A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that women who shrank their portions by 25 percent slashed 250 calories a day—enough to help them lose a half-pound a week—and still felt full. Ready to downsize? Here are some easy ways to get started:

Trim your trigger foods

Most people typically overeat two or three favorite foods—usually pastas, breads, snacks, or sweets. The best way to get past this is to get to know the recommended serving sizes for your favorites, and stick to them as closely as you can. A serving of fish
(3 ounces) should be the size of a checkbook, a serving of steak should look like a deck of cards, and a potato serving should be no bigger than a computer mouse! I don’t know about you, but I have definitely been eating too much at mealtime!

See less, eat less

We have a tendency to eat whatever food is in front of us. I know this because when I am seated in front of the chip bowl at a party it is bad news for my waistline! The trick is to avoid seeing more food than you want to eat. Serve your meal and then immediately put the leftovers away. You can always have seconds of salad or fruit if you are still hungry – but the spaghetti is no longer an option!

You can tweak this approach for snacks. Place a small amount of pretzels in a bowl instead of grazing from bags or boxes. And freeze tempting treats like brownies. They won’t call out from the cupboard.

Shrink your plates

Most people have heard this advice before, but it really does make a difference. Try eating dinner on smaller side plates; you’ll have less to eat. My family switched to the smaller salad plates and I still felt full but loved the feeling of eating all the food on my plate.

Create your own after-meal ritual

Brush your teeth. Chew a piece of sugarless gum. Or sip a hot drink like tea or sugar-free cocoa. I particularly love the idea of brushing your teeth.
Nothing curbs the desire to nosh than having clean minty teeth.

Tags: Healthy Eating, Healthy Living, Holistic Health //