That's Fit

As fabulous as we at That's Fit think this blog is, the truth is there are hundreds of wonderful blogs on healthy living to be seen all over the blogosphere. So in this feature, Fit Links, we'll introduce you to some that have caught our eye.

While preparing for a recent camping trip, I decided to splurge and get my kids those little mini boxes of cereal. I remembered using them as a kid and thought they'd get a kick out of them. I was disappointed to discover that you can no longer eat the cereal directly from the box, but what surprised me more was that the boxes were about twice as big as I remember them.

My husband and I began wondering -- what came first? Are the cereal boxes bigger because people eat more now than they did 25 years ago? Or are people bigger now because portion sizes are growing out of control? (Seriously. One of those boxes would not even fit when we poured it into our cereal bowl.) It's all very chicken-and-the-egg.

So when I returned home and saw Mark's post on portion distortion, I laughed out loud. He's thinking the same thing I am! Divine Caroline talks about portion sizes then and now. And Rochelle at A Natural Choice reminds us what portion sizes should look like in the first place.

Got a blog you'd like to see featured on Fit Links? Tell us about it in comments!

Goodness knows I've done it. I'm a terrible emotional eater and, if I don't stop to think, I can easily find myself digging in the cupboard for food. Not to satisfy hunger, but in a futile effort to stuff down some other emotion. (I'm not proud, but there's the truth.) Even if you don't emotionally eat, it's easy to overeat when sitting down to watch a movie and the over-sized bucket of popcorn is right in front of you.

To stop overeating, you have to understand your triggers. AOL Body has some great tips about overeating. Some of the causes:

• Environment. Restaurants invite you to relax, enjoy the environment, and usually order more. Fast food joints super-size your quick meals. Buffets let you eat all you can. Don't succumb to the environment and eat more than you normally would.
  
• Eating by association. You turn on the TV and it's time to snack, right? No! You're supposed to eat when you're hungry, not because your activity dictates it.
  
• Portion distortion. Our eyes play a big role in what we eat. If your plate is over-sized, don't be fooled into thinking the whole plate needs to be filled.

For more causes of overeating and tips on how to stop, check out the AOL Body slideshow.

Portion size can throw your best-laid diet plans off quicker than a bull bucks off a cowboy. We've become so accustomed to super-sized meals and big restaurant portions that we serve up big sizes as a matter of course. For most people, weighing and measuring foods isn't something they can reasonably sustain for the long-term. So the trick is learning to reliably recognize portion sizes by sight. Here are some tips for controlling portion sizes:

• A quick way to check your portion size is to look at your clenched fist. If the food is larger than your fist, you're almost certainly eating more than you need.
  
• When eating at home or at a buffet, choose a small amount to start. Then, eat slowly and enjoy each bite. When you're done, take some time to let your body recognize that you're full. Having an overfilled plate just gives you the temptation to clean your plate like your mom used to preach.
  
• At restaurants, plan on eating only half of your meal and bringing the rest home for later.
• Eat healthy, small mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks. Letting yourself get ravenous will likely lead to overeating.

Find out if you know your portions -- take this fun AOL Body quiz.

We have a saying around my house -- "don't serve up Army-sized portions, just you-sized portions." It's a saying born of necessity. My healthy, athletic son has a tendency to skip lunches and then overeat at night. Overeat to the point that he's sick. During the day I have to remind him to eat and at night I have to make sure he stays reasonable. Luckily, he likes fruits and veggies so it's easy to have him stick to healthy foods, but I want to help him learn healthier eating patterns. He's energetic enough now that he easily burns off any extra calories, but as he grows up his metabolism likely couldn't handle his evening gorge-fests.

I think we all have overeaten from time to time. Goodness knows I have. We take a bit too much from the buffet line, go back for second helpings of a delicious dish, or cut an extra large slice of dessert because it looks so good. Eating past the point of hunger isn't nutritionally necessary. So how do you stop overeating?

Scientists have found two cell proteins that help our stomach muscles relax to make room for a big meal. Called P2Y1 and P2Y11, the proteins control slow and fast relaxation of the stomach. Researchers theorize that a drug could be created to inhibit these proteins, subsequently disallowing the stomach from expanding beyond it's resting size. Think of it as gastric bypass, without all the icky surgery.

