Portion control

I hate talking about calories, especially counting them. If there is one thing uncertain in life is the true number of calories there is in your dish. According to the FDA, a large sweet potato would provide between 340 to 700 calories. This simple fact says it all. So instead of counting calories and weighing your food – a huge waste of time in my honest opinion –, eyeball it and get used to the amount you have in your dish. Here is a quick guide on portion size.

A serving of protein, which is anything that was alive before, should be the same size as the palm of your hand. A fist represents a serving of veggies and one cupped hand is a serving of carbs such as grains, starches, and fruits. Finally, a serving size of fats would be the size of your thumb.

So, for a man, 2 portions of each in 3-4 meals a day would represent about 2000 to 2500 calories. For a woman, 1 serving size of each in 3-4 meals per day would represent a total of 1500 to 1800 calories.

Calories were never and will never be an exact science. Get used to this technique and eating/meal prepping will be much simpler than taking out your calculator every time you cook.

Coach Eric