Portion Control
I take issue with some of this stuff. Portion sizes.
If the USDA says 1 slice of bread equals one portion and
Dictionary.com defines a sandwich as:
two or more slices of bread or the like with a layer of meat, fish, cheese, etc., between each pair.
So I’m only supposed to eat a half a sandwich? I mean, come on! I can’t eat a half a sandwich. Can you? It simply ain’t happenin’. I mentioned this to the other half and he gave me a look that told me he thought I was out of my mind. I would still go for a second slice of bread, and most likely with another 2 oz of meat on it. So instead of eating 2 slices of bread with 2 ounces of meat, I would eat 2 slices of bread with 4 ounces. I know myself.
Boggles my mind, it does.
I tried the fist measuring thing, when I first started the You diet, because this is what the doctors who wrote the book recommended.
Uh uh. I was so hungry by the end of the day – I was so hungry I could’ve easily eaten my car. You see, my hands are very small. So, if I do eat a handful of Cheerios, why, I’m eating a quarter of a serving. How do I know? I measured it. 4 handfuls equal one serving of Cheerios for me.
Luckily, I’ve been weighing and measuring since I was knee high to, well you know. And if anything, I underestimate. I spot check myself – I’ll weigh something, I’ll guess at something, weigh it and find out I underguessed. I can have more!. Yay! I also know the calories of most everything.
Use smaller plates. This is another thing that doesn’t work for me. My body isn’t easily fooled. A smaller plate simply means seconds for me. Plus, I like bowls. They may not be big bowls, but big enough so I can stir my stuff without it getting scattered all over the house!
And either I lump everything together: for instance pasta, cut up turkey sausage, and succotash. Or I’ll go the orthodox route, eat the pasta first, go back for the sausage, eat that, then eat the succotash. You know, courses.
4 leaves of lettuce is a serving. What’s that – all of 10 calories? Puh-leeze! Did you know a pint of fresh strawberries has under 200 calories?
Bagels. I haven’t eaten a bagel in years. I’ve never laid eyes on a hockey puck, but I have a funny feeling that the bagels
I used to eat (2 a day when I was waitressing, and dieting) are a heck of alot bigger than a danged hockey puck.
Pancakes. I can see as one would make a serving, but I always ate at least 2 at a sitting. More likely 3, specially if they’re the size of a CD.
I do use the fist measuring rule for nuts. Nuts for me are a danger food and I could easily get carried away. If a box of triscuits say a serving is 6 triscuits – I eat 6, and put the box away. Or have it hidden from me if I’m in one of “those” moods. Another danger food. And I always measure the oil I use.
I’ll stick with my measuring cups and spoons, thank you. I’ll be alot less hungry for it. I’ll use my fists for what they were intended for: punching walls, knocking out teeth, that kind of thing.