Eating With The 90/10 Rule

We have been working hard with eating more fruits and vegetables, learning about food labels and portion sizes. But every so often the craving for a cookie or a piece of candy comes your way. You may feel that you can never have these indulgences again. The good news is if you are craving a piece of cake, you can eat one. It is not sustainable or realistic to think that you can never have sweets. Deprivation never works, but including all foods does.

The way to counter deprivation but still practice healthy eating habits is by using the 90/10 rule. This means that 90 percent of the time you eat healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grain and lean meats in the prescribed portions. The remaining 10 percent you can eat sweets and other high fat favorite foods. The best time to use your 10 percent is during the holidays, parties and other special occasions—and those times you crave your favorite cookie. During these times be aware of portions—this is not a food fest. Avoid eating until you are stuffed; you will not enjoy eating these foods and may end up feeling guilty for eating so much.

The other 90 percent of your everyday life will be filled with healthy food choices. Consistency is the key. Eating these healthy foods for life will keep you feeling great and stave off diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. Staying in this ratio will help ensure that you are eating healthy foods for most of your life but you are still able to enjoy your favorite foods.

Healthy Action Step: Make a list of your all time favorite foods. Have you eliminated these foods from your diet? If so, work on incorporating them into your healthy eating plan.

No More Portion Distortion

Along with our discussion of the plate method, the next piece of the portion puzzle is how to judge the amount of each food to eat. Portion size is an important part of any weight loss plan. It is easy to say “choose one cup of cereal” or “choose a half cup of pasta,” but it can be more difficult to be able see how big that really is. There are two easy ways to estimate how big your portion is--use everyday items as portion guides and limit the size of your plate

The general guidelines are as follows:

1 cup = one baseball
½ cup = one lightbulb
¼ cup = one golf ball
2 tablespoons = two poker chips or one golf ball
1 tablespoon = one poker chip

1 ½ oz of cheese = three stacked dice (about the size of you thumb)
3 oz of meat = a deck of standard playing cards
3 oz of any type of fish = one checkbook
1 muffin or biscuit (about 3 oz) = one hockey puck
1 oz of lunch meat = one compact disc

1 brownie = a dental floss package
1 slice of cake= a deck of cards
1 cookie = two poker chips

Plate size is also an important consideration when choosing how much food to take. Plates have grown by 4-6 inches over the last 30 years, and we want to fill them up with food. When deciding what size plate to use, choose one that is about 7-9 inches wide, excluding the rim. Bowls should be about 6-7 inches across. Be sure to use the same plates and bowls consistently.

Use these guidelines, along with the plate method, when choosing how much food to put on your plate and you will see changes in how you look and feel.

For more information, visit www.healthyeating.webmd.com.

Healthy Action Step: Measure the diameter of your plates. How many are 7-9 inches across? Use those plates most often when using the portion guidelines above.