Maintaining
a healthy lifestyle for me starts with my plate and how I choose to fill
it. It also matters which kind of plate
I fill.
Clockwise from upper left - pasta bowl, bread/salad plate dinner plate, lunch plate, custard dish, cereal/soup bowl |
See how much smaller the lunch plate is than the dinner plate |
L-R: soup/cereal bowl compared to a pasta bowl |
In order to
better manage portion sizes it helps me a lot to simply use smaller dishes. Instead of using our dinner plates we
predominately use our lunch plates and the bread/salad plates for our
meals. I also like to use my vintage
custard cups. Our favorite dishes are a
set of four pasta bowls I got years ago on eBay. The bottoms are the same size as a bread
plate with shallow sides. They are
perfect for many different types of meals, other than just pasta.
Pulled pork in a whole wheat dinner roll with coleslaw |
I like to
fill my plate by thinking about it divided into quarters, like slicing a whole
pie into four even sized pieces. On one
half of the plate I fill it with a combination of fruits and vegetables, usually
salad. Then I place my protein or meat
on a quarter and the remaining quarter is for my starches and fats.
Broccoli Beef - an all in one one meal served in a pasta bowl |
A deck of
cards or the palm of your hand is a good way to determine the true serving size
of a piece of meat. Quite often the size
of a steak or chicken breast half, in all actuality, is more likely to be two or
three servings instead of one.
A serving of New York Strip with tossed green salad |
Learning
what true portion sizes really were was a big wake up call for me. A serving size of bread is typically one
slice. One dinner roll or half of a
hoagie roll. Most of us are used to
eating the whole hoagie roll as a sandwich and thinking of it as one serving of bread.
A serving of rice, pasta or mashed potatoes is half a cup. Half of a medium sized baked potato is also
one serving. My youngest and I will
usually share a baked potato. Mainly because
she doesn't really love them. My oldest
will eat the whole thing.
A delicious garden salad |
A serving of
salad is usually two cups while a serving of steamed vegetables is one
cup. The best thing about vegetables is
that it is good to eat more than one serving at a time if you find you are
still hungry. A good rule of thumb to
know what a serving size of fruits or vegetables looks like is to make a fist.
Ice cream in a custard cup |
A serving
size of ice cream is actually a half a cup.
I like to use my custard cups quite a bit for dishing up desserts
because it looks more like a full bowl and I'm less apt to overindulge. I'll make cupcakes more often over cakes for
this same reason.
Until I got
the hang of what a true serving size was I used my measuring cups and spoons
quite a bit. I read packages too. Imagine my shock when I discovered a bowl of
cereal is only 3/4 of a cup for most cereals instead of 2 cups. Big difference!
My breakfast served in a pasta bowl |
For me, I
try to stick to single servings at each meal.
If I find myself still hungry or I've had a lot of activity that
warrants my body needing more fuel than on an average day I'll have a second
serving of something. Sometimes it might
be a small piece of meat or a dinner roll, but more than likely I'll go back
for a second helping of salad. I love my salads.
Spinach salad, Spanish rice, beef enchilada served on a lunch plate |
For my very
active and growing children I don't limit their servings. We start out with single servings and once
they have eaten their vegetables they can go back for seconds or even thirds if
they like.
Having fresh fruits and vegetable available to my family makes for healthy snack options |
My youngest
happens to love salad, while my oldest abhors it, but she eats it knowing it is
good for her. Boosting the nutritional
value of the food we consume is always the priority when it comes to meal preparation.
Sliced gala apples with caramel for dessert - Yum! |
Strawberry shortcake |
Filling my
plate like this means I get to eat pretty much whatever I like without having
to make sacrifices or go without. No one
likes to have to do that anyway. If I
want a piece of pizza, I can have a piece of pizza. I just know I shouldn't eat the whole pie. All things in moderation.
Mashed potatoes & gravy with pot roast served in a pasta bowl We used bread/salad plates to hold our salads |
Filling my
plate like this also means I no longer go on any diets. That in itself makes it all worth it. How do you fill your plate?
Garden salad, French bread, sausage lasagna served on a lunch plate |
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