How is Portion Control & Weight Control Related?
One of the most important aspects of controlling your weight is the portion size you use. There is quite a bit of research out there that suggests that people eat what is put in front of them, either from being conditioned in their formative years to clean their plate and not to waste food, or for another psychological reason, but the fact is, that humans seem to have forgotten that they have the ability to eat until they are no longer hungry and then stop. This is why portion control is so important when it comes to losing weight or just maintaining a healthy weight.
It takes roughly twenty minutes for food to reach our stomachs after we put it in our mouths and swallow it. The fact that many people choose to eat much more quickly than that means that by the time that the first portion of the food actually reaches the stomach, the meal is over, and those that are overweight often eat much more than their body was hungry for or required, which makes them feel stuffed and often sleepy. Eating more slowly can certainly help weight loss efforts, but more importantly is to control the portion in the first place.
How to Know the Right Portion Size
There are a couple of ways that you can just the appropriate portion size. The first is a very general way to determine portion sizes for different types of food. As a general rule, your serving of meat should be about the size of your palm, unless you have particularly large hands. This include both meat and poultry as well as fish. Generally, this portion size translates to about three ounces.