Food Portions

 

Why Calories and Portions?

Trying to lose weight? Want to get rid of that gut, or fit into those clothes you love, or wisely want to be prepared early (read healthily!) for the summer? Well you need to forget about all of those short lived fad diets that severely and simplistically restrict the number of calories or types of food you can eat - they just don’t work...

As you will know (but like most of us, you will probably not want to accept!), reputable studies have shown again and again that they are not just ineffective in the long-term as you will gain back any weight you lost, but even worse, you will more than likely to end up heavier.

It is critical to understand that when trying to lose weight and then maintain your weight loss, that food is not your problem - it’s all in your mind and in your eyes. Deciding how much food you need (your mind), and recognizing visually what a correct portion is (your eyes) is what will make your diet a success.

Fanatical counting calories, crash dieting, and unscientific food exclusion diets such as low carb - high protein, cabbage-only or such like are not just impossible to maintain and often unhealthy, but have the inevitable result that you gain back any weight you have lost. Not what you want!

Portion control along with exercise are quite simply the facts of life with regards weight loss and good health. Enjoying our food is a most natural and wonderful part of our lives. Eating is sociable, enjoyable, and let’s face it - irresistible! We enjoy food. Consequently, when you eliminate much of it, or make it into a burdensome science, you make ‘food’ your problem - it is then guaranteed to become impossibly tempting! Losing weight then becomes a dark shadow that seems to hang over your life. What works is actually quite simple - portion control, nutritional balance, and ... exercise.

Big problems have developed over the years.

1. Servings have grown, grown, and then grown more! What would have been viewed as excessive 30 years ago is now becoming the norm.
2. As food has become much more processed its nutritional quality has reduced. Snacks have changed from an apple or healthy natural option to a fast-food monster snack, a packet of chemically enhanced fatty and addictive treats, or a high calorie biscuit. Even many low fat yogurts are high in sugar (but you won’t be told that on their marketing!)
3. We are becoming less and less active.

Put these three facts together and you have the most effective recipe for weight gain - serious weight gain. However, its not all bad news! If we understand why you gain weight, then the solution becomes easier. But, we know it still does not become easy! 

We have been trained to eat huge portions, We are offered a mega-serving for little more than a minor serving, a super-size coffee rather than a standard size, a portion of chips that is three times bigger than 20 years ago, a mega-burger rather than a standard burger, and on and on it goes. We are provided with all manner of aids that stop lifestyle-exercising (the car, home food deliveries, internet shopping - to name just a few). No more do we grow our own vegetables, we phone up for them to be delivered; no more do we walk around the shops looking for that bargain, or that particular item of clothing we want - we order online with a free returns policy; no more do we walk to see our friends around the corner - we drive or call a taxi; no more do we get up to change TV channels - we press a button on the remote control And on and on it goes.

Losing weight then becomes a moving target. Food becomes our enemy, and exercise is viewed as torture. Our demanding lives can’t take yet another activity. But the truth is that by learning portion control, and making subtle changes in how we do things so as to introduce lifestyle-exercising, we can succeed where others fail.

You don’t need to obsess over calories, or join a gym. With portion control and lifestyle exercising you can lose weight in the same way you put it on - ‘lb by lb’. Lose weight slowly and your body will work with you, lose weight quickly and your body will rebel - and we all know who will win!

The Adams Diet is based on the guidance by the government body, NICE (National institute of Clinical Excellence). This is a real-world, healthy, lifestyle diet  that will reward you with long term success. It is not a weight loss system that sets you up to fail, or one that that harms your body. It is proper science and designed to fit into busy lives.

Helping you know what a meal ought to look like, food is put into portions. For example:

• a portion of fish or meat is about the size of a pack of playing cards.
• a portion of milk is around 220ml.
• A medium potato should be the size of a computer mouse.
• One portion of cheese should be the size of a small matchbox.
• One cup of pasta is the size of a baseball.

Eating using the portion pot measurements will give you a quick and foolproof way of eating right. However, we know that this will not work with all foods and amounts. For this reason we have made the intake section work in grams - and you can still use portions (see the gram/portion measure page).

The intake section is fantastic as it shows your:

• Portion intake.
• Calorie intake.
• Total calories eaten.
• Warnings when you exceed your healthy guide.

Solving the problem of poor nutrition we have allocated food into groups and given you the correct number of portions for each group. This means that you don’t have to worry about  having a healthy diet - we will show you!

But, you may be asking, “how do you decide which food groups foods go into?” Well this is both easy and challenging! Some foods are obvious, a carrot is a vegetable, steak is protein, milk is dairy, bread is starchy carbohydrate, oil is fat, sugar is well sugar! And for foods or meals that come from different food groups we allocate this for you. So, our web system does will provide you with a visual guide that helps you understand and control you food types - thus ensure optimum nutrition, not just reduced calories. With this diet you won’t be fooled!

However, there is nothing we can do for the big problem of exercise! Just  advise and encourage you - that’s your responsibility!! What we do know is that once you have introduced exercise into your lifestyle for a few weeks, you will really experience the benefits and believe it or not, can enjoy it!

A word of caution!

We are sure you will want to lose weight NOW - and the more the better! But effectiveness is not about speed, it’s about the end result. Losing weight quickly may seem to be effective, but putting it back just as quickly makes it a failure. One of the big diet deceptions is a focus upon quick weight loss without admitting that quick weight gain will follow! This is just a sales ploy to take your money. An effective diet is one that guides you how to lose weight in a manner that does not promote weight gain when you reach your optimum weight.