Welcome to Week 1 of the 4 week Health Improvement Challenge! Today we will be talking about:

PERFECT PORTIONS

In order to enjoy good health, the quality and nutritional balance of our diet are obviously very important. Equally important is the amount of food we eat. If we eat more than our body needs to maintain vital functions and meet energy demands (energy in / energy out) we gain weight, simple as that.

The food industry uses every marketing ploy in the book to trick us into buying more than we need to eat, and they are masters of the art. Overeating damages our health, not to mention what it costs in terms of our own money wasted, escalating costs to medical and social services and massive costs to the industry through a sick workforce and lost productivity.

We are continually persuaded to eat big: all-you-can-eat buffets; family-size chocolate bars; ‘tall’ (which is what you get if you ask for ‘small’ 350ml), ‘grande’ and ‘venti’ (600ml!) coffees; pizzas as big as a table. Oversized and overblown is the new ‘normal’. Our eyes have been re-educated to expect BIG on the plate when we eat out and BIG when we eat in. Overeating makes us overweight. Portion control is one of the easiest ways to stop overeating and lose weight and this is something we cannot recommend highly enough.

Try these tips for managing your portion size:

• Comply with suggested serving sizes on packaged foods
• Never eat straight from a packet or tin – always dish out a serving
• Use portion controlled crockery such as an entrée sized plate instead of a main and rice bowls instead of pasta bowls
• Eat at the table, turn off the television and eat slowly and mindfully
• Cut the portion sizes you would normally dish up by half
• Try having a salad or vegetable soup as an entrée to dampen hunger before your main meal
• Remember we should feel neither hungry nor full at the end of a meal, assess your hunger status before reaching for more
• Never feel guilty about leaving food on your plate, others less informed than you may still be dishing up too much

Click to view the SiSU Wellness Portion Guide