You can have the same effect without taking pills, though. Portion control is one of the most important parts of managing your weight. In addition to choosing the right foods, you have to choose the right amounts. Mayo Clinic offers a slide show of portion sizes to help you get started.

When we talk about weight loss, we often mention portion distortion. Controlling portions is key to losing weight, and many portions today are actually super-sized by normal standards.

Figwee, a new calorie counting website, thinks they may have the answer. When you choose a new food and enter it into your food diary, you can manipulate the portion size and actually see it what it physically looks like. So if you had a large piece of chicken for lunch, you can go onto Figwee, judge the size of your meal, and from there approximate the number of calories.

It's a pretty cool gadget for those who are into tracking calories, and very visually attractive. Because it's in its beta stage, you can sign up for free right now and help Figwee's creators test their program.

(via Diet-Blog)

"Give the people what they want." That's what a good friend of mine always says when I complain about the newest high-calorie/high-fat fast food concoction. The latest is Hardee's 920-calorie breakfast burrito with a whopping sixty grams of fat. Ouch.

Touted as a portable big southern breakfast, the burrito has half a day's intake of calories and an entire days worth of fat. The Center for Science in the Public Interest calls the burrito "food porn" and "another lousy invention by a fast food company." Hardee's denies any culpability, claiming that their customers have to buy two sandwiches to fill up at other fast food joints. They're just doing them a favor. Hey Hardee's -- remind me not to ask you to do me any favors, ok?

You've started exercising. You've cut back on fat, salt, and sugar. You've added more fruits and vegetables to your diet, lean proteins, plenty of fiber. You're losing weight -- nothing can stop you now, right? Hopefully, that's true, but there are some diet blunders that can cause major roadblocks on your path to success. Knowing about them ahead of time may help you head them off, so that you can reach that goal weight and have that fit, healthy body you've been waiting for. So what are the five worst "dieting sins"? EDiets has them, and they include:

If you're watching what you eat, then you know all about portion sizes and the tendency to have eyes bigger than your calorie limit. Diet-blog has rounded up a great list of sites to help you more visual dieters eyeball your portions. Whether you're looking for a light snack (around 100 calories) or a more substantial 200-300 calorie filler-upper, these photo collections can help you choose and portion wisely.

These photos also serve as a reminder that, when it comes to calories, you get bang for your calorie buck when you stick to fruits and vegetables. That tiny piece of chocolate may be calling your name, but for the same number of calories you can eat an entire bowl of strawberries and extra nutrition as well.

If you're counting calories, it's important to know your portion sizes. For example, you can look up calories in a broiled chicken breast (approximately 140) and think you did really well. But chicken breasts from your local meat market are likely to be three or four times the standard 3-ounce serving size.

Portionpals® are designed to take the guesswork out of correct portion sizes. A set of five discs, portionpals help you determine the correct portion sizes of meat, chicken, fish, sides, and dessert. Because they're made of silicone, the discs double as cutting boards; simply place your food item on the appropriate disc and cut around the printed outline to serve the correct portion size.

I haven't tried them, but it sounds like a simple, effective product. Portionpals are $17.98 plus shipping and handling for a set of five discs.

When it comes to eating healthy, portion control is key. Eating the right sized servings is important for sure, but so is eating the right amounts of each type of food. That's why diet experts recommend visually dividing your plate before meal time. Half of your plate should hold veggies. The other half should be divided again; one side should hold a portion of meat and the other a portion of grain.

Obviously, when you eat combo foods like casseroles or spaghetti, dividing your plate may be more of a mental exercise. But by loading your plate with veggies and reasonable servings of protein and starch, you'll be sure to get plenty of nutrition without getting too many calories. Check out this website for more easy portion-sizing tricks.

My day-to-day diet is fairly healthy. I eat lots of fruit and veggies, choose whole grain over refined carbs, get calcium from low-fat dairy, avoid red meat, opting for fish and lean cuts of chicken instead and consume moderate amounts of mostly vegetable-based fats. I don't eat fast food, junk food or trans fats. I occasionally indulge with chocolate, fine cheese or wine, but I try to limit this to weekends. I'm pretty active and work out lots. Yet I have trouble losing pounds. Why? Because I suffer from portion distortion -- thinking that because I eat healthy, I can eat as much as I want.

Let's examine some of my typical meals: