Now that you’re adding leafy greens to your daily meals (go ahead, add even more!) and you’re taking in more whole grains (this is your conscience speaking: you’d better be), it’s time to start focusing on portion control.  

As a rule, eat as many veggies as you want. Snack on raw carrots, cucumbers and celery sticks all day if you have to. Veggies are never the problem. A big plate of lettuce at the most is about 100 calories. It’s the other stuff you have to worry about. Here are four quick tips:

 Don’t wait till you’re starving to eat: This causes binging, over-eating and a slew of other issues that can lead to poor digestion, weight gain, diabetes; the list goes on. When you take in too much food at one sitting, you run the immediate risk of heartburn, indigestion and other stomach problems. Try mini meals throughout the day, or make sure you always pack healthy snacks in case you plan on being away from home for more than a few hours. Snacking also helps the brain function much better.

1. Don’t guess at portion sizes: Believe it or not, there’s a place down in Amarillo, Texas, famous for its 72-ounce steaks. Any steakhouse you go to, in fact, usually serves nothing less than 12-16 ounces, with most portion sizes going up to 32. That’s a little depressing when you consider the fact that a standard or recommended portion of meat is three ounces (the size of a deck of cards or a bar of soap)! OK, so you’re a big guy. If you normally eat a 20-ounce steak, try cutting it in half and taking the rest home.
2. Make everything but the veggies a side dish: In line with the above, if you want to add extras to your plate, don’t make it bread and meat. Make it the veggies. I know…boring! But at some point you have to mentally convince yourself that you need to make better choices. Splurge every once in a while. But as far as your daily routine is concerned, keep meat and breads to a minimum.
3. Don’t even think about seconds: I’m convinced that this is what can make or break a diet. It’s also a manners thing. If there’s one thing I can’t stand it’s a kid who keeps going back for seconds. Those kids turn into adults who go back for seconds. And thus the vicious cycle begins. Respect the portion you were given. Pretend you’re at a restaurant and can’t go back for seconds. Don’t make seconds an option. It shouldn’t be.

 If anything, remember the old adage: everything in moderation. I don’t think enough focus is put on portion control. Controlling the amount of food you eat can make huge differences in your health. For more tips on portion control, visit That’s Fit on the web.

Coming Up Next Week: Four Weeks to Healthy Eating: Week Four—Learn to Limit Bad Foods

Four Weeks to Healthy Eating: Week Two—Adding Whole Grains to your Diet

 Fact: There is almost zero nutritional value in white flour. That’s a little disheartening when you think of how pervasive white flour is in breads, cereals, pastas and restaurant food. Womenfitness.net has a great article called “Ugly Truths About White Flour,” in which the writer explains why white bread is white (bleached like your clothes!), how the benefits of the actual wheat are lost in the process of making white flour and what white flour ultimately does to the body—fattens it up and makes it struggle to work harder during digestion. My personal opinion on white flour: AVOID IT. Whole grains, like barley, brown rice, wild rice, oatmeal, millet and bulgur, haven’t had their bran and germ removed during the refining process so they are definitely better than any refined flours. Our bodies respond well to the fiber offered by bran and germ and so the less of it we get, the less our bodies are able to process and digest food. When that happens, organs like the pancreas have to work harder.

Try to cook and bake at home, using whole grains instead of white flour (oats and brown rice are best; use quinoa too, though it’s a seed, not a grain). If that’s not possible, look for labels that state the use of whole grains. Wheat bread is not the same as whole wheat bread. The more “grainy” the flour, the better.

Truth be told, even whole grains are not the best nutrition-wise, despite their increased amounts of fiber and magnesium. In The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth, author Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S., quotes Regina Wilshire, N.D.: “While grains do add the perception of variety and bulk in the diet, they’re not a superior source for essential nutrients when compared with other options.” That being said, start replacing white flour with whole grains, but keep grains, in general, to a minimum. Not to get too earthy-crunchy, but our natural diet (for the past 2.4 million years) is based on things to be “hunted, fished for, gathered or plucked.”¹ That never included rice or wheat, neither of which you can eat without some sort of refining.

Coming Up Next Week: Four Weeks to Healthy Eating: Week Three—Portion Control 

I’m stating the obvious here: Better eating is essential to better health. You can’t spend a lifetime eating sugar, fat and fried foods and expect to be fit and healthy well into your 80s. Strong genes will only take you so far. Yes, I know. Change is tough! We understand. So this month, take baby steps towards making better choices.

 Start by adding at least one fistful of something green to your daily diet. I didn’t say “Add fruits and veggies to your diet.” I said one fistful of  “something green.” There’s a big difference. Leafy green vegetables in particular are the most ideal vegetable that humans can consume. Most importantly, green foods have enormous benefits. Did you know that “calorie for calorie, green leafy vegetables like spinach provide more nutrients than almost any other food on the planet”?¹ So add a fistful of green every day to your meals (small salad, a fistful of fresh spinach in your omelette, a side of broccoli with dinner). Work up to adding another fistful of fruits and veggies from the list below.

 Veggies

Spinach, Romaine, Broccoli, Iceberg (Lettuce), Endive, Arugula, Dandelion, Watercress, Brussels Sprout, Cabbage, Collard Greens, Kale, Chard, Horseradish, Rutabaga, Onion, Okra, Purslane, Turnip, Chinese Cabbage, Cauliflower, Mushroom, Leek, Broccoli Rabe, Daikon, Bok Choy, Radish, Beet, Potato, Carrot, Sweet Potato, Taro, Yam, Jicama, Parsnip, Bean (Red, White, Pinto and Navy), Squash (Yellow, Acorn, Butternut and Spaghetti), Pumpkin, Zucchini, Bell Pepper (Green, Red, Yellow and Orange), Green Bean, Tomato, Cucumber and Celery

 Fruits

Apple, Apricot, Avocado, Banana, Blackberry, Blueberry, Cherry, Clementine, Coconut, Cranberry, Fig, Grapefruit, Guava, Kiwi, Lemon, Mango, Orange, Papaya, Peach, Pineapple, Plum, Pomegranate, Quince, Raspberry, Açai Berry, Satsuma, Sharon Fruit (Persimmon), Strawberry and Watermelon

 Coming Up Next Week:  Four Weeks to Healthy Eating: Week Two—Add Whole Grains to your Diet 

1. The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth. Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S. Fair Winds Press, Gloucester, MA, 2007.