Portion Control or "Stop Eating Like a Pig"

I love this topic. Portion control. This is what people talk about when they get tired of telling you about the foods you SHOULD be eating versus what you actually ARE eating. They get worn out telling you to eat more protein, eat less carbs and eat even less fat...and exercise. They realize that it just isn't working. You don't care. You don't even care if they have a top-secret, FDA not yet approved, super diet drug. They just know that you will rationalize over and over and will convince yourself that you can just make slight modifications to your abysmally terrible diet and "lose giant amounts of weight." So when they tire of telling you that, they throw in the towel and just say, "I'm exhausted...the hell with it, just eat less."

Portion control really hit its feverish heights when the documentary "Super Size Me" came out. This documentary followed a guy who ate nothing but super sized McDonalds for about 3 months. He damn near died. Literally. He was eating 5000 calories a day just at a McDonalds. It was so bad for McDonald's that they had to issue a formal statement through Public Relations to address it. They had to get rid of their Super Size Coke and just have the large size Coke. They had to start talking about 'healthy meals.'

When you have to discuss portion control in terms of how restaurants (fast food in particular) are feeding us...you have gone totally around the bend. You are gone. I think that sometimes the newswriters believe that if they don't show the extreme, it will be a meaningless discussion. So they tell you the worst possible story. It's like the 'Scared Straight' documentary that was designed to keep High School kids out of jail. Do you really have to make the leap from the fear of being arrested to the fear of having 450 lb. Bubba as a cellmate who thinks you are his girlfriend? Does this need to happen to convince you that a life of crime is a bad idea? Apparently, the same people developed the idea for 'Super Size Me.' "Wow, how about we paint the worst possible picture and see how they react?"

We covered portion control in our Diet Class at Miriam Hospital. Our portion control classes dealt with how to look at the meals you eat at home and make sure that you eat the portion that you have (or the dietician has..) calculated that you SHOULD be eating at this meal. It is about eating as "Fuel" and not "Entertainment." It is about eating the amount of food that gives you real satiety. It is about NOT eating as though your next commercial gig will be with Sally Struthers in Africa.

McDonalds?  If you are watching your weight, here is my solution. Stay out of stinking McDonalds....and Burger King, and Wendy's and Taco Bell, and any other fast food, fried feast, fat injected family restaurant. You know which ones they are. Don't walk in the door. It is not about eating their regular meals and avoiding their 'Super Size Me' policy. It is about the fact that their 'food' is some of the most fatty and vile stuff on earth. It merits no place on your personal food list.

Do you want to know why? McDonalds wants to tell you that they have a small Coke with only 150 calories. Drink this. Drink this now. It is so much better for you than the 42 ounce, 410 calorie soda they USED to have on the menu. In fact, they are so smart now, they reduced the large size to ONLY 32 ounces. You can buy a 32 ounce Coke at McDonalds. And do WHAT with it? Put out a California wildfire? That is a QUART of Soda. Half of a two liter bottle roughly. There is only 12 ounces in a CAN of soda...and when you drink THAT it feels like a lot. But let's drink a quart. What's next, the 55 Gallon drum? And how many calories in the large 32 oz. Coke? 300. Oh yeah...for a beverage. DRINK THE WATER! Get it for free from that little space in the middle of the Soda dispenser...or but the bottled. It has zero calories.

Fries? Little deep fried sticks of lard. "Can I get a mailbag full of those please?"

"How big is BIG...cause I want to get my moneys worth."

What do the Portion Controllers tell you? They have many idea's on how to use Portion Control to your fat advantage.

(1) Just eat half. Thanks. How about 'Close your mouth?' I get the 'eat less' paradigm.
(2) Avoid buffets. Really? The last time I checked, the buffet charged about $20-$50 depending on the venue. The whole idea of this centers around trying to eat more than you actually spend...and you just spent a lot. Good luck.
(3) Resist upsizing. Enough said.
(4) Eat a child's meal. Wow. I can't believe Einstein is dead. I thought he was alive and doing diet research.
(5) Put your left-overs in opaque containers. You know what they say..."out of sight, out of mind." And I guess, if you have forgotten what you ate last night, you are out of your mind...for real. You might have bigger problems than your weight if you have to trick yourself.

Ok, it's all about just eating less. Your diet should also be about eating less of the right foods. Here is what portion control is all about...for each meal, there is a limited amount that a rational human being should be eating. To measure it, use this chart (courtesy of Web MD).

Let me tell you what has been successful for me. Take both your hands and stretch out your fingers. Touch the pointer fingers from each hand together at the tips of your fingers. Now touch the tips of your thumbs together. There is a space now between your two hands. Any meat you have, it should fit in there and be no more than half an inch thick. Done. That is your meat. Have as many steamed or boiled veggies as you want. Same for salad. One fruit. Drink water. This isn't hard. Get used to food as fuel. Not entertainment.

If you are in a restaurant, eat what fits in the space. Take the rest home in a doggie bag...then give it to the dog. If you keep it, you might go after it after hours.That is portion control. Eating what makes sense...not what tastes good.Good luck doing this. I have made it sound simpler than it is. It IS simple to conceive and then it is tough to execute. Be tough. You can do it. Good luck.

Next: Living Thin