RECIPES

Tuesday, 19 November 2019

Portion Control


Beautiful Lake Ianthe is on the West Coast of the South Island


This is the next step in my Makeover Plan.  I wanted to come up with a guideline for controlling food portions, so I have been looking at English wartime rationing, researching online information (especially helpful were the NZ Heart Foundation’s portion control information, and Harvard University’s Healthy Eating Plate webpage), food pyramids from previous decades (there have been several), and considering my own personal preferences. 

What I ended up with was a list of portion controls that I thought might work for me, but then during the last 24 hours I have read two things that have really had me thinking.

The first was, in effect, that nothing in your life will change unless you change what you are doing.  The second was David’s comment on yesterday’s post about eating meals containing three vegetables and a fruit.   It left me wondering what it would be like to base three meals a day on three vegetables and one fruit.  Being the quixotic creature that I am, I am going to give this a go.

This is what I think it would look like for each meal:
o   Base the meal on three different non-starchy vegetables (or sprouts) – quantity at least enough to fill two cupped hands
o   Add one serving of fruit – an average apple/orange/banana etc., or a daily maximum of 1 Tbsp. of dried fruit
o   One serve of a protein (meat, nuts, eggs, fish, cheese etc.,) – daily maximums to be the palm of one hand for meat, the whole hand for white fish, ½ cup of nuts, 2 eggs, or 50g of cheese
o   One serve of carbohydrate (wholemeal bread/toast/pasta, rice, potato, oatmeal, legumes, scone etc.) – total combined maximum meal amount, the size of one fist
o   Add natural flavourings as desired – herbs, spices, salt, apple cider vinegar, cold pressed oil, seeds etc.

Each meal would be different so that a wide variety could be eaten, and the fruit and vegetables could be raw or cooked.  Snacks are to be avoided, but if there is a real need for something then have a piece of fruit or (if really desperate!) one snack-pack of raisins, eating them one at a time.

Basically, the above cuts out the following:
o   All processed meat and processed food products
o   Artificial sweeteners, flavourings, colours and preservatives
o   Refined sugars – white, brown, syrup
o   Dairy milk (which I do not tolerate well)
o   All takeaways and deep fried foods
o   Refined flour products like pasta, bread, baked goods etc.

The whole idea of eating this way actually makes me feel very excited – perhaps it is the Universe nudging me in that direction?  It is, I feel, a fairly simple easy-to-follow guide:  it is totally different to how I have been eating, meal preparation should be relatively simple, it offers variety ad infinitum, and it will hopefully be easy enough to adapt when dining out – it really ticks all the boxes!

Margaret

6 comments:

  1. Sounds good but for myself I don't think I'd have room left for anything else after eating 3 different veg. and a fruit.

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  2. I found the best portion control was to purchase a smaller dinner plate, here in UK our Dinner plates are huge, I found a smaller plate, which my mum called a breakfast plate. It's such an easy reminder at each meal.

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  3. Such great guidelines.you have done lots of research.

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  4. I admire that way you have accepted this challenge and the research you are putting in to it. I have little doubt that you are going to succeed.

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  5. I don't know about the 3 veg idea, it seems very retro/vintage and reminds me of the 3 veg and meat way they use to eat. I personally love veges, sometimes I'll make a big crockpot full of different veges and add a can of tomatoes plus vege stock to it along with different herbs and spices then add some polenta or likewise to a plateful, it can be done just makes it a bit nicer when it's cooked in not so bland way.

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  6. Just so long as this works for you...if it sounds good to you, you will come nearer sticking to it.

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Thank-you for visiting my blog. I love it when you leave a comment so please feel free to have your say. Have a great day! Margaret xx