Portion Control Tips to Assist Your Portion Sizes. Part 2 of 2

Use smaller spoons

Stick with teaspoons, even when you're dishing food onto your plate. In another Cornell study, people who used three-ounce serving spoons shoveled out nearly 15 percent more food than those who scooped using smaller two-ounce spoons.

Dim the lights before dinner

A revved up eating environment--think bright lights and high-tempo music--encourages you to finish a meal faster and take in more food, according to Cornell researchers. When restaurant patrons dined in a softly lit room where jazz music was playing, they consumed less than diners who ate amid typical fast food joint ambiance--even though study participants who ate in the fine-dining environment spent more time eating.  

Don’t put platters on the table

When you leave serving dishes on the dining table while you eat, it's too easy to reach for seconds (or thirds), says Palinski. Portion out foods on your plate while you're in the kitchen, sit down, enjoy your meal, and if you're still hungry when you're done, go back for seconds of vegetables only, she suggests. 

Dine in a blue-hued room

If your kitchen or dining room could use a coat of paint, skip warm-colored hues. Red, yellow, and orange tones may make you to eat more, while blue hues tend to suppress appetite by making food look less appealing. Gala attendees who dined in a blue room at 33 percent less food than guests who enjoyed dinner in a red or yellow room, according to a study published in Contact magazine.

Set your fork down between bites

Slow down--clearing your plate is not a race. "There's no need to preload your fork for each bite," says Marisa Moore, RD, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. "Taking breaks will extend the time it takes to eat your meal and possibly reduce the amount of food you eat since it takes 15 to 20 minutes for your brain to get the signal that the stomach is full."

Limit dinnertime distractions

Turn off the television and don't invite your laptop or phone to the table, suggests Dubost. When electronics and other distractions have our attention, the amount of food that we're putting into our mouths does not--it's the perfect environment for mindless eating, she says. 

Recall visual cues

If you don't have a measuring cup handy, use a visual shortcut. For example, a 3-ounce serving of meat is equivalent in size to a deck of cards; a cup yogurt should take up as much space as your fist; 2 tablespoons of peanut butter are the size of a ping pong ball; and a half-cup of cooked rice or pasta is equal to half of a baseball. 

Brush, floss, or chew gum

When you're done eating, keep your chompers busy with a piece of gum, or head to the bathroom to brush and floss. "Keeping a clean mouth may be motivating enough to keep us from mindlessly grazing on food," says Heather Mangieri, founder of Nutrition CheckUp, LLC. She suggests trying this tip between meals and while cooking as well. 

Keep trigger foods out of sight and healthy eats when you can see them

"Out of sight means out of mind--and out of mouth," says Moore. "Put bags of chips or cookies in a high cabinet or in the back of the pantry, or better yet, leave these at the store, she says. Use that same logic--that anything you can see may tempt you--to your healthy-eating advantage. "Leave a bowl of fruit on the counter or table, and when you open the fridge, have snacks such as pre-cut fruits and veggies or low-fat cheese at eye level so it reminds you that that's what you should be consuming," suggests Dubost.

Don’t eat from the bag or box

Instead, place food on a plate or in a bowl so you don't plow through the entire package, suggests Moore. Or make your own 100-calorie packs. "As soon as you get home from the store, divide cereal and snacks into single-serving zippered baggies," says Taub-Dix. "That way you won't have to think about serving size later."

Hide your candy dish (or don’t have one at all)

When sweets are visible and convenient, you'll eat more of them than you would if you had to travel to get to them. When containers of chocolate candy were placed on office workers' desks, they ate 48 percent more of the treats than when the dishes were set 2 meters away, according to a study published in the journal Appetite.

Pick opaque containers over clear

When you stash food in clear containers, seeing it can lead you to eat it. In fact, women ate 71 percent more out of transparent containers than they did out of opaque dishes in a study published in the International Journal of Obesity.



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