Mindful Eats

Food Portions and Serving Sizes

 Peppers at a Green Bay Farmer's Market ©Michelle Correa Photography

Your body is the baggage you must carry through life. The more excess the baggage, the shorter the trip. ~Arnold H. Glasgow

I have a colleague that's frustrated with her diet. She started eating healthier, but she still wants to lose 10 pounds. Sometimes that happens. Getting rid of processed foods is a fabulous start for losing weight, but you still need to be mindful of how much food you're eating. Learning serving sizes will also help you keep a better food log, which is key to weight loss.

American portions keep getting supersized. You can blow a whole day's worth of calories on a restaurant meal. If you want to lose weight, you need to know what a proper serving looks like, so check out the MindfulEats Food Portion Chart below (based on this SparkPeople article). It's shocking how much smaller a portion should be than what we're used to.

Just so you know - a serving is the amount that food experts recommend you eat, and a portion is what you actually eat. For example, experts recommend that you eat 6-11 servings of grains per day. So if you don't snack on grains, you may want to eat two servings per meal.

MindfulEats Food Portion Chart

 
 

American PLATES are also getting bigger, which sneaks in more calories. Use a smaller luncheon size plate (9"-10") for your dinner, and fill it with 1/2 veggies, 1/4 whole grains and 1/4 protein. If you need a visual reminder, you can buy a portion-control plate here, or one of the more stylish plates featured on the Today Show.

What to do - Lose Weight through Proper Portions

1. Memorize serving sizes. Or print out the above chart, cut it out, and put it in your wallet for easy referral.
2. Pack away your dinner plates and only use luncheon plates (9"-10"). Make sure your plate is filled with 50% veggie/fruit, 25% whole grains, and 25% protein.
3. Stick to recommended serving sizes. It's great you're eating healthier, but that doesn't mean you can eat massive amounts!
4. Throw away extra food, or wrap it up for later. We're giving you permission not to clean your plates. You didn't ask for that huge portion, did you? Eat a healthy portion and leave the rest, or have it wrapped. You're also probably getting a lot of cookies, chocolates and sweets for the holidays. We give you permission to eat one and throw the rest away (don't worry, they'll never know).
5. Look at what 300-450 calorie meals look like.
6. Check out the Cool Resources page for more ideas.

Want to learn more?

• SparkPeople article on Portion Sizes and Serving Sizes
• Web MD's Portion Tool and Simple Secrets to Portion Control and Healthy Eating
• How to Lose Weight

What I ate: (horrible day of holiday parties) 1/2 c. couscous, 1 small potato pancake, lox, smoked trout, food, mixed nuts, 1 slice ham, shrimp cocktail, lots of cheese and crackers, 1 small crab cake, carrots + hummus, whole wheat spaghetti + egg + spinach, 1 hot chocolate, water

Exercise: 15 min stationary bike, weights

Holiday Eating

Strength is the ability to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands- and then eat just one of those pieces. ~Judith Viorst

The holidays are upon us! It's the time of thankfulness, good times, family and friends. It may be the best time of the year, but it's also the fattest time of the year. Food and drink entice you at every gathering, and even at work. Resist! Shedding the pounds gets harder and harder. It's possible to eat, drink and be merry without turning into a butterball.

Since there is such a focus on the "perfect holiday", this time can also be the loneliest, or most stressful time of year. All that stress can cause the most mindful eater to self-medicate with food or alcohol. For those of you that are putting pressure on yourselves to have picture-perfect holidays, relax. The most perfect holidays are the ones where you connect with people and have fun. Running around being a stressball will only dampen your enjoyment and those around you. For those of you that have recently gotten bad news, lost a loved one, or feel bereft of family or friends, you're not alone. Many people feel alone, and remember, these times will change. MindfulEats loves you.

If you usually gain a little weight during the holidays, try these tips:

What to do - Holiday Plan

1. Plan your party strategy. Don't get caught off guard! Know where the food and drink will be, starting with Thanksgiving. Pick the 3-4 events of the season that you want to indulge the most in (you probably don't want to pick the popcorn tin at the office). Be aware of the food that you don't want to indulge in, and partake in it very modestly.
2. Visualize the food and drink at the celebrations you want to indulge in. Use this celebration eating strategy. Eat just a little of what you like, and moderate amounts of what you love. Thoroughly enjoy all of it. Does the second piece of cake really taste that much better than the first?
3. Keep a food log. Recording every bite is THE most effective way to avoid excess calories.
4. Exercise. Get moving with family and friends. Play basketball, go for a hike, or participate in a Turkey Trot. Or, shamelessly take some time for yourself and exercise before the eating starts.
5. Take care of yourself. If you feel sad or stressed, do something you like. Have a cup of tea in your favorite place or watch a movie. Connect with someone. Volunteering during the holidays is often needed - try the food bank or community center.
6. Get rid of your expectations. You don't need to have a Thanksgiving dinner that looks like a magazine meal or tantrum-free kids that behave perfectly. Just take the moments as they come and enjoy. Here's a NYT article on what not to do.

