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10 simple tips for good portion control

Portion control is the art of knowing how much you need to eat to get a healthy portion. And while portion control is important, perfecting each portion at every meal can seem pretty tedious. Especially if you're not already familiar with portion size. of the portions of the different foods we eat every day.

But don't worry! We promise it's a lot easier than it sounds, especially with these 10 simple portion control tips .

But first: What is the importance of portion control? The 3 BIG benefits of portion control.

If you eat mindlessly without knowing exactly how much you are eating, you may be eating too much or too little to meet your daily needs. But if you eat exactly what you need, you will be able to reap these three important benefits.

You meet your daily caloric needs

There's more to calories than those incomprehensible numbers on the packaging. They're very important for a properly functioning (and therefore healthy) body. If you regularly consume too many or too few calories, important functions of your body can become unbalanced, like when you and your Chihuahua try to sit together on a seesaw.

The number of calories you should consume daily is different for everyone and ranges from 1,500 to 3,000 calories per day [1]. Your unique needs are influenced by your height, age, how much exercise you get, your metabolism, your music taste, and as you can imagine, these factors can also change significantly over time. (By the way, the music taste thing was just a joke, let's see if you're still paying attention.)

If you want to know what your personal calorie needs are, you can study a little more here . Or, for example, visit a dietician to have your energy needs professionally calculated [1].

You get additional health benefits

In addition to meeting your calorie needs, portion control can provide several health benefits. Such as [1]:

  • A balanced blood sugar level
  • A stable metabolism
  • Improve digestion
  • Reduction of symptoms of intestinal discomfort (such as stomach cramps, flatulence, intestinal problems; we will spare you more examples…)
  • Stabilize your weight in the long term

    3. You save money at the supermarket

    If you overeat regularly, this can lead to a high grocery bill, especially if you eat a lot of fresh produce and other products marketed as "healthy," which are often quite expensive. With good portion control, you could save a lot of money.

    And now for the tips! Do you have a pencil and paper? This will be on the exam.

    10 Simple Tips for Successful Portion Control

    Mastering portion control won't happen overnight, but with a little effort you'll be a pro in no time. Use these tips and before you know it, you'll be able to effortlessly implement healthy portion control into your daily meals and snacks.

    portion control food journal

    1. Start a (food) diary

    Before you can start effectively controlling portions, it’s important to understand how much you eat in a day. One way to do this is to start a food diary that helps you determine how much salt you eat per day and how it makes you feel [2]. You can use a notebook for this, but if you know yourself a bit and want to avoid “I forgot my notebook” excuses, you can use an app like MyFitnessPal . (We’re making a bold assumption and assuming you won’t be forgetting your phone anytime soon.)

    To start, track your eating habits for a week. Keep the following in mind [2]:

    • What you ate, how much you ate (in weight and calories) and what time you ate it.
    • What you did while eating (e.g., sitting without distractions, watching TV, working on your computer, yelling at the pigeons from your window, etc.)
    • Describe your mindset while eating (e.g. stressed, irritated, uninterested, etc.)
    • How the food made you feel (e.g. happy, satisfied, guilty, etc.)

      Check your daily intake at the end of the week. Compare the results to your daily calorie needs and recommended portion sizes. This can be conflicting, but luckily you can wipe away your tears with those doughnuts you won't be eating anymore. And hey, you learned something!

      intuitive eating portion control

      2. Try intuitive eating

      Intuitive eating (aka “mindful eating”) involves eating on a mental, emotional, and physical level [3]. Basically: don’t mindlessly inhale your food (which means the popcorn will be gone before the movie starts).

      But how should you do that? These principles of intuitive eating will help you understand it better [3]:

      • Honor your hunger
      • Discover satisfaction
      • Feeling full
      • Accept your relationship with food
      • Respect your body

        Portion control isn't necessarily key to intuitive eating, but it does help you understand how much your body needs and teaches you to respect those feelings.

        drink water portion control

        3. Start with a glass of water.

        If you drink at least half a liter of water before eating anything, you will stay well hydrated, feel full faster, and reduce the feeling of hunger [4].

        Research shows that drinking a glass of water 30 minutes before a meal helps distinguish between hunger and thirst [4], because apparently, despite millions of years of evolution, we still can't tell the difference. By drinking plenty of water we can better control our portions and significantly reduce the risk of overeating.

        portion control take it slow

        4. Take it easy

        If you eat mindlessly or too quickly, you reduce your feeling of satiety. Your brain needs at least 20 minutes to register whether what you've eaten has satisfied your body [5]. So if you eat quickly, you're very likely to overeat.

