Mastering Portion Sizes: Dietician Priyanka’s Expert Tips for Balanced Eating | Bite & Diet

Sandhya, one of our client, asked us why she hadn't specified her portion size in the plan. How much rice or roti should be consumed? To make upma, how many spoonfuls of semolina should be used? How much vegetables or dal she can eat? The portion size is not at all mentioned in the plan. How she will be able to lose weight without counting her calorie intake? Her previous dietician advised her on portion size and appropriate measurements. She also had weighing scale to measure food items. Then why we have not mentioned specified portion size in the plan?

Majority of individuals believe that cutting calories is the only way to lose weight. Since eating too many calories leads to weight gain, cutting back on calories is essential if we want to loseweight. However, measuring food every time is not necessary for reducing calories, and it's also not a very practical. You can reduce calories even without measuring the food you eat.

In addition, a number of other factors, such as your age, metabolism, thyroid status, inflammation, nutritional deficiency, meal timings, physical activity, stress, and sleep all  need to be monitored in order to lose weight. These all contribute to excess weight gain. That's why calorie counting alone might not be enough. Furthermore, you might lose bone density, muscle mass, and other nutrients even if you consume very few calories for months or even a year. You might have sagging skin and age-related symptoms at a much younger age. 

So, at Bite and Diet we focus on improving the quality of food rather quantity. First of all lets understand the basic five food groups

1.  Carbohydrate rich food – cereals and millets

2. Protein rich food – Meat, fish, Milk, Pulses, beans, Nuts and seed

3. Vitamins and mineral rich food – Fruits and vegetables

4. Sugar

6. Fats and oil

1. Carbohydrate rich food – cereals and millets

The primary sources of carbohydrates in our regular diet is cereals and millets. Ragi, rice, wheat, jwar & bajra are few examples. As you can see from the chart below, different grains have varying amounts of carbohydrates. The food that contain the most carbs are rice, vermicilli and suji whereas whole wheat flour, Bajra, and maize have lowest carbohydrate content. Therefore, if you want to cut back on calories or carbs in your diet, you should replace your regular roti with whole wheat flour roti or makki ki roti with bran.

Cereals/ Millets	Carbohydrate in 100g cereals/Millets
Rice	79g
Vermicelli	78g
Suji or refined flour	75g
Ragi & Jwar	72g
Barley	70g
Whole wheat flour	69g
Bajra	68g
Maize	66g

2. Protein rich food – Meat, fish, Milk, Pulses, beans, Nuts and seeds   

There are two types of protein rich food. Animal based protein and plant based protein. Proteins derived from animals are high in fat but low in carbohydrates. Therefore, when eating meat, lean cuts are preferable. Removing skin from chicken also reduces fat. 

Similarly peas and beans are lower in carbs as compared to dal. In order to lower your calorie intake, you must substitute beans, whole green gram, or red gram dal for your usual dal. Chapatis can also be made by combining soy flour with regular flour. This will help you cut calories even more. Protein helps to increase muscle mass and improves your metabolism therefore should not be restricted in you diet.

Pulses and legumes	Carbohydrate in 100g Pulses and legumes
Whole Bengal gram/ kala channa  & Rajmah	61g
Dhal	60g
Lentil	59g
Whole green gram, Red gram dal, Moth beans	57g
Cow pea or chowli or lobea	55g
Soyabean	20g
Peas green	16g

   We haven't discussed about nuts and seeds here because they are consumed in very small amounts.  They contain omega 3 fatty acid, Vitamin E, zinc, magnesium and protein and therefore should be a part of healthy diet. An adult can safely consume 30g or one handful of nuts and seeds daily like almonds, walnuts, cashews, chia seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, melon seeds etc.

   3. Vitamins and minerals rich food - Fruits and vegetables

   You can consume as much green vegetable as you want in the form of  salads, cooked vegetables, soups and vegetable juices because they are the lowest in calories. Vitamins A, C, folic acid, iron, and magnesium are all found in vegetables. Fresh fruits are also good source of Vitamin A, C and Potassium. Despite their carbohydrate content, fruits have anti-obesity properties that aid in weight loss. You will therefore be healthier if you eat more fruits and vegetables. You should consume five to seven servings of fruits and vegetables every day.

   Some more tips to cut excess calorie intake

   Avoid sugar, sweets, fat, and oil as much as possible because their nutritive value is very low and they only contain empty calories . To cut calories, it's also essential to stay away from junk food like pizza, burger, samosa, chaat etc., packaged foods, processed foods, and ultra-processed foods like, bread, biscuit, namkeen, chips, cola drinks, packed fruit juices, noodles etc.. All these food items are made with refined flour and fat. A single tiny spoonful of butter, ghee, or oil can provide forty-five calories. In the same way, sugar and sweets are high in calories. Twenty calories can be found in just one tiny spoonful of sugar. Even though some of these food items are mentioned fat-free or sugar-free, they might still contain other dangerous ingredients to prolong their shelf life.

   Summary

   I always advise my clients to eat until they are satisfied because they will not be able to lose weight in a sustainable way if they are not happy with the portions that are provided. Therefore, you can definitely have two or three roti if you're not satisfied with just one, but the amount of salad, sabzi, and dal should also be increased proportionally. It is important to maintain their ratio.

  Another important aspect to consider is that the diet is completely tailored to your specific health condition, including factors such as digestion, acidity, availability of food items and other health parameters like fatty liver, blood sugar, cholesterol, uric acid, and knee pain, among others. Therefore, if you want to lose weight in a healthy way, you should definitely take the help of a dietician.  

   We are here to twist the concept of Dieting which means you don’t need to starve yourself to be healthy; you just need to be smart enough to choose the right food for you. That is why instead of restricting carbs, proteins and  fat, we make you eat more healthy food. We believe and practice that Diet means - Discover intelligent eating and take charge of your health!

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