Top 5 Tips to Regulate Your Appetite and Manage Portion Size

In order to manage weight successfully, portion control is key. Controlling food portions doesn’t really mean you have to eat less, but it rather means developing an awareness of how much you are eating and the nutritional value of the food. One must practise portion control, not just to manage weight but also to reap benefits from the daily food intake. If you want to successfully regulate your appetite or manage portion control successfully, try these tips: 

• Use your plate as a portion. 

When you determine your portion size through your plate, it gets easier to determine the optimal macronutrient ratio for a balanced meal. You can think of filling up half of your plate with salad, a quarter of your plate with good quality protein, another quarter with complex carbohydrates, and half-one tablespoons of high-quality fat like ghee, makhan(home-made white butter), cheese or olive oil. 

• Eat slowly. 

Eating slowly can help you realise when you are full, hence avoiding the chance of overeating. Moreover, the quicker you eat the lesser time your body has to administer fullness. When you eat slowly, you eat less. Your appetite and calorie intake are largely controlled by your hormones. These hormones tell your brain that you have eaten enough, making you feel full, and aiding you to eat less. This process takes about 20 minutes. So if you eat too quickly, you will probably end up eating more than what’s required. 

• Drink a glass of water. 

30 minutes before any meal, drink a glass of water. This can suppress your hunger and can make you eat less. Also, many people misunderstand the need for water with hunger, so quenching your thirst will make it easier for you to determine how hungry you are. So, try drinking a glass of water sometime before you eat. 

• Don’t go for the ‘diet’ foods. 

If you get your hands onto something that is ‘gluten-free’, ‘fat-free’, ‘low in calories’, you will easily over-eat. One study found that people who thought they were eating low-fat foods automatically ate 28.4 % more calories than those who knew they were dining on the full-fat version. Moreover, many packages which are low in any one nutrient- calories, sodium, sugar or fat can be high in the other three. So, beware of what and how much. 

• Use the right plates. 

Many times people recommend eating in smaller plates, however, that might be the best bet. You need to understand the portion size of what you are eating. So if you’re eating a salad, you might want to look out for something more than an 8-inch plate. So, know when to use bigger, shallow, or small plates. 

Over to you. 

Eating in controlled portion sizes can also help the body in better digestion apart from weight loss and maintenance. Eating a lot of something that’s healthy, can also cause harm to your body. So, portion control is key. Follow these easy tips to manage the ‘how much to eat?’ question.