Are you struggling with eating too much? Learn how to better control your portion

I can tell you straight up - eating the right amount of food is hard. The human body is designed to store energy since our ancestors’ hunting and scavenging era! The good news are - you are not the only one struggling and there are ways to manage it.

Our perception of quantity is shaped by external factors that are not always in line with how much our body needs. There are many reasons why we struggle with eating the right amount of food:

• I want my money worth the quantity of food when I eat out;
• I don’t want to waste food;
• There is too much information out there to tell me what and how much to eat;
• Food is everywhere nowadays;
• Skipped lunch and I am hungry…
• And the list goes on…

These are all legitimate reasons why we eat more than we need. It is important to be aware of these reasons before developing effective strategies to eat the right amount. Ask yourself this question when you are full, “What is it that makes me want to eat more?” Once you find out the WHY, the HOW will become easier to manage.

Now, if we take a step back, you may ask, “How do I know how much to eat?”

You may already know this - everyone’s requirement is different. It is based on your body weight, height, age, sex and activity level. Fortunately, there are guidelines to recommend how much an average healthy individual needs in a day.

Here I have put together three methods to give a general idea of portion size per meal. All methods give similar amount of food per meal so you can compare which one works best for you! It is important to eat 3 meals and include 2-3 snacks (maybe another post?) between meals to keep you going throughout the day.

1. The Plate Method

The easiest way to remember and without measuring your food would be following the plate method at each meal.

• Start by using an 8-inch diameter plate (about a stretch of your hand between the tips of your pinky and thumb)

• Fill half the plate with vegetables (mix & match, be creative!)
• Fill one quarter with grain products (brown rice, whole wheat pasta, quinoa, 1-2 slices whole grain bread)
• Fill one quarter with meat and alternatives (lean meat, poultry, fish, lentils, beans, tofu)
• Include one cup (250ml) of milk/fortified soy milk or ¾ cup of yogurt
• Include a fruit of your choice

2. The Hand-y Guide

This method uses your hand to ballpark the amounts for each food group. I find this a bit tricky to use because different hand-portion sizes correspond to different amounts depending on the food group. Here I have simplified in general how a meal would look like using hand-portions.

• Choose vegetables equivalent to the amount of two fist-size.
• Choose meat/poultry/fish with the size of your palm. In case of lentils or beans, use a fist-size amount.
• Choose an amount of grain equivalent to the size of your fist. For bread or pita, you can use the size of your hand and double it (ie two palm-size breads, which usually is equivalent to two slices of bread)
• Include one cup (250ml) of milk/fortified soy milk or ¾ cup of yogurt
• Again, pick a fruit of your choice

3. Food Guide portions

Last but not least is counting serving sizes according to food guide recommendations (Follow this link to the full food guide for how much you need per day). It requires a bit more measuring, counting and possibly unit conversion (I don’t want to discourage you from using this method though!). This method is not necessarily better than the former two, but it is good practice to visualize a serving size.This is approximately how much is recommended per meal:

Food groups	Number of servings/meal	How much is ONE serving?	Example of a meal (also include a fruit)
Vegetables	2	1 cup (250ml) vegetables	2 cups vegetable stir fry
Grain products	2	½ cup rice/pasta/quinoa; 1 slice of bread	1 cup steamed brown rice
Milk & alternatives	1	1 cup of milk/fortified soy milk; ¾ cup yogurt	1 cup of milk
Meat & alternatives	1	75g(~3oz) meat/poultry/fish; ¾ cup (175ml) beans/lentils; 2 eggs	Grilled/baked chicken breast

*Remember this only accounts for a meal, you need to add snacks!

Tips:

• If you have a bigger appetite, try an extra snack or a slightly larger portion.
• When you eat out, portion sizes are usually large. Pack away leftovers to make a great lunch.
• Practice by measuring food out for a few times. You will get the hang of it and be able to estimate by eyeballing later.
• Try portion control for one of your meals then progress to all three meals. Small steps count!

One last thing I want to say is that meal planning and portion control require effort and time. It could be challenging but it is doable. Working on the psychology around food is important to figure out your goals in healthy eating.