Old habits die hard but making the effort to dish up will go a long way toward changing your eating habits and preventing overeating. It's virtually impossible to practice portion control when you eat straight out of a package or container. Plus, the experience of eating the food in and of itself will be different, and more pleasant, if you use a dish.
If you do eat from a food's original packaging, you're likely to get out of control, which can lead to all-or-nothing thinking, like, "If I'm being this 'bad' already, then I might as well just go all the way!" ... and we all know where that leads: to a suddenly empty Chips Ahoy package, that's where.
So you'll feel more in charge of your eating by enjoying one serving from a dish than you ever could if you don't monitor what you're taking in at all. That sense of empowerment may be all that stands between you and a second helping. If it doesn't, do the same thing again — dole out that second serving as carefully as you did the first. Just because you're going for seconds doesn't mean it's time to go for broke!
Bonus Portion Control Tips:
- If you find your will power is overpowered by a full bag of potato chips sitting in the pantry, avoid buying the full-size bags altogether. Get the single-serving bags (just be sure to buy one at a time, not the variety box) to head off binges.
- Budget-minded? (And who isn't these days?) Buy the full-size package of your favorite treat and immediately divide helpings into single-serving zipper bags. You'll still be much more likely to keep yourself in check than if the full-size package ends up in your hands when you're in the grip of some serious cravings.
- One tip I had to try before I believed it? Storing food in opaque containers rather than clear ones really helps keep temptation at bay. The old phrase, "Out of sight, out of mind," seems to certainly apply in this situation.