Have a great Thanksgiving!  

What I ate: Brown Cow Cream top yogurt + 1 tbsp Sarabeth's jam + ground flaxseeds + cereal, 12 oz. skim cafe au lait, macadamia nuts, dried mango slices, saag paneer + quinoa, 3 squares dark chocolate, dried apricots, Gala apple, Barbara's Bakery shredded oats cereal + milk, hot chocolate, 45 oz. water

Exercise: 17 minutes stationary bike, 30 minutes lifting

Recovering from a Celebration

Summer bounty - load up on strawberries, blueberries, cherries, pluots and nectarines

Our greatest glory consist not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. ~Oliver Goldsmith

This weekend I fell off the path of mindful eating into a frenzy of gluttony. I blame July 4th since it's a happy summer celebration of sun, barbecues, and fireworks. I was fortunate to celebrate it at a mini-family reunion, but I consumed far, far more calories than I expended. It happens. (ok, it was my fault). Beat yourself up a little bit, learn some lessons, then swiftly move on to celebration recovery.

But first, let's answer the question that some of you are asking: is it possible to truly celebrate without overdoing it? YES -it is possible to have fun and enjoy yourself without gorging yourself and feeling terrible later. Now that we got that out of the way -

People like to celebrate with an abundance of the richest food and drink they can find. Historically, this made sense - food used to be limited in both variety and quantity so most meals consisted of the same old thing - like cabbage soup. A celebration was a chance to eat different foods (like meat) that provided a caloric and nutritional boost. However, we now live in a time where we get more than enough calories, so celebrating the traditional way just makes us fat.

But we still show our love for each other with fat food and sugar, and my family is no exception. I usually try to celebrate mindfully, but this time I only partially succeeded. Three days of gluttony left me lying on the floor Sunday morning lamenting how much I'd eaten. It's best to avoid excessive indulgence, but if you overdo it, it's not the end of the world. You can recover! Here's how:

What to do - Celebration Recovery

1. Have a game plan going into the celebration of what you're going to eat and drink. The best defense is a good offense. But if you didn't do that, read the next few steps carefully.
2. Plan exercise time. You'll never do it otherwise. Round people up for activities before the celebration even starts - schedule flag football games, runs, bike rides, hikes, etc. I found a July 4th race, and for those of us that participated, it was a great bonding experience and a funny future memory.
3. Hydrate. Drink a lot of water. It will keep you feeling fuller so you won't be able to eat as much as you normally could.
4. Indulge in fruit and salad first. Go nuts. It'll do the same thing as hydrating. 
5. Chew sugarless gum. You can't eat and chew at the same time.
6. Slow your roll. After the first couple days of gluttony, take a good look at yourself in the mirror in your swim suit. It might prompt you to slow down the caloric intake.
7. Dive back into your routine after the celebration. It's tempting to ease back into being mindful tomorrow, but jump right back in as soon as the party's over. Make sure you exercise, and lighten up on the food more than usual to compensate for the overindulgence. 
8. Figure out what you would do differently next time. Go ahead and feel guilty, but then move on.   

You're human - you'll overindulge at times. Just be mindful and aim to make the time between overindulgences longer, and the actual celebrations increasingly less indulgent. You'll find you can have just as much fun, and you won't have to feel quite as slovenly and remorseful.

And don't forget what you're celebrating! Independence Day is earmarked to remember those that gave birth to the U.S., and those that keep it free. You can celebrate every day though! Click and remember our www.iraqwarheroes.com today.

What I ate (Fourth of July - two gross days in a row, yuk!): 1/2 Krispy Kreme, 1 banana, blueberries, cherries, strawberries, scrambled eggs, 1 smallish bag Cheetos, 1 chocolate chip granola bar, small Baskin-Robbins Cookies & Cream ice cream, coffee, fruit salad (picture up top), mango + avocado salad, grilled salmon, rice noodles, broccoli salad, 2 ears corn, 1/4 strawberry cake, 1 smore, 1 Sweettart, 1 Tootsie Roll

Exercise: Ran 8K

Key to Losing Weight: Portion Control or Exercise?

