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Thursday, September 16, 2010

Your Dinner Plate.

Does your plate look like this, when it's filled?

This is a good example of a healthy plate for anyone who is trying to maintain their current weight, or even take off a few pounds. A healthy portioned plate includes:

-1/2 filled with fruits and veggies. Salad, or green beans, steamed broccoli, a potato the size of a computer mouse. One serving of fruits and veggies is about the size of a baseball.

-1/4 of the plate should be filled with whole grains. Did you know that the serving size of a pancake is about the size of a CD. The same goes for spaghetti noodles. That doesn't mean you can only have one pancake. You can always have more, but that is the size of one serving, and you always want to be aware of what and how much you are eating.

-1/4 or less of the plate can be filled with lean protein. One serving of protein is about the size of a deck of cards and is 2-3 ounces. That is something to think about the next time you are at a steak house and are deep into polishing off a 12 ounce rib eye. It's about 4 servings of protein at one meal, and there is still the rest of the day to account for, so remember to balance it out. Dairy products, beans, eggs, fish and nut butters all count for protein too.

You can always help your self to seconds. Just remember, you don't have to eat all of the food today, or even at this sitting. It will still be there tomorrow. It takes over 20 minutes for your brain to realize you are full. So make the healthy choice and eat slowly, don't overfill yourself and your plate and leave a little for tomorrow.

If you might need help cutting back, try a smaller plate, like a salad plate. Just don't go vertical when you fill it! Read about the Popcorn Study for more insight into why we are conditioned to stop eating when the food is gone, and not when we are sated.

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