Once I reduced the amount of some of the food I ate, I discovered I could eat anything I want, and being a diabetic, I proved it by eating
and testing my blood glucose. Now, I still use common sense, but I can
eat whatever I want as long as I am careful with portion size.
First, it's important to know the difference between "serving" size and "portion" size.
It's foolish eaters who kid themselves when they fork lift a serving of mashed potatoes onto their plate, volcano the mound with butter and smother the mountain with gravy.
"It's my one serving," they exclaim with a sly grin. The only one they're fooling is themselves.
A "serving size" is not the glob you put on your plate "one time." Common sense.
For example, the nutrition label on a box of cereal might state that the
box contains 10 servings, with each serving being one cup. (10g of
whole grains per serving). You do not want to eat half the box or 5
servings. That's not a reasonable portion size, is it?
Like the mashed potato example, the number of serving sizes is way more
than a reasonable portion size.
Most people do know when the food they
serve up on their plate is a more than they should be taking.
A kitchen scale might help to measure your food at first, if you need help.
In any event, if that little voice in the back of your mind says, "Yikes," you know you're eating too big of a portion.
There's no doubt. What you eat is important, especially when it comes to
making positive food choices, but how much you eat is more important.
You have complete control over the amount of food you put on your
plate and eat. The first step is to use common sense when you choose
what to eat. Choose the right food for you every day.
Here is a general
guideline for daily servings from each food group:
Grains and starchy vegetables: 6 servings
Vegetables: 3 servings
Fruit: 2 servings
Dairy: 3 servings
Meat, Poultry, Beans, Nuts: 2 servings
Fats, oils and sweets: Eat sparingly
The second step is to control how much food you eat. It doesn't do any
good to eat healthy if you eat too much of the unhealthy food, does it?
When you scoop food onto your plate, you want to consider the size of
the food portions versus the serving size.