Want to lose weight? Watch your portions (they don't need to be this little)

If you wish to grow thinner, diminish your dinner.~Henry Sambrooke Leigh

I recently had two similar conversations with friends about losing weight. One is a doctor and the other is a portfolio manager, so they're both pretty bright, but they have the same misconception about weight loss. You're smarter than that! The conversations went something like this: 

Smart Friend: "I don't get it. I've been exercising 4-5 times a week for a couple months now, for an hour at a time, and I've only lost a few pounds. I'm going to give up."

MindfulEats: "Are you watching what you eat and cutting back on your calories?"

Smart Friend: "No, I'm hungry since I'm exercising. I can't practice portion control."

You, Mindful Eater, know what's wrong with this story. There's only one rule to successful weight loss - reduce your calories. Here are four keys to be mindful of for success.

1. Eat only whole foods, not processed food! You're cutting back on your calories, so get your calories worth and make sure they are as nutritious as possible. Processed foods have been stripped of nutrients, so your body will make you eat more calories in its hunt for nutrients.
2. Get your portions under control. If you want to lose weight, you need to make a change and this is the only way to reduce your calories. If you are having meat with your meal, it should be the size of a deck of cards. Lots of people (including me) don't know what a portion looks like - WebMD has a great tool that shows you food portion sizes, and these Spark People pictures show you what 300-400 calorie meals look like.
3. Cut down on eating out. When you do eat out, make sure that it's high-quality and you're mindful about it. Restaurants are in the business of making you come back, not making you healthy. I had the good fortune of eating at Blue Hill and Waverly Inn this week. Both restaurants are incredible and very mindful about serving high-quality, locally grown food, but it's still a ton more calories than what I'd eat at home. I ordered an appetizer and an entree at one meal, and the svelte gentleman next to me ordered two appetizers. Doh. Given how huge restaurant portions are, that's the way to go! I had to scale back on my calories for a few days to make up for consuming thousands out.
4. Exercise. It's important for fitness and will complement your weight loss. But unless you are a sub-elite athlete or better, you are probably not exercising enough to lose weight so you need to eat less. Running phenom Kevin Starkes watches what he eats until he's in high-mileage training (60+ miles per week). Are you doing that?

People always argue that they can just exercise to lose weight. Just as an example of why this doesn't work, I'll use someone whose diet and exercise patterns I know well (me). My goal is to lose a few pounds to get to my optimal running weight. So:

• I figure out the number of calories I need to maintain my weight: ~1,760.
• My goal is to lose 3 lbs in a healthy way, so I reset the calculator goal to lose 1 lb a week, and it tells me to cut back 500 calories a day to ~1,260. Can I exercise this off? Well:

• If I run a fast race for 4 miles where my legs are churning, my arms are pumping, and my heart is pounding, I run around a 7:30 miles. This means I burn 328 calories (2 chocolate chip cookies). No dice - and I don't race every day either. If I run a little slower (8:30 minute miles) for the same amount of time, I only burn 280 calories. (less than cookies!)
• If I run long and slow (10 minute miles), it will take me 1+ hours to burn 500 calories. Funny thing is that people who run long and slow tend to eat more.
• I can run it off, but it'll take me 1+ hour/day, EVERY day.  

To lose weight efficiently - cut calories and exercise. And don't eat those calories back because you're exercising! Those people on the Biggest Loser do it, so can you! 

What I ate: vegetable juice, Whole Foods low-fat plain yogurt + strawberries + ground flaxseeds, large latte, Dale & Thomas cheese popcorn, Mindful Mix, 2 cups cherries, 1 square dark chocolate, lettuce + sugar snap peas + grape tomatoes + goat cheese + 1 fried egg + Schoolhouse Kitchen Balsamico vinaigrette, 1 hot chocolate, 12 oz. kombucha, 60 oz. water

Exercise: Ran 4 miles, 75 min. vinyasa yoga

Greenmarket Tour and Taste with Michael Anthony

Michael Anthony of Gramercy Tavern in the Union Square Greenmarket, NYC, 6/5/09

"Be the change you want to see in the world." ~Mahatma Gandhi

Inspired. Delighted. Grateful. That's how I felt after spending a Saturday afternoon with Chef Michael Anthony, courtesy of the Council on the Environment of NYC (CENYC)'s Taste and Tours Program. I ended up on the tour randomly, and it ended up being one of my top 10 experiences. Ever. 

