How To Tell If You Have the Right Proportions
When you are dealing with obesity or diabetes there are many situations where you will need to decide what you eat and how much you eat. This is a normal situation for many people. In fact, all Americans are encouraged to eat better than they do because obesity is a growing problem.
In most cases the challenge is that people like to eat on the go, which means they usually make bad food choices. These choices usually include packaged and processed foods or fast food. Although the U.S. Government came out with guidelines for eating with the food Pyramid, many people ignore the suggestions and say they do not have the time.
When you have diabetes or pre-diabetes you will probably have a doctor that will give you an idea of what you need to do to keep your weight within certain boundaries. They should discuss with you a food plan that will help you keep your weight under control.
Your best bet is to listen to them and follow their instructions. Also try to have a good attitude about the situation. Instead of thinking you will need to limit yourself on certain things, think of it as an opportunity to try new things. There will be foods within your world that you may not have tried before; now is your chance to try them.
Sometimes the challenge for people is that they are not exactly sure what a certain portion looks like so they struggle with whether they are over eating or eating the correct portion. Here are some visual ways to think about your portion sizes according to the American Diabetes Association:
Think of a tennis ball and you will know what a ” cup of canned fruit, vegetables or potatoes look like when on your plate. If you think of a the size of the average adult’s palm of their hand or the size of a deck of cards you will “see” what 3 ounces of meat, chicken or fish looks like. The size of your thumb tells you what a one ounce serving of cheese looks like. The tip of your thumb is the approximate amount of 1 teaspoon of oil.
If this is still confusing, there is another way to tell your portions that we discovered. It is a portion template that you can place on your plate that already measures your portions for you.
