Jump to content

Portion control


Crash
 Share

Recommended Posts

One of the biggest blunders in anyone's diet can be portion control -- at least it is for me. I am fine for breakfast, lunch and snacks, but usually mess up around dinner as I eat it after being on the bike or after self defense class. I try to eat healthy foods, but am usually very hungry by then and need to work on the portions.

 

I bought a book called portion savvy and am trying to use its recommendations for my dinner portions and thought I would share the portions here.

 

Dinner:

6 oz. soy or TVP protein

2 T. sauce

1/2 cup cooked rice or grain

1 cup of steamed or grilled veggies

 

If you want a change, grains complement legumes (ie, pasta and lima beans or cooked beans with brown rice) and legumes complement seeds for good amino acid ratios.

 

If anyone is interested, I can post what is considered 1 serving of pasta, milk, grains, fruits, veggies, etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

LOL, I don't think many people could get away with eating jonathan fist sized portions.

 

I knew about the fist for the protein, but not the sides (and I like the sides, and it's easy to overeat the sides at night .... ) Fruit has also been a question mark for me. (I mean who knew that 1/2 a banana is 1 portion of a fruit - what do you do with the other half ? I try wrapping it up again, but it still gets brown )

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have always eaten the whole fruit unless it was huge (like a grapefruit). But I generally eat fruit alone as a snack (pre-workout). I buy apples & bananas in smaller sizes, so that helps too. I don't think I could eat a whole huge apple or banana in one sitting.

 

Bananas can be frozen in skin and once thawed (or partially thawed) can be used in smoothies if you eat smoothies.

 

I have never been much on liquid food myself, I prefer it in the whole form. Which is why I have trouble with protein shakes....but that's another thread.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmmm, I like smoothies sometimes, (especially mango mama smoothies ), but it is better to eat the whole fruit when possible. I have gotten red delicious apples in the past, but trying to bypass that wax issue, so got Roman apples instead -- boy are those big apples !

 

I've heard that thing about freezing bananas and was told that mashed frozen bananas have the consistency of ice cream.

 

My fruit weaknesses are grapes, pineapples and berries. How many grapes, berries or pineapple constitute 1 serving ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have always gone with fist sized for all fruit weather it's an apple or several grapes. I rarely eat dried fruit, but I guess you would have to "do the math" on the size it was before dehydration if you are using the fist method.

 

Same goes for restaurant food. Using the "Jonathan scenario" they would serve me the same size portion as him, he could most likely eat the entire portion where I would need to cut mine almost in half and save the rest.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is carbon dioxide harmful, as far as trace amounts or is it an evironmental concern to produce or use it for fruit drying?

 

I drink mineral water that is carbonated with carbon dioxide and I eat ground flaxseed that are package in an inert gas (likely carbon dioxide.) Is there cause for concern? We exhale carbon dioxide, as part of our respiration so I guess no way to escape it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9s the problem is that sulphur dioxide has been found to exacerbate problems for those people with asthma. There are dried fruits/raisins out there that are sun dried but they obviously won't have the shelf life. I just stopped eating raisins and apricots because I couldn't find any that didn't contain sulphur dioxide. This is just me and I'm sure that there are more knowledgeable people on this site that could give you more info.

Hope this helps....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My health food store sells organic dried fruit that they package themselves. They have no preservatives and therefore a very limited shelf life.

 

The standard dried fruit from the "health section" of my normal grocery store is full of chemicals, yuck! When in doubt ask.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

wow! i didnt realise that i had a whole thread virtually devoted to how much i eat!

 

im honoured!

 

richard, dude, no!

 

but you are right though - i eat a fair amount, even though i eat less now than i used to (i dont move as much). a portion of nuts for me is 8oz, a portion of dried fruit the same, a smoothie is usually 1litre (something like 40 fluid oz in crazy money) with at least 20-30g rapeseed oil added for good measure.

i can eat 8 bananas in 15minutes. i totally addicted to fruit - in summer i eat the equivilent of 10-15 portion of fruit a day

 

ive also recently taken to eating peas as a meal. 1kilo of them. it takes me about an hour to eat, and i douse it with 20g of olive oil, but i do it

 

jonathan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We were just using your fist as a portion size analogy, because you are an almost 7 feet tall male and presumably your fists are proportionate to that, ergo you also need bigger portions than a 5'8" female with proportionate fist size. And you are aiming for mass, not tone - ergo many, many more calories.

 

That peas and olive oil idea is great and probably much tastier than pea protein (?) If you're interested in getting a complete amino acid meal, maybe add some rice or seeds with the peas ?

 

As for rapeseed oil, I've heard of it but never seen it in supermarkets. Do you have to go to a health food store to get your rapeseed oil ?

 

I would love to be able to eat 8 oz. of nuts in one sitting (almonds, walnuts), but ... well then I'd probably look like my avatar on vegan-forum. I like bananas too, but don't think I could handle having 8 bananas at one sitting (let alone 15 minutes). You could have a bright future in eating contests. (jk)

 

Thanks for the dried fruit with sulphur information -- I will seriously have to reconsider having any dried fruit now (at least from the supermarket).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...