Michael is the Executive Chef of Gramercy Tavern, one of the best U.S. restaurants (awarded James Beard 2008 Outstanding Restaurant and consistently ranked by Zagats as NYC's most popular restaurant, among other honors). He is undisputedly a star chef. Yet, yet, YET, he spent an afternoon providing a tour of Union Square Greenmarket followed by an amazing lunch of locally sourced food to a motley group of 20 (including me). Accompanying him were Marcel Van Ooyen, Executive Director of CENYC and Arun Gupta, a line chef at Gramercy.

I was hooked the moment Michael started talking. This low-key chef has a clear vision of how food should fit in our lives. From the start, he had us all seeing his vision, but the surprise was that we were living it by the end. He started the tour by telling us he was going to highlight some of his favorite farmers, talk about how we could maximize the bounty we bought at market, and then finish at Gramercy Tavern to look at the kitchen and dine in the private dining room on a 4-course lunch prepared from market foods (and paired with local wines). I congratulated myself on hitting the jackpot.

The Greenmarket

Michael's passion and knowledge of responsibly farmed, local food is contagious. I learned so much that market specifics are in this post. Michael talks the talk AND he walks the walk. He walked us through the market, feeding us tidbits on the rich soil west of the Hudson River ("black gold") and the length of strawberry season, finding us garlic scapes to try, and pointing out the pasture-fed Angus farmer's son, who had recently come back from his tours in Iraq. He introduced us to farmers and had them teach us about the food they were growing.

Locally grown food is more than nourishment to him. It provides a sense of context and connection. As we looked at strawberries, he observed that out-of-season produce bought in grocery stores and imported from other areas "doesn't taste the same and doesn't feel the same." Michael spent his early time as a chef in Japan, and was deeply moved by the connection the Japanese had to their locally grown foods and the anticipation people had for the seasonal offerings. We learned that Gramercy Tavern takes meticulous daily notes on the market's offerings, and that strawberries came in 3 weeks later this year as opposed to last year when they arrived on May 2nd.

Is Frozen Yogurt - Pinkberry and Red Mango - Healthy?

"What is Pinkberry anyway?" ~Brandi

Summer. The days get longer and lazier, and temperatures rise. Hot food becomes unappetizing, and thoughts turn to... frozen yogurt! The Pinkberry/ Red Mango/ Yolato trend of the last few years is reminiscent of the TCBY craze in the 90's. What's better than a frozen, tangy treat to relieve the heat? And what if it's good for you on top of being low-calorie? We succumbed to this trend hook, line and sinker a couple years ago, even subbing it in as a meal replacement. When we started going to Pinkberry, they didn't have the ingredients listed - it was a secret. And the store sign said it was only 25 calories. We wanted to believe. The fun boppy music and colorful interiors had us in their thrall. (It's actually 25 calories an ounce, duh, which makes a small serving 150 calories.) 

After a while, we couldn't force ourselves to believe in this alternate reality of fro-yo bliss anymore. Pinkberry was being sued (they settled and paid into a fund for nutritional education), and nutritional information was much more forthcoming. So, we looked at the ingredients labels. You can too - it's on all the websites. Bummer. All the plain flavors have over 12 ingredients, and sugar is a top ingredient. Red Mango has the lowest number of ingredients (12), and Pinkberry (20+ ingredients) has the most sugar. Just for kicks, compare it to the Whole Foods plain yogurt. Five ingredients - none of which are sugar. Why are there so many ingredients in frozen yogurt? To improve mouth feel and texture. (If you're improving mouth feel and texture, it's processed food). We think the texture of regular yogurt is just fine, thank you.

We're not saying you can't have frozen yogurt, but have it as a treat (and definitely not as a meal). It can be refreshing, and combined with nuts and fruit, it can be a healthier alternative than other desserts.

 

Bottom Line: You can spend your calories better elsewhere than on this processed food. Moderate your intake of commercial fro-yo. If you want a yogurty treat, check out these alternatives:

Eating Out Makes You Fat and Unhealthy

Rich Risotto 

"More die in the United States of too much food than too little." - 

John Kenneth Galbraith

Whenever you indulge in a restaurant meal or take-out/delivery, you should have a great time - enjoy the company that you're with, savor your food, and relish the convenience. However, eating out should be a treat - not a regular occurrence. Unless you are getting your food at a health food restaurant.

