Good Morning and Happy Tuesday!
Today we continue with guidelines for proper portions. This one is my favorite and I believe it makes good sense. I call it the Hand Grab. When I teach this method, I encourage people to picture various food dishes lined up or being passed at a table that do not have any utensils for serving. This is when I have them picture or imagine their hands being used as utensils. We are all different shapes and sizes and I believe a grasp of your personal handful size of food is a good “portion” of food for that person. A little child has a little hand, therefore, their “handful” is probably adequate for them. I am not as big as my husband and neither is my hand as large as his hand, so he obviously would require a bigger portion than I. Make sense? I think so in most cases. Always remember that we only need 4 handfuls of food for each of the food groups. One handful of protein, one handful of starch or a whole grain, one handful of fruit, and one handful of vegetables. Some people would rather have 2 handfuls of vegetables, 1 of protein and 1 of whole grain and that is fine too. We do not all like the same kinds of foods.
A bit of caution when you are at a wedding buffet table, Thanksgiving extravaganza , church supper, or a such a feast. Because there are so many delicious and tantalizing dishes, you may want to use The Dollop Method. You would place a dollop of this or that on your plate. Only enough for a taste, remembering that the First 3 bites taste the best! Do not go back for seconds either. Enough is Enough. We will talk about that tomorrow!
