Benefits of Portion Control

Overweight, obesity, and the chronic disease conditions they bring are serious health concerns around the world. In the past we have often blamed certain molecules for the problem, such as fats, or carbohydrates, or sugars.

So solve this problem, we were coached that X% of the food you put in your mouth should be carbs, Y% should fats, and Z% should be made up of proteins. And it seems like every year someone had a new diet with a different ratio they wanted you to calculate for your meal.

This is so confusing!

Who can do that in the course of a crazy busy life? Who WOULD do it? Many people gave it a go, but zero people can live like that for long. And certainly no healthy culture around the planet micromanages molecules like this.

So maybe the real culprit is far easier simpler to understand.

Over the past 30 years overall calorie consumption has increased. One reason for this that, since the 1960s, portion sizes and even the size dinner plates themselves have increased each decade. With increasing volumes, obviously those higher volumes came with higher calories.

Maybe the real culprit is simply overconsumption? Maybe eating too much can lead to the excess calories that turn into excess weight?

This month will focus on reversing the overconsumption trend for your long term health. Here are some of the principles we’ll cover.

• When you eat in control, the amount of food your body consumes becomes self-limiting. So instead of gobbling your food, take your time with it.
• Food choice matters too. Higher quality foods leads to lower quantity consumption.
• Real foods naturally have no additive sugars and more fiber in them. This combination leads to greater satisfaction at the meal and therefore controlled consumption.
• By contrast, processed food products have less nutrients, natural fats, and fiber, which leaves you hungry for more. So you get less nutrition and more calories in the process!
• By controlling the quality of the food you eat, and the amount you consume of it, in the end you will be able to eat all you want, but just want less.