Restaurant food makes you fat and unhealthy. (Sorry sweetie, we hate to break the bad news to you.) In case you were wondering, the vast majority of restaurants have a goal of making money. Their goal is not to provide you with healthy food that lowers your cholesterol and makes you thin. They want you to come back regularly, so the food is loaded with things that taste good - fat. Often in the forms of oil, butter, lard and cream. You wouldn't (shouldn't!) cook like this at home. Even salads are chock-a-block full of calories.

 

Again, the goal is to make money, so most restaurants are not serving high-quality food. They are trying to make a profit to pay all the servers and cooks, so you are not going to find naturally-fed heirloom meats, wild-caught fish or organic vegetables. You will end up eating industrially bred and raised food (lots of hormones, antibiotics and pesticides). If a restaurant does serve high-quality food, they will make it very clear on the menu, and you should patronize that restaurant (though it will still make you fat).

Here's a little sampling of healthy-sounding restaurant meals and their calories, fat and sodium levels:

Love Yourself - Exercise and Eat Well

Mindful Eats Loves You from Panama City Beach, FL

"Passion makes the world go round. Love just makes it a safer place." - Ice T

Happy Valentine's Day Cutie!

Whether you love this Hallmark holiday or you hate it, whether you're celebrating with a significant other, your friends, or yourself, Mindful Eats thinks you should take the time to love yourself. Because you rock! And you can't be good to other people unless you're good to you first. So take some time tomorrow to treat your body to exercise. It's even better if you can go with your loved one(s) - there's nothing better than cranking up your heart rate with your valentine. It's good for your bodies, AND it's good for your hearts. Awww. I'm going to treat myself to a long run on the beach followed by a swim in the ocean.

If you're having a special dinner, order tasty and light - you don't want to eat yourself into a coma. It's okay to leave some on the plate. You can take it home and savor it later, with fond memories of the evening. If you are presenting your valentine (or yourself) with chocolate, go for quantity over quality. Mariebelle, Vosges, Jacque Torres and other specialty chocolatiers have such beautiful chocolates, you can gift just two or four special pieces. No need to do a huge box! If you do end up with a big box, eat it over the next month or share it. Bring it into work or your religious organization, or gift it to the Senior Center or Homeless Shelter.

Take care of yourself. Mindful Eats loves you! 

PS - if you want to see a great movie on l-o-v-e, watch Slumdog Millionaire.

What I ate: (not great, but it's a travel day) 1 clementine, 2 bananas, 1 apple, grande skim latte, 2.5 oz. almonds, 1 bag peanut/nut airplane mix, 1/2 c. white rice, 1/3 c. noodles, 1 c. sauteed green beans, broccoli, 1 c. shell peanuts, 1/2 c. pistachios, 4 pieces of my aunt's almond brittle, ramen noodles + spinach, 1/2 c. blueberries, 1 c. tea,  50 oz. water

Exercise: None

Eating While Traveling Doesn't Have to be a Disaster

American Road Trip, Kristen Gill Photography, www.kristengill.com

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” - St. Augustine

Something about leaving town makes me feel a little more free. It doesn't matter if it's vacation or business - being slightly outside the everyday structure is exciting, and that extends to food as well. I grew up on the great American road trip, which meant unfettered amounts of junk food in the car, and lots of fast food on the way. Then there are airports - a mecca of trashy food and trashy magazines. Staying healthy while traveling is tough. To me, there's almost something Pavlovian about travel and bad food - it's a strong urge to moderate. But I did it, and you can too.

The key to healthy eating while traveling is to plan mindfully. You know that 1) you won't know all the eateries, 2) there are going to be Bacchanalian meals, 3) you will have to snack and 4) there will be unforeseen events. So plan for them, and you can feel great while you are away, and guilt-free when you come back.

You Can Eat Mindfully during Celebrations

"To be prepared is half the victory."

 

I grew up in Western Pennsylvania, so the Steelers are in my soul. As a kid, my tube socks were gold and black.  I fully expect the Steelers to make NFL history with six trophies. But I have heart for Arizona too. The head coach, Ken Whisenhunt was the long-time offensive coach for the Steelers, and he's done an amazing job in this two short years with the Cardinals.

So today is a big day for me. I'm spending it with Steeler Nation in Hoboken, which means eating bar food. And before that I'm meeting my friend Bill for Chinese food to celebrate the lunar new year. This is not a recipe for healthy eating. What am I going to do?