Remember when you first started cooking and your mother said, “just eyeball it?”
Well, mom, grab a tablespoon, or, better yet, your hand, because when it comes to eating it should not be the eye that is doing the measuring.
Hardie Frankel, nutrition supervisor for the Mississippi Department of Health in Greenwood, said the most important tool for portion control was using your hand as a measuring tool.
“Each person’s hand is different, some are a little smaller or bigger than others but it is a general guide for how big the person is,” Frankel said.
She asked each of the participants at Tuesday night’s health workshop sponsored by the Business and Professional Women’s organization of Greenwood to hold up their hand to see the different ways to measure.
“A piece of meat should be the thickness of your hand at the skinniest point near your pinky,” Frankel said. “And one serving of milk is when you hold your hand in a ‘thumbs up’ position with your thumb up but slightly resting on the other fingers.”
Portion size goes hand-in-hand with obesity rates she said. As consumers demand more bang for their buck, everyone from our moms to the food industry has stepped up to the plate and filled it to the brim.
Frankel brought a nine-inch plate to the workshop, where she discussed the proper way to fill it - but not your everyday dinner plate.
“Plates have gotten bigger,” Frankel said. “If you have your grandmother’s old plates or nice china in the back of a cabinet, treat yourself and eat off that because it is the proper size.”
Dividing the plate into three sections, Frankel recommends that one-fourth of the plate should include the meat portion, one fourth the starchy carbohydrates and the last half items from the other food groups, such as leafy greens and fruit.
Filling the plate is another time your hand will come in - well - handy.
If you don’t have a nine-inch plate to measure with, the meat portion should be the size of your palm.
This means, the men in the house are likely to have bigger portions than the woman at meals and children should be eating even less.
Using correct portion sizes is also more economical because you will be buying less of the more expensive food groups such as meat.
For side items, each serving is about one fist size.
When it comes to extras to pump up the flavor of the side dishes, you should use the rule of thumb.
“I enjoy a baked potato with my meal but I might want some margarine,” Frankel said. “A slice should be the thickness of the tip of your thumb because it is about one teaspoon.”
When using this type of portioning, you can enjoy a treat here and there because this is not a restrictive diet.
“We are lifestyle enhancers,” Frankel said. “After a while it will become a habit and not a change.”
When you clean this newly balanced plate, feel free to give yourself one last hand.
Hardie Frankel has worked as a dietician since the early 1980s.
For more information about enhance your life, visit www. healthyms.com.
