Ever heard the saying, ”We eat with our eyes”? The more food there is to choose from, the more food we eventually eat.  An easy way to control our portions is by choosing a smaller plate.  By doing this we can trick our eyes into thinking portions are bigger than they really are! And don’t heap food on your plate… the more we put in front of us, the more we are likely to eat. For example, if we’re at a buffet or gathering with many different food choices, it can be very tempting to want them all!  Something I always like to do when faced with those situations is to scope out the food & dessert table and figure out what it is I really want.  There are times when I want everything that’s offered!  In this situation, I let myself taste everything, but in reality, I’m eating a small amount of food.  You taste everything, but basically eat nothing.  Shrink your plate, shrink your appetite, and – shrink your waistline!  Below is a great tool I like to use.  It shows people how to divide their plate and control portions.

Here is what you want to do:

• Start out by using a 9 inch plate
• Take your plate and divide it in half
• One half of your plate should be filled with non-starchy veggies
• Take the other half of your plate and divide that in half.
• A fourth of your plate is where you’ll put your protein (meat, chicken, fish, or a meat substitute like beans or veggie burger.
• The other fourth of your plate is where you put your starches such as pasta, rice, potato, bread, etc….

The question I often get is what to do when dessert is there, and your really want it…. my response is…. eat it!  This is where assessing the food spread comes in handy.  If there is pasta salad you really want, but there is pound cake your love too, you want to serve yourself a1/4 cup (eyeball it) serving of the pasta salad, and for the pound cake, serve yourself half a portion.  That way you can continue to eat what you love without overdoing the portions.  The quality of the food is very important as well as the quantity.