Size of your plate is directly proportional to your waistline!

When it comes to nutrition, weight loss, and weight management, two of the most important factors to consider are portion sizes and food choices. People consistently consume more food and drink (i.e., more calories) when offered larger-sized portions compared to when smaller-sized portions are offered. In fact, researchers found that adults, on an average, consume about 15% more, or about 250 calories, when offered larger serving sizes. An excess of such calorie equals to about 5 kgs of weight gain over the course of a year!So its obvious, size matters, and one way to influence your portion sizes is by using smaller plates. People tend to over-serve on larger plates, and on average, people eat about 92% of what they put on their plates. Simply put, larger plates mean greater food intake. Controlling portion sizes at home is the easiest. Choose a medium size plate for your meals. Imagine a mid section line dividing the plate in two halves. Half should be covered with vegetables, a quarter with serving of protein and a quarter with brown rice. Check your utensils too, use a smaller spoon. Another productive way of controlling portion size at home would be to serve foods directly from the kitchen itself onto the plates and not from the dining table as this encourages a second serving. At restaurants, deliberately ask for half portions, as sometimes their portions can suffice for more than two people. If you are still in doubt, take your portion size by the judgement of your palm size. Avoid eating at buffets. The more we are served, the more we eat, and the effect can be tough on your body. A'la carte would be easier on the wallet as well as on your stomach. Do not eat directly from the bag or box, people tend to eat 50% more chips / pretzels when they eat directly from bag. For cocktails / mocktail, use tall and thin glasses. Turn off the TV and put your smart phone away while you eat. Control portion and feel full on fewer calories. Again, it seems simple, but its true, and by reducing from 12-inch to 10-inch plates, you could reduce the number of calories served by over 20%. If the average dinner is 800 calories, that little change could result in a weight loss of more than 1.5 Kgs in just 3 months.--

This article was originally published on Practo Health Feed by Dr. Renu Garg, Homeopath