What is portion control? How do you do it?

[JITR]

At @everydayupsanddowns request this is a spin off from CurlyWurly's Newcastle Diet thread.

One of my posts in that thread was this:

After the results of the CounterPoint study were released about 15 years ago, Prof. Roy Taylor advised the many who wanted to put their T2D into remission for themselves to follow a portion controlled diet. Soups and shakes were only for professionally supervised medical programmes.

Today Red, Amber and Green dietary food lists provide guidance for portion control.
Examples: Freshwell, Real Meal Revolution, DiaTribe

My comment about food lists providing guidance for portion control was really only a passing comment but it struck me as germane. It elicited this reply (excerpted):

... I'm still not really seeing how they're offering advice on portion control (Seems only 'orange' foods, on one of the lists)...

At the top of the Freshwell document you will find this infographic with this advice above it:
Use the guide below, alongside our low carb food list on the next page, to help you plan your meals



That seems clear enough to me, perhaps only because it is what I do.

What does Prof Taylor's recommendation of a portion control diet mean to you?

 

[beating_my_betes]

In your opinion, what is the purpose of portion control?

 

[pjgtech]

Portion control to me, is to control how much you eat, so that you are not eating too much of any one particular thing. Obviously the more you eat, (quantity), the more cals you are consuming and potentially more fat, more carbs, etc, (depending on the particular food in question).

 

[beating_my_betes]

Portion control to me, is to control how much you eat, so that you are not eating too much of any one particular thing. Obviously the more you eat, (quantity), the more cals you are consuming and potentially more fat, more carbs, etc, (depending on the particular food in question).

Would you say the above chart/infographic is ideal help you to achieve these aims?

 

[JITR]

In your opinion, what is the purpose of portion control?

I do not think of what I do as portion control. Instead I use Cronometer to plan/record what I eat each day and check the totals against my macro-nutrient targets and recommended daily micro-nutrient allowances (e.g. fibre, calcium, iron, folate, vitamins). I have done that since I embarked on my real food version of the Newcastle diet just over two years ago. Keeping protein over 1g per kg of bodyweight turned out to be important for me.

I subsequently discovered Prof Taylor's recommendation about portion control in his paper about the people who wanted to replicate the results of the Counterpoint study for themselves. He gave no further details. I took it to mean eat real food and fill your plate at each meal with portions of protein, vegetables and other carbs within the daily target of 800 calories per day for weight loss, or whatever the target was.

 

[nonethewiser]

Don't do portion control

 

[pjgtech]

Would you say the above chart/infographic is ideal help you to achieve these aims?

I don't use that chart personally, I try to just use common sense to eat a good balanced diet and not eat too much.

 

[JITR]

Don't do portion control

@nonethewiser
Please clarify the ambiguity, between "I don't" and "I don't and you shouldn't" !

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Since diagnosis I was introduced to the concept of ‘carb counting’ as a mechanism for diabetes management alongside insulin doses. In the early days, the instruction was to base meals on ‘Exchanges’ (10g units of carbs). So I had x exchanges for breakfast, y for a snack, and z for lunch etc etc. (I was on mixed insulin to start with as was common at the time).

I could have whatever I liked, as long as the carbs involved totalled my ‘exchanges’ for that meal / snack. I quickly discovered that some meals (a plate of pasta) were going to be MUCH smaller than I’d eaten before. Others (eg a roast dinner) were going to involve more spuds and parsnips than I would have had. And still others (curry and rice) would be similar to what I’d have dished myself up. Plus there were some sources of carbs that didn’t offer ‘value’ in terms of making me feel full (hello breakfast cereal).

Very quickly I moved away from mixed insulin with fixed meal sizes to multiple daily injections where I could vary meal sizes significantly if I wanted, but I more or less stuck to the targets I’d been introduced to initially (approx 40-60 g of carbs per meal).

My reason for sharing this T1 perspective, was that my diabetes experience has pretty much always been about portion control, weighing food, and estimating carb counts by eye. Plus choosing foods / meals that offer good satiety value, and bulking things up with veggies and proteins.

The portion control has (I suspect) had an inherent calorie-limiting effect. And may partly explain why I’m roughly the same weight now as I was in my 20s when diagnosed.

 

[Robin]

I’ve always weighed out portions of raw ingredients that are difficult to judge by eye, rice, pasta, lentils etc, even before I needed to carb count for Diabetes (which helped a lot when I had to start carb counting).
I hate waste, so cooking too much of something and having a bit left over, but not enough for another meal, goes against the grain, either chucking it, or eating it when I really don’t want it, to 'save waste'. (OH and I were both brought up in households where you ate everything on your plate, because food was expensive, and in wartime, rationed, our mothers were both wartime brides), so I always felt the need to get the portion size right. I was amazed when I once met someone from a different background who had been brought up to 'leave something on the side of the plate for Miss Manners'

 

[helli]

I too was bought up to eat everything on my plate but I have never done portion control beyond how it looks on the plate. Plate sizes don't change so I continue to eat the same amount as I did in my 20s (maybe less because I shared a student house with a group of ravenous young men).
I have clothes from those times which I still fit into. I don't know if I weigh the same - didn't bother with scales as a student but I am the same weight as I was when I started going to the gym more than 20 years ago.
I am lucky - I like colourful fruit and veg more than the carby part of my meal which I always thought was there to fill me up or the fatty part which is too greasy, I struggle to keep still (so always burning calories) and I come from a slim family so either I have slim genes or I inherited my tastes of "healthier" foods.
If I have ever noticed a slight paunch starting to appear, I do more ab work at the gym rather than changing my diet - inches mean more to me than lbs.

I know I am unusual - I can see that when I struggle to buy clothes small enough to fit me (I am average height and in the healthy BMI range so I am not skinny). But I wanted to included my experience to show that portion control is not needed or the right approach for everyone. We are all different.

 

[rebrascora]

I too was brought up to clean my plate, even if there was stuff on it I wasn't all that keen on. The phrase...."There are children in the world who are starving" was often used if we complained we didn't like something. I take pride in being able to eat most things as a result, so I thank my Mam for that valuable lesson.
Dad on the other hand got away with being very picky about food, not liking onions in anything even though he grew prize winning onions the size of footballs in the garden! Mam had to make two meals sometimes as he wouldn't eat hotpot or stews.

I don't weigh anything in order to carb count, I just guess everything and correct later. I really can't remember the last time I used my scales. I love Libre for allowing me to do this. It takes so much strain and effort out of my diabetes management. Yes, it might mean a small injection later or perhaps a jelly baby but one is obviously quite pleasant and the other is no big deal in the scheme of things.

 

[nonethewiser]

@nonethewiser
Please clarify the ambiguity, between "I don't" and "I don't and you shouldn't" !

I don't.

 

[CliffH]

I don't use that chart personally, I try to just use common sense to eat a good balanced diet and not eat too much.

I guess a problem with the phrase "common sense" is that it can mean very different things to different people. Also, what may be "common sense" for (some) non-diabetics isn't necessarily helpful for people with (different types of) diabetes.

 

[JITR]

I don't.

Thanks.

 

[Drummer]

It does rather seem to echo the 'you only got fat/diabetes/this illness because you ate too much' attitude.

I learned recently that one of my relatives was treated as an alcoholic and sent to 'detox' several times, then was barred from running a pub and dismissed by his GP practice. When he died unexpectedly he was found to have liver flukes they think came from his cousin's sheep farm, but everyone just assumed.....

 

[beating_my_betes]

I do not think of what I do as portion control. Instead I use Cronometer to plan/record what I eat each day and check the totals against my macro-nutrient targets and recommended daily micro-nutrient allowances (e.g. fibre, calcium, iron, folate, vitamins). I have done that since I embarked on my real food version of the Newcastle diet just over two years ago. Keeping protein over 1g per kg of bodyweight turned out to be important for me.

I subsequently discovered Prof Taylor's recommendation about portion control in his paper about the people who wanted to replicate the results of the Counterpoint study for themselves. He gave no further details. I took it to mean eat real food and fill your plate at each meal with portions of protein, vegetables and other carbs within the daily target of 800 calories per day for weight loss, or whatever the target was.

Unless I'm misremembering you posted the three links in connection with the idea of portion control. And it's that which I was querying (Only one link gives a slight nod to portion control, but it's more explicit than normal).
Do you disagree that these charts are not really about portion control?

 

[beating_my_betes]

I don't use that chart personally, I try to just use common sense to eat a good balanced diet and not eat too much.

Not to be pedantic, but in this context what do you mean by common sense and "good balanced diet"?

 

[Satan’s little helper]

At @everydayupsanddowns request this is a spin off from CurlyWurly's Newcastle Diet thread.

One of my posts in that thread was this:


My comment about food lists providing guidance for portion control was really only a passing comment but it struck me as germane. It elicited this reply (excerpted):


At the top of the Freshwell document you will find this infographic with this advice above it:
Use the guide below, alongside our low carb food list on the next page, to help you plan your meals

View attachment 33452

That seems clear enough to me, perhaps only because it is what I do.

What does Prof Taylor's recommendation of a portion control diet mean to you?

Looking at this chart, it’s the choices we make & enjoy in our household anyway. (Apart from Quorn or tofu.)

 

[Leadinglights]

It does rather seem to echo the 'you only got fat/diabetes/this illness because you ate too much' attitude.

I learned recently that one of my relatives was treated as an alcoholic and sent to 'detox' several times, then was barred from running a pub and dismissed by his GP practice. When he died unexpectedly he was found to have liver flukes they think came from his cousin's sheep farm, but everyone just assumed.....

A bit like people assuming that somebody who dies from lung cancer is because of smoking yet I know of 3 people who did and never smoked in their lives.