By Paul Arnold
Fool your stomach and your eyes
This is actually a very good way of losing weight utilizing a easy to use system. Put quite simply it is nothing more than portion control. We live in a world of the Super size, so instead of using the oversized mugs and plates, which are becoming standard these days, you can use smaller mugs and plates. This will help greatly in optimizing portion control and ultimately will help you control your food portions.
Our eyes control most of our appetites, so by fooling your eyes into believing that you have more food on your plate than you really do, you can go a long way to helping yourself control your weight.
Although you know logically that you are fooling your stomach through your eyes, we have been so conditioned to these little signs and signals (such as stopping only when our plate is completely empty), throughout our lifetime, that we tend to respond to them automatically.
It is only a very few cases that you will find these little tricks do not work, and in these cases you will need to exert more control over yourself to stop from overeating, but you will still find that these little tricks can help you.
And all of the methods that I have mentioned below work along those lines, and are quite easy for you to incorporate into your busy lifestyle as the most effort you will need to put into it will be to get a few plates and mugs.
Use smaller plates and tall thin glasses
Using smaller plates, thinner glasses, and smaller mugs will also help you if you are used to clearing the food off your plate regularly.
And the best thing about this is the psychological impact that it has on you. Because you are still clearing the plate off of whatever food you are putting on it, you won't necessarily feel any difference in fullness, as most times an empty plate has become a signal to your stomach that it is full.
Portions count – get the correct portion size
It doesn't really matter whether you keep your old oversized plates and mugs or whether you exchange them for something smaller. All that really matters is that you keep your portion sizes under control.
And if you can't do that through tricking your eyes into fooling your stomach, then you will have to do that through normal means, and this will mean that you need to exert some will power.
The key to doing this properly though, is to know your portion sizes. If you don't know what size portion of pasta you can eat in one sitting, or how much butter you should really use at one time, or even how much a proper portion of cereal is, you will go over the limit – even with small plates and glasses.
On my part, I like to have my coffee out of oversized mugs so I have therefore learnt to take only half of the mug as my quota. This works for me, and fits in nicely with my portion sizing.
For things such as juice, which is good for you but which, in excess, can be bad for you, I have learned to take half of a small tumbler at one setting.
It was difficult at first, getting used to having only half of any liquid in my mug or glass at any one time, but it does work and you do get used to it.
To get correct portion sizes for foods and things, I consulted with my doctor to find out exactly what constituted as a portion for different foods, and was able to resolve that little matter as well.
Since food is the bane of my life, I stay away from large plates and dishes and instead use small, light coloured plates. In this way, I can better stay on the portion sizes which I know are right for me.
But what about when you go out to a restaurant? What happens then? Do you just throw your portion resolutions out the window and settle in for a good chow-down?
Not really. You need to realize that you can't order a small portion of steak from a restaurant; instead you will need to take what comes and eat only the correct sized portion, leaving the rest.
If you want you can have it bagged to take home, or if it makes you feel better, share with your companion. As long as you stay away from stuffing yourself silly, you will find that even going to a restaurant is not a problem.
www.womensweightloss.org is a online diet information site covering Portion Control and general Diet Tips
Source:www.isnare.com |
