This is a brief guide to effective portion controlling, to assist people when preparing and eating food.
Diet and nutrition is extremely important to all ages of people. However, as you get older, your body will need a different diet and nutrition to stay healthy. Some foods may not be broken down as easy, your metabolism slows down which in essence means it takes longer for food to be turned into energy. It is important that yourself or carer practice portion control with every meal to make sure you maintain an appropriate body weight. There are certain things you should eat when portion controlling and certain equipment you can use, such as portion plates, measuring cups and scales.
Sometimes you may find it hard to make healthy options regarding your diet, for quickness or comfort, but really once you get into a habit of being conscious of certain foods and true food portion sizes you will easily maintain a healthy lifestyle.
If you are making a change to your daily eating habits and looking to control your serving sizes, or you feel as though you're eating has become disrupted by either work, restaurants or events, you will find the tips below extremely useful and handy. They will help when cutting down and will keep you on plan if you ever feel as though your pattern is being interrupted.
It is important to make sure you or the person you're caring for are eating the correct food groups within each meal, to take in the right amount of calories and food to give the body energy.
It is advisable to eat more foods such as vegetables, fruits and wholegrains, fish, lean meat and unsaturated fats. Foods to avoid are saturated fats which as items such as butter, lard, bacon and sausages. Also salt, sugar and refined grains are things to be cautious of.
There are several visual cues that can help at mealtimes throughout the day, which will ultimately help when controlling portion size. Some significant tips to remember whilst preparing food is that meat can be visualised as the size of a deck of cards or an audio tape this will be around three ounces, one cup of potatoes, rice and pasta looks like the size of a tennis ball. Fruit can be measured by cupping your hand and vegetables can be chopped up and measured by half a cup. Obviously, these pointers are estimates to help you cut down, and the accuracy will not be as accurate as a measuring cup or scales. You may feel as though preparing, cooking and eating isn't much fun and it becomes a chore, but after a certain time period it will become the norm and your body and health will benefit substantially.
Portion plates are usually designed with a number of key features to help you or an individual at meal times throughout the day. Portion control plates are specifically created to provide help when portion controlling meals. But they are also made for people that require assistance whilst eating. Serving sizes will vary depending on what you or the individual can manage and there is no one portion size that suits everyone. When planning, cooking and serving food for yourself or the cared for individual this needs to be taken into account.
Healthy eating plates are typically made to provide support at meal times; most portion plates will look the same and contribute the same useful aids. Generally, the walls of the plates make it easy for you or the user to scoop food without the need for a knife or a second piece of cutlery.
The food can be pushed against the side of the angled wall, which forms a barrier to scoop the food onto the fork or spoon with ease. Portion control plates are ideal for you or anyone with limited hand strength or the use of only one hand. This product can also be an ideal aid for you or those who have a visual impairment, allowing you or the user to familiarise yourselves with the location of different food items. These plates can be cleaned easily as most products are normally dishwasher safe, but this is always best to be checked beforehand.
Not only are these healthy portion plates great for the disabled and elderly but they are also superb for you or others that need help with controlling your food portions sizes.
As well as obesity, arthritis, Parkinson's disease or visual impairment can affect a very large part of soneone's life and daily routine. Portion plates are great products to ease the stress and help not only with weight and diet issues but also with independence and self-esteem.
Disclaimer
You should be aware that every individual's needs are different and this is a brief article on portion controlling which should only be taken as a guideline, if you have any queries or questions regarding your diet you may want to speak to specialist nutritionist, dietitian or medical professional.
By signing up you consent to us using your email address in accordance with our privacy policy.