Portion Sizes and Measuring Food
It’s no secret that portion sizes have increased over the years.
Have you ever found yourself thinking “I can’t believe I ate that whole thing”? Because of the large increase in portion sizes, our ideas of what is appropriate has changed, and larger portions are now viewed as the right amount to eat.
Why Should I Care About Portion Size?
Larger portions means that you feed your body more calories and more carbohydrates than it needs for immediate use. This impacts your blood glucose levels and weight.
Not only the type of carbohydrates, but also portion sizes of them are important on blood glucose levels. A big cup of brown rice can easily cause a spike, even though it is ‘brown’.
Carbohydrate amount and calorie of brown rice and regular rice or brown bread and white bread are the same…Only the fiber content changes, It makes the digestion slower and prevents spikes with ‘appropriate portion sizes’.
Extra body fat is also linked to insulin resistance, blood glucose challenges and increased vascular resistance causing more work for the heart to pump blood throughout the body. It is always important to control calories that you are gaining from the extra portions.
Do You Eat More Than You Think You Do?
What you may currently think of as a normal portion size may not be the “best” portion size for you. Many people think they eat less than they actually do. Becoming familiar with serving sizes can help you pinpoint how much you actually eat.
How Do I Determine Portion Sizes?
The most accurate way to monitor your portion sizes is to measure your food or beverages with measuring cups, measuring spoons and a food scale.
Be sure to use liquid measuring cups for liquid.
What If I’m Eating Out And Don’t Have Measuring Tools?
On many occasions it’s not realistic or convenient to use measuring tools. In those scenarios, rely on your own hands to estimate portion sizes.
These are approximations and may vary slightly depending on the size of the hand.
Compare your hands to measuring tools to determine your hand estimations.
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