Not only is it important to begin to eat the right foods to live a long and healthy life, but it is also crucial to understand how MUCH needs to be eaten as well. It is great to follow along with recipes and create beautiful meals but sometimes it can be quite difficult to guess how much a serve is when you haven’t got measuring tools around or deciding how much food belongs on your plate. This is what we term a portion size. You might find yourself asking such questions like:
Exactly how much is one cup of salads?
Or half a cup of rice?
Do I just add a handful or a sprinkle?
This week we are going to be learning how to visualise exactly what our plates should look like at main meals. Research has shown that achieving all the core food groups in the recommended serves can improve overall health and prolong quality of life. Using a visual plate guide for portion size like you see below can be a great first step in moving forward to ensure that you are achieving a well-balanced intake. Understanding the visual cues will also then allow you to become more flexible and can adapt some of your favourite meals once you become confident in controlling your portion sizes.
Let’s take a closer look on how to design a plate for a main meal!
Carbohydrate: Aim for one quarter of the plate to be filled with foods like rice, pasta, bread, potato, sweet potato.
Protein: Aim for one quarter of the plate to be foods like beef, chicken, seafood, tofu.
Veg & Salad: Aim for one half of your plate to be some of your favourite vegetables.
Tips to help with portion control
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- Use smaller plates or bowls. Usually, people aim to finish their plate and studies have shown that by reducing the size of the actual plate it can have an effect on maintaining a healthy weight
- Avoid eating straight from a packet or fridge, put it on a plate and visualise your portions
- Avoid skipping meals which can increase your hunger and mess with portion control of later meals
- Keep a food dairy and practice drawing plate models of the food you ate
Here is an extra resource from the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute that walks you through portion size and exactly how to plate up a meal: https://www.baker.edu.au/-/media/documents/fact-sheets/Baker-Institute-factsheet-plating-it-up-portion-guide.pdf
It has a step-by-step guide with many different examples. I am sure you will see some goodies in there!
Now, why not jump over to this week’s recipe!
If you have any questions about your diet or would like one-on-one dietary advice from your Able Dietician, send us a message letting us know what you’re after and we’ll be in touch to help you achieve your goals!
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