        Eating more slowly gives the body, especially the intestines, and the brain time to communicate their "fullness" to each other [5]. So put down your fork from time to time! The cutlery needs a rest too!

        Try these strategies to eat more slowly [5]:

        • Don't eat while distracted (while working, using your phone, watching TV, listening to a fascinating podcast about the mating habits of bats, etc.)
        • Avoid eating while traveling
        • Take time to eat and enjoy what you eat.
        • Take small bites
        • Chew very well

          5. Eat ingredients that keep you fuller for longer

          Foods that keep you fuller longer will help you control portions because they reduce hunger throughout the day.

          The most satiating macros are fiber, protein, and healthy fats. Fiber slows digestion, and protein and fat provide the appetite-regulating hormones ghrelin and GLP-1 (which actually sounds like a nagging cough) [6].

          Foods that keep you fuller longer are [6]:

          • Eggs
          • Fruits and vegetables with a lot of water (such as watermelon or cucumber)
          • Nuts and seeds
          • Oatmeal
          • Fish and lean meat
          • Beans and legumes

            eating from the container portion control

            6. Don't eat from the bag

            Have you ever eaten chips out of a bag and noticed that you're starting to get full, but since the bag is almost empty you continue to dig in anyway? Eating out of the bag or package reduces your awareness of proper portion size. A package often contains several servings! You can easily eat up to 129% more than you should this way [7].

            To avoid this, you can try the following:

            • Before cooking, measure the portion with a scale.
            • Determine portion sizes before serving and save the rest.
            • For snacks: Put some in a bowl and save the rest for later (out of sight)

              smaller plate

              7. Choose a smaller plate

              The larger the plate, bowl or cutlery you use for your meals, the more likely you are to eat more.

              Larger plates reduce feelings of satiety by giving the illusion that the portion is smaller. Yes, that's how gullible our brains are. This illusion can quickly cause you to overeat by up to 77%, without even realizing it! [8].

              So use smaller cutlery so you eat smaller portions and increase the feeling of satiety. Off to the gnome shop!

              serving sizes portion control

              8. Portion sizes of different foods.

              Understanding portion sizes can seem a little overwhelming, but it's not as difficult as it sounds. Measured exactly, it looks like this:

              Protein : 3 oz (85 g)
              Grains and carbohydrate-rich foods : 3 oz (40 g)
              Fats and oils : 1 oz (16 g)
              Fruits and vegetables : 4 - 8 oz (75-150 g)

                But if you don't have measuring instruments or have an irrational fear of using them, for example, you can also easily measure by eye. Based on the size of your hand, you can easily make a rough reference estimate [10].

                • Protein : palm-sized serving
                • Grains and carbohydrate-rich foods : serve in a bowl
                • Fats and oils : thumb-sized portion
                • Fruits and vegetables : fist-sized portion

                  portion control at restaurants

                  9. Ask for smaller portions at the restaurant.

                  In restaurants, food is often served in huge portions. On average, a portion in a restaurant is about 2.5 servings [11]! If you like to eat out, of course, that's perfectly fine. Live your life! Spend that hard-earned money on yummy things! But keep in mind that large portions in restaurants can make portion control quite difficult.

                  Here are some ideas for limiting portion sizes when dining out. Most restaurants will be happy to accommodate you with this:

                  • Order a half portion.
                  • Order from the children's menu.
                  • Order a starter or side dish as your main course
                  • Share an entire food order with someone else (and if you don't have the same taste, have a rap battle to decide who gets to choose)

                    easy portion control

                    10. Consider meals with easy portion control

                    If you're often in a hurry or have to eat on the go, you might think, "But I don't have time to worry about portion control!"

                    In that case, luckily, there are pre-portioned meals available. Make sure you buy them from a company that makes nutritionally complete, high-quality products. Just like us! Jimmy Joy! We do that! Just take a look at our pre-portioned meal shakes , meal bars , or meal packs .

                    With exactly 400 kcal per meal and a perfectly balanced mix of macro and micro ingredients, you'll know exactly what and how much you're eating.

                    Practice portion control today!

                    We hope these 10 simple tips have shown you that portion control doesn't have to be as complicated as it seems. You'll be able to integrate it into your daily life little by little. In the long run, portion control provides many health benefits and a huge reduction in the number of buttons flying off your pants.

                    Author:

                    Allison Lansman, RDN, LD

                    #jimmyjoyfood

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