Do the words “portion” and “proportion” automatically mean
anything to you? It took me a while to understand what they meant as well as
why both are important to pay attention to when planning meals and menus as
part of a healthy lifestyle. It is all about what a balanced meal looks like
including the foods that make up the meal as well as the amounts of those foods
that are best for us for eating healthy and not overeating.
When I started on my journey to live a healthier lifestyle I
hadn’t a clue about what a portion was or that portions were actually different
sizes for the different food groups. Ask most Americans today if they know what
the correct serving size is for a particular food…like mashed potatoes…and they
will not be able to tell you. The answers are not readily evident in our
culture. That is why we have portion distortion. There are resources but you have to search them out and find
them. That is why I created Livliga. Once I realized that what I was being
served in restaurants or buying in grocery stores were portions made up of many
serving sizes I knew I needed a mindful tool to help guide me to serving up right sized meals.
A great resource for understanding serving sizes is the USDA
and the MyPlate.Gov website. There
are many tools to help you organize and plan your calorie intake, daily meals
and overall fitness. One of the fun interactive areas of the website is the quizzes offered to teach and test
your knowledge about the various food groups. Livliga is proud to be one of The
National Strategic Partners of the USDA. We are a great product to use in
concert with the education and information MyPlate.gov offers.
Proportions have everything to do with providing our bodies
with the combination of foods that help our body run at its optimal level. The
classic proportion guide is the variety of plates that are divided up into quadrants.
They show you relatively how much of each type of food you should be eating
compared to the other foods represented on your plate. Unfortunately, depending
on the size of your plate you may be good on proportions of foods but not on
the serving amounts for each food. Livliga dinnerware addresses both proportions and portions so you can serve up a right-sized balanced meal that looks
plentiful and leaves you feeling satisfied at the end of a meal. Feeling
satisfied is key to eating healthy long term as part of a healthy lifestyle.
Proportions and portions are the cornerstones of eating
healthy, balanced meals. To be successful long term it is important to embrace
both concepts. Sounds like way too much work, right? It was for me until I
landed on the idea for the VisualQs philosophy
that ultimately became Livliga, a simple tool for a healthy lifestyle.
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