water and not have any alcohol but if you choose to, then make a commitment to only have one. If you think you’re tempted to order a second drink, then drink down a whole glass of water first and see if you still want that drink or not.
4. Skip the appetizer and salad and just stick to the entree. Or just get an appetizer and a salad/soup but you don’t need ALL three.
5. ALWAYS skip dessert. Desserts at restaurants are a dangerous fat and calorie trap. If you have a sweet tooth bring with you one or two Hershey kisses or something comparable in size and have those!! It will satisfy that craving AND save you money!
Now, we barely scratched the surface here because we haven’t even gotten into what you SHOULD order and what you should AVOID. So you’ll just have to come back and read the next blog 🙂
Written by: Guest Fitness Blogger