Measuring, Weighing and Food Record Keeping
In order to be successful with the Eating Free Meal Plan, there are two important behaviors that you may have to adopt. First, you must pay attention to your serving sizes. The only way to really understand freebie or serving sizes is by measuring and weighing your food. No, you do not have to measure your food for the rest of your life, DON’T WORRY. We encourage you to measure and weigh your food for the first couple of weeks or so and again from time to time until you feel that you have a good sense of sizes. You might be surprised at how good you can become at detecting serving sizes. Measuring and weighing your food at home is a great practice because this can also help you judge portion sizes while dining out.
Talk to Your Hand
If you are away from home and from your food scale, then you can “Talk to Your Hand” to figure out your serving sizes. As a general rule:
• Fist (1 cup): Use your fist to judge two servings of cooked pasta, rice or any other grain.
• Palm (3 oz to 4 oz): Use your palm to judge the size of meat. Small palms measure about 3 oz and bigger palms about 4 oz.
• Thumb
1 tsp- Use the tip of your thumb to measure a pat of butter.
1 Tbsp- Use the length from the knuckle of your thumb to its tip to judge a serving of salad dressing.
• Three fingers (4 fl. oz): Hold a wine glass from the stem while placing three fingers horizontally along the side. This is approximately one serving size of wine.
Food Record Keeping
A second behavior that will help you tremendously and it is an integral part of any weight loss/maintenance program is food record keeping. You will be amazed to learn how much you didn’t know about your eating behaviors. Recording food intake forces you to take responsibility and face your food choices. Also, food record keeping can help you identify when you eat, why you eat, and eating patterns. Since you are going to receive a number of freebies from all the food groups, our food record system will keep track of how many calories and servings you have eaten. Do not depend on your memory because ignorance is not bliss. You will be provided with a username and password for the Eating Free online food record.
Freebie Sizes vs. Portions Sizes
A freebie or serving size is the amount determined by looking at the macronutrient levels (as stated earlier: a serving size or freebie size within each food group provides about the same amounts of calories and macronutrients from carbohydrates, proteins or fats). For example, a freebie size of bread (1 oz or 1 slice) provides the same amounts of macronutrients as a freebie size of oatmeal (1/2 cup). A portion size is the amount you serve on a plate and eat. Your portion of oatmeal may be 1 1/2 cups so you are eating 3 freebies of oatmeal or 3 freebies of G&S.