Bonus Q & A. This week you asked mostly about Portion Size. And ladies and gents – SIZE MATTERS. How many? How much? What weight? How many grams is that? How big a handful? Is that enough? Am I putting in too much? …..etc…..

You asked in relation to our recipes/ideas/creations. When sharing my ideas I need point out its usually instant so I can give you a list of ingredients, BUT I know, I don’t usually tell you how much to use, so I wanted to address this question of portion size firstly in relation to our “recipes” and secondly in general.

PORTION SIZE in our creations:

The simple, honest, no nonsense answer as to why we don’t usually include a weight or measurement is because

A) We don’t usually weigh or measure our ingredients. *

B) Because the recipes or ideas we share are usually a one off/first time/instant/this is what I just made and its great – kind of thing. So making it again could mean we use a different portion size of each ingredient or other ingredients!

C) Also, we don’t TELL you how much because we try to EMPOWER you to make your own decisions and creative choices when it comes to food. You might not like one of the ingredients we use, so you can try the recipe and leave that out/substitute it. You may love something in there, so want to include more. And that’s fine.

(* Can I just add we haven’t really attempted baking yet in any pro manner – baking will and does require more precise measurements and when we cross that bridge things may become more precise – for now a cup means use the same cup for all cupfuls in this recipe, a handful means your own hand size, table spoon is the one in the drawer next to the knife and fork, tea spoon is the one your stir the milk in with)

Before I give you more on portion sizing in general, I feel I need to reiterate the no nonsense approach slightly here because that sounds quite haphazard.

What We Do:

We DO offer support, encouragement and accountability to anyone wanting to change their lifestyle, eating habits, fitness goals or anyone looking to manage their weight, increase their energy, etc. We DO NOT on any of our programmes tell you what you can and cant eat, what you should and shouldn’t eat and we DO NOT give you a bunch of recipes and menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The buzz word now I think, is BIO-INDIVIDUALITY ie rather than a one size fits all. We DO follow general health recommendations but understand they don’t work for everyone in the same way. If you’ve been on our weight management programme you will know this and know whats coming next as portion size – per item, per plate, per day and/or per person – is one of the things we often look at. However, we like to get to know you and let you take the lead on creating PERSONAL eating plans or FUNCTIONAL fitness routines that are both achievable and then sustainable.

We like to see what you are already eating, drinking, doing and what you’ve tried already before we work WITH you to make sure you can enjoy a healthier version of a diet you like, including foods you like in the portion sizes you might like them. For example – I make a lot of green smoothies. If you hate greens and don’t wanna drink something that looks like pond life, I don’t blame you and I wont make you. We can look to find a way to include greens with something else, or we can choose another smoothie recipe. It might even be that you already eat enough greens and we need to concentrate on something else completely!

Makes sense? Sounds good? Yes? Of course, because why would anyone want a plan to improve themselves that involves being told to do things you don’t like. That’s never gonna work. If you’re curious about how this can work for you, give me a shout info@nitakothari.com for a free consultation. Or to find out more, sign up for more of our recipes, tips, tricks, advice and info newsletter.

So back to the portion sizes – to conclude this part;

We don’t use portion size in our recipes in order to give you the freedom to choose and use the bits you like in greater or smaller quantities. That’s also why in a lot of our recipes we give you options, additions and swaps too.
We do try our best to teach and support you to make the right choices and to eat the right stuff for your body, your appetite and your current needs, so that the calorie counting, controls and guilt becomes something of the past.
In general, we produce recipes and post directly to social media because we are genuinely excited that we made something nice and healthy you might want to try!
Remember we are constantly learning here and taking you on the journey saving you time and effort, by sharing what works (and sometimes what doesn’t) to make things easier for you to find your own ways.
For the future – we will refine our creations and as we’ve mentioned before there may very well be a GO TO book full of the best no nonsense, healthy creations to come…BUT for now, this is the way it is.

PORTION SIZE in general:

Now the thing is, as we don’t measure the portion size of ingredients, the portion size of the resulting dish, drink, meal etc differs. As we have studied and experienced and we’re doing this a lot more often than we used to, we have got used to how much we should use, how much tastes good and most importantly how much (and of what) do we need plus how much (and of what) fills us up.

In general we’ve achieved this in the same way as in any other new job or new situation – when you start you’re unsure and after training and practice, and in DOING and REPEATING, you learn how to get things right. Right? You learn what works for you. BUT also as in any new job you need good training, guidance and support to get to that place. That’s what we aim to teach and provide.

And that’s why there are general healthy guidelines we follow and want to share with you in order to ultimately answer the question on portion size. You may have this already if you have been on our programmes, but as a bonus today we wanted to point everyone in the right direction.

In the UK overall portion sizes in general can be set by things such as the governments Eatwell Guide.
You might have been to diet clubs where you’ve talked about or read booklets on portion control. Some “diet” dishes, ready meals and prepared foods are set out in standard portion sizes already for you.
Even nutrition labels give you percentages of your daily allowances (of fat, sugar calories etc) contained in the product, per typical portion.

These are all good starters to get to know which recommended portion sizes are right for you

So as a take away this week (see what we did there?) Here is a great resource and a great place to start:

THE EATWELL GUIDE

Eatwell_guide_colour

(Which replaced the eatwell plate in 2015 after much controversy) The Eatwell guide defines the governments advice on a healthy balanced diet and is a visial representation of foods and drinks contributing to such. Its based on the 5 basic food groups – showing how much of what you eat should come from each. **Its not gospel, its been argued about over and over, with lots of experts having many differences of opinion. Some give different and what they feel better versions AND all countries have their own versions, but we are sharing this as a simple guideline and I think its a good place to start. You are welcome to explore further by scrolling down HERE.

And on the subject of individual foods portion size, I came across as if my magic when writing this today – this great visual representation of typical food portion sizes from the Healthy Food Guide. Just follow this LINK for an A4 downloadable and printable size guide.

Good luck in your portion sizing this week – I hope that answers your questions but please get in touch if you still have a query or you want to share some info you have too: info@nitakothari.com. Is there a better method you use for portion sizing? Do you agree or disagree with the Eatwell Guide? Please let me know in the comments below or share via social: