Tag Archives: health

Portion Control or Eating Healthy Foods?

This is a discussion my mom and I have frequently. She prefers to just eat a little less of the things she likes (oh the wonderful Italian things she likes); I prefer to eat bigger portions of healthy things.

The new USDA guidelines were released on Monday, and among their recommendations, they recommend just eating less. Which is HARD. Food with less nutrients is less filling (why you’re hungry an hour after eating a big bagel); food with more nutrients is more filling (fiber and fat are filling). They also, apparently, recommend filling half your plate with fruits and vegetables.

I did not read the whole 112-page report, but I’ve read what some people have to say about it.

I think the end quote, from Karen Miller-Kovach, chief scientific officer at Weight Watchers in the NYT story sums it up the best:

“The last many guidelines have focused on process, this many milligrams of sodium, that much fat. I think what these do is lay out the basics,” Ms. Miller-Kovach said. “If you cut calories and you make those calories count in terms of those nutrients, what happens? All those numbers fall into place.”

Most Americans don’t have food scales and aren’t measuring how many ounces of this or that they’re having. I do think common-sense guidelines are the best. I know a decent amount about nutrition (and am learning more!), but I couldn’t tell you how many grams of fat, sodium, or protein I have in a day. I think showing people what is the better choice goes a lot further than prescribing specific amounts; that’s too daunting. I agree with Miller-Kovach: if you’re making the calories you do consume full of nutrients, you will come closer to a balance; it’s pretty hard to eat too much broccoli.

Lunch is a wrap with turkey, one slice of provolone (I don’t usually do cheese…but this needed it) some spinach and hummus. Four for four on bringing lunch; I also haven’t bought any other meal this week!!!!

What about you? Team portion control or team healthy food? If you read (or read about) the new guidelines, what do you think about them?

Bringing Lunch

It’s not earth-shattering, and most of you are probably doing it already, but bringing lunch saves money and keeps you eating healthy—what you’d make is probably better for you than what you’d buy (unless you’re a healthy takeout connoisseur like myself). So why am I so bad at it? Because I’m bad at planning stuff outside of work.

But this week, when Emily grabbed some lunch meat at Target and said she was going to bring her lunch this week, I was determined to do the same.

I grabbed the wrong memory card, so this is a recycled picture. Pretend, however, that the egg in there is actually deli turkey and there is also a little provolone. Today’s breakfast was another English muffin sandwich; today’s lunch will be leftovers from last night, so I’m not going to post pics of the same old food, but I’ll have a post tonight from a fun event I’m going to after work.

Also, I’ve already brought/made breakfast and lunch more days than not this week, woot! Small steps.