about portions

[mariwarren]

who can recommend me how to understand portions? How much pasta, rice, potatoes is a portion?

[Hidden]

not me sorry, I just don't go mad. 😊

[kantara71]

I would normally keep to around 75g of uncooked pasta, 50g of rice and no more than 100g of potatoes, again, uncooked. Work out the calories of course. Eventually you will get good at guessing the portion sizes. John

[mariwarren in reply to kantara71]

Thank you

[Caz28]

Start by deciding approx how many calories you want to have for breakfast, lunch, tea and snacks and adjust portion sizes accordingly, keep a diary and weigh and record everthing. There's a handy guide here to hpac.nhs.uk/HPAC/ClickCount...

[Mollydex 1 stone Restart July 2024]

I go with the amount cooked that I would be able to fit into the palm of my hand !

[mariwarren in reply to Mollydex]

Thank you.

[Venusflytrap]

I weigh everything raw, and then add any kcals from the cooking process. Like a tsp of oil onto my potatoes is an additional 40kcal. I have 200g of potatoes, 60g of pasta/rice. If it doesn't look enough, and it certainly won't at the beginning, then add veg. So extra root vegetables to the potato. I add butternut squash chips to my plate of fish and potato chips. Try adding strips of carrot, onion and/or courgette to the pasta. To rice you can add the same veg making it more like fried rice, or add shredded or processed raw cauliflower "rice". I always buy my bread ready portioned ie sliced, rolls, thins, crumpets etc. So it doesn't tempt me, I keep it in the freezer. To delay the occasional "forgotten" slice of bread and butter as I wander through the kitchen. It is well worth weighing and measuring until you get your eye in. Another hint is, if you cut your potatoes into slices or small chunks it looks like more. A lot of this is just fooling your eyes. So smaller plates and smaller pieces of food help. Good luck with your next week.

[mariwarren]

Thank you, That is helpful. Just treat the mind to think you are eating more than you are. Mind over matter.