Search Results for: blog the hand method for portion control

Common Cooking Dilemmas: 5 Tricks for Portions and Timing

Someone recently asked the following question: I like to cook but I can never seem to get the portions and timing of the food right. I always make way too much or way too little. And if I’m making several dishes, I can’t seem to get it all done at the same time. Do you have any suggestions? These are actually very common cooking dilemmas and I think it’s one of those things that all cooks learn over time. It doesn’t come automatically. I can almost guarantee you that your own mother messed up meals by serving cold meat when … Continue reading →

The Hand Method for Portion Control

Who Knew It Was In the Palm of Our Hands? These days, portions of food are getting larger and are bigger than ever. Fast food restaurants serve bigger meals for just a few cents extra, and even regular restaurants serve humongous portions that most people could feast on for a week. As we know all too well, too many calories consumed at one single pig-out session usually causes our bodies to store the excess calories as fat, and there you go, we’re putting on weight. When I first started my big diet, I measured every single solitary thing that I … Continue reading →

Steps to Choosing the Right Weight Loss Program for You

If you are trying to choose a weight loss regimen it can be mind boggling. Do you control your portions or your carbs? Do you go non-fat or just certain fats? Supplements? Alli? Or maybe just join a weight loss center? Perhaps you’re even considering something more drastic like surgery? How are you supposed to know which option is best for you? The simple answer is that you really can’t know which option is best until you try them and find one that works. It is a learning process. However, I think by being honest with yourself and answering some … Continue reading →

Two Studies About Protein

Dr. Wayne Campbell and his colleagues at Purdue’s University Laboratory for Integrative Research in Nutrition, Fitness, and Aging conducted a weight loss study of 46 overweight or obese women. The women were instructed to follow one of two reduced-calorie diets. Protein was 18% of the caloric intake in one group’s diet; it was 30% of the caloric intake of the second group’s diet. Each group consumed six ounces of lean pork per day for twelve weeks. It was their only meat source. The result was that the women who ate a higher percentage of protein were better at maintaining lean … Continue reading →

Eating Out While On a Diet?

Let’s face it, we can’t all stay home every night and eat grilled chicken—and who wants to? Whether it’s a girls night out, family get together, or your husband treating you to a night without cooking—once in a while we have to eat out. Now, if you live in a place similar to me, eating out is a form of entertainment. I mean, what else can you do when it’s 30 degrees for five or six months out of the year? So how do we face our fears and eat at a restaurant without completely wrecking our diets? First and … Continue reading →

20 Minute Power Abs

20 minutes a day can really help you with your abdominal. For those of you who feel like your mid-section is in the worst shape, be aware that health wise excess abdominal fat is actually the worst kind of fat period. The mid-section houses two of your most important organs involved in fat metabolism and the process of sugar. Your liver and your kidneys can actually become ‘squished’ in too much abdominal fat and this reduces their effectiveness. Women, especially, are in danger of type 2 diabetes because of excessive abdominal fat according to the American Dietetic Association. Now to … Continue reading →