Mrs F tackles Portion Control

Okay this is going to be the first in a series of "In The Kitchen With Mrs Furious" video posts. These videos are a little longer so keep that in mind. I am really looking forward to doing more cooking and cooking related videos so keep your eyes open for those.
For those of you at "the office" who can't watch this right now I will paraphrase my rules below.

In The Kitchen With Mrs Furious: Portion Control


I was talking about portion control with my mom the other day and it got me thinking about the ways in which I have built this into the Furious Family diet. I'm no longer calorie counting but I haven't thrown everything out the window. I still carefully monitor our portions.
Here are some of the ways that I do that:

#1 I make enough food for the meal. In our house that typically means cooking three portions. That's it. No leftovers, no seconds, just enough. And it is enough.

#2 I don't weigh everything anymore... but I always weigh our pasta. A "G.I." (gylcemic index) portion of pasta is 1.5 ounces. That is what I serve each of us. Pasta is calorie dense and should be a side dish. This really didn't take that long to get used to. It helps keep our dinners under 500 calories. No one goes hungry... and no one is getting fat either!

#3 I eat a half a sandwich. That's right ONE piece of bread. This is a hold over from the diet. There is just no way to have a whole sandwich and not be going over 300 calories for lunch. This is an easy way to keep your lunch in control. Now I've gotten a few comments about this one. I will clarify that yes it is humanly possible to eat two pieces of bread with some small amount of filling and come in UNDER 300 calories. The point I am making is that more often than not you won't... and even if you do MOST of your calories will be from the bread... aka... carbs. I'm suggesting that one piece of bread is a proper carb portion and that you can have nearly a whole sandwiches worth of filling on it and shave off 100 calories from your lunch.

#4 I measure rice. 2/3c of COOKED rice is a serving. I generally serve a 1/2 c of cooked rice. To make this step really easy I use a 1/2 c measuring cup as my spoon when I serve the plates out of the pot. Again grains are calorie dense. 1/2 c of cooked rice is 100 calories.

#5 Use serving bowls or glasswear that help you control your portions. If I am having ice cream I eat it out of a small juice glass which perfectly holds 1/2 c of ice cream. If I have cereal I use the bowls that fit one serving. You get the idea. This really does help and it is easy to do.

A basic Furious Family dinner for us is 3-4 ounces of protein, 1/2 c rice (1.5 oz pasta), and 1.5-2 c veggies. This is almost always around 400 calories and looks something like 1/2 plate of vegetables, 1/2-2/3 protein, 1/3 -1/2 starch.