Are your eyes bigger than your stomach?

February 20

Have you ever heard the expression that your eyes were bigger than your stomach?  It took me a long time to understand the importance of getting my eyes and stomach on the same measurement system. My journey with ww has definitely taught me that portion control allows me to experience success with foods of my choice! 

My classroom students began cooking this week.  They were so excited! While they anticipated the eating part of the food lab we began with the basics of measuring. I have four kitchens in my classroom so I am all over the place.  Each class is 90 minutes so we have plenty of time to prepare, bake, eat, and clean up.  Each segment of the class creates its own hassles and issues!  The day before we cook I do a walk through of all of the tasks, how to prepare their recipe, and place the exact pieces of equipment on the kitchen counter for them to use.  However, it never fails someone will reach into a silverware drawer to retrieve a teaspoon to measure with.  After my coming apart, we review correct measurements once again.  In the back of my head I know their moms and grandmoms can pour a teaspoon of something into the palms of their hand because I am the child of a fabulous cook who measures a cup with an old green milkglass coffee cup!  But it is my job as their teacher to teach correct measurement techniques to insure success.  To prevent arguments over servings, portions are controlled by preparing their food item based on the number of students present.  The goal is for their kitchen group to prepare a successful product and enjoy being in the kitchen!

As a side note…the first day we cooked, when I left school I had over 10,000 steps on my pedometer with 12 batches of chocolate chip cookies with no two looking the same! (I never eat with them!) Exhausting!

It is just as important to practice good measuring techniques when serving our food as we do in preparing our food. Controlling portions takes practice, visual cues, and sometimes tricks of the trade.  Since I was a member of the childhood “Clean Your Plate Club”, my eyes would measure portions onto the plate that was way more than I needed. So now, I often serve from the stove rather than serving from the table, I do leftover plates first, serve with my ww MeasureRite spoons, and I eat from a salad plate with a salad fork. Portion control allows me to eat right and be successful.

Share with us your successful tips on controlling your portions.

Check out this video from the Mayo Clinic to learn some great visual cues.

  http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/portion-control/NU00267