Dinnertime!

Hopefully, most nights you are sitting down to dinner in front of an actual dinner plate, as opposed to the styrofoam box or dreaded frozen dinner tin tray; and most likely you finish everything without giving much thought to the amount of food on that plate. It is true, however, that eating from a smaller plate will reduce the size of the portion you would normally eat, and along with that, the calories you consume. We tend to eat with our eyes and not our stomach, so it's important to focus on the visual impact of the food, and not the size of the serving. The satisfaction we get from eating is from how it looks and how it tastes - not how much we ate. Start with high quality fresh food, prepare it nicely, and then savor every bite. Practice eating on a salad plate, and cut back slowly - teach yourself to be satisfied with eating less by paying attention to when you start to feel full. By NOT paying attention you might eat as much as 50% more!! Don't eat food you don't like - learn to eat what you love in smaller amounts. Remember that it takes 20 minutes for your brain to send the signal to your stomach that you have had enough, so use this time wisely. If you tend to eat quickly (as I do), start with a glass of water, and follow this with a broth-based soup or salad (or both!); by doing this you won't inhale your dinner, and you will be able to control the amount you eat. You'll be surprised at how much less you eat - I promise! Melissa