Portion Control

Wagon Wheels may have got smaller but our portions have increased in size. It is a fact that many of us eat more than we used to and the culprit is the amount we buy and serve.

A roast dinner used to be one good sized potato cut in two and roasted, now it is more commonplace that we add two or three or more, many of us pile on the meat and vegetables and almost half of us do not stop eating until we feel uncomfortable and bloated. We have to sit down, have a bit of a rest, ready for the next meal.

Many of us buy ready meals which have become larger  over the years. We may have a healthy cereal based breakfast but use a bigger cereal bowl. Instead of having a dollop of  mayonnaise at the side of our plate, we will pour it over the salad. Even our glass of wine is served in a large glass instead of the standard glass size and coffee now comes in small, medium and large. Even the staple loaf has changed. We may have decided brown is healthier but we rarely buy thin sliced, most of us enjoying the thicker sliced crusty loaf. Fast food sizing has been less of a problem in the UK than the States where large portions are the norm, but we are getting bigger. To help downsize your own family’s menu here are a few handy tips:

• Start by filling the plate with the vegetables, then potatoes, pasta or rice finishing with the meat or fish (as I type this I realise that I do it exactly the wrong way round finishing with the veggies). 

• Buy the smallest size possible and where possible buy individual portion of quiches or pies. Even orange juice, however healthy it is, contain calories. 

It is healthier to buy and eat low fat food and for some it is the right way to lose and control weight, but if you can get into the habit of serving and eating smaller portions I am sure the occasional ‘full fat’ treat would not go amiss.