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Diet programs that rely of prepackaged meals can seem like nothing but expensive exercises in teaching you to control food portions. While there is no doubt that people have seen impressive successes on such programs, a little bit of work and some inexpensive kitchen equipment can produce the same end results of teaching good portion control habits at a fraction of the cost.

To control portion sizes, first get the proper equipment. An inexpensive digital kitchen scale and a set of measuring cups will go a long way in controlling portion sizes if you spend a few weeks measuring and weighing everything you eat, to be sure you are not fudging on exactly how much fudge you ate. There are all sorts of tricks to estimating proper portion size by visually comparing the food portion to another object, but a deck of cards tends to look a lot bigger when you are estimating the size of a portion of meat. Weigh out individual portions, and measure before cooking. Consider portioning out individual serving sizes of foods straight from the grocery store, before they even hit the pantry or refrigerator and definitely when you are not hungry, to make fixing portion controlled snacks and meals convenient.

One of the pitfalls of controlling food portions is that the recommended serving sizes can seem tiny. Using smaller dishes creates the illusion of larger portions. Dinner plates are 10 to 11 inches in diameter. According to basic geometry, that is at least 76 square inches begging to be filled at mealtime. Cutting down to an 8-inch plate cuts mealtime real estate down to 50 square inches. Fill both, and the larger plate would hold half again as much as the smaller one. The smaller sized plates, from 7 to 9 inches diameter, are often sold as "Luncheon plates" and most dish manufacturers sell them by the piece to coordinate with existing tablewear patterns.

Likewise, consider downsizing bowls. Cereal and soup bowls hold around 2 cups. While that is fine for corn flakes, at 150 calories per 1 1/2 cup portion, a quarter cup portion of granola-also 150 calories-will look positively meager in that bowl, and meager portions are unsatisfying no matter what the nutrition label says. Check out the kitchenware section for ramekins and condiment cups for serving controlled portions of higher-calorie foods. It is even possible to find decorative, fluted condiment cups that are the perfect size for a single scoop of ice cream.

When learning to control portions, it is important to never feel deprived. Give yourself permission to go back for seconds, if you are truly hungry after finishing firsts. Cutting back to one scrambled egg for breakfast is easier, psychologically, if you know that you can always go back and scramble another egg if the first did not fill you up. Just make sure what you are feeling really is hunger. If what you are feeling is not hunger, but rather a desire to continue eating because the dish was so delicious, remind yourself that another plateful will not taste any better than the last.

That principle holds true with desserts, as well. The sixth bite of chocolate does not taste any better than the first five, so give good, hard thought to why you want to take another bite. Some foods are eaten purely for enjoyment, so make sure to enjoy every morsel.

With proper portion control, no food needs to be off limits.

Learn more about this author, Janet Harriett.
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