Kasia the Expert

      I recently had a discussion with my coworkers about the importance of managing weight by eating reasonably sized food portions. We all agreed that portion control is a key element to weight management; however, none of us could agree on what a reasonable sized portion looks like. How do you determine what portion is right for you?

Food portions should really go hand-in-hand with your individual caloric needs. The appropriate calorie level is based on your height, weight, age, gender and activity level. For a quick estimate of how many daily calories you need check out this Health Calculator.

Once you have an estimate of your daily caloric needs there are some simple shortcuts you can try to estimate how much food to consume. For example, three ounces of lean meat or poultry roughly looks like a deck of cards and contains about 165 calories. There must be another way, however, to estimate portions without using a tennis ball, a fist or a bar of soap to help visualize the amount of calories of your favorite food.

After an interesting exchange of ideas of our favorite ways to keep an eye on portions, my coworkers and I agreed that the simplest way is to eat our favorite prepared entrees, such as Healthy Choice frozen meals or Fresh Mixers. These products offer "automatic" portion control. There is no need to guess the amount of food I'm eating and the total calories can be found right on the package. An added bonus to including a prepared meal or entree for lunch or dinner is that over time, most people can judge what constitutes a reasonable portion by comparing it to the right-size portions in the healthy prepared meals they've eaten.

      Orville Redenbacher SmartPop! 94% Fat Free popcorn is my favorite snack. I realize I've written about popcorn many times before because of it's excellent nutritional attributes such as,  a perfect, 100% whole grain snack. Why is this important? According to MyPyramid.gov fiber-containing foods, including whole grains, help provide a feeling of fullness with fewer calories. There are other reasons why I consider SmartPop! popcorn my favorite snack. Usually, when I try to eat healthier the process of healthful snacking seems unpleasant and full of compromises. I find SmartPop! popcorn tasty and satisfying for very few calories.

For example, do you ever wonder how much SmartPop 94% Fat Free popcorn you can eat compared to other better-for-you snacks with the same amount of calories? How about 220 kernels of SmartPop! popcorn (about 6 cups) is similar to six tortilla chips or 13 cashew nuts. I don't know about you, but I would much rather snack on 6 cups of my favorite popcorn than six tortilla chips.

Bottom line for me, with SmartPop! I get a tasty snack for very few calories and it comes in a 100-calorie mini bags so I know exactly how many calories I'm getting when I finish the entire bag!

     With the New Year upon me, I'd like to start a little differently by taking a more realistic approach in efforts to avoid committing to all sorts of resolutions that ultimately won't stick come March.  After all, most Americans agree that they'd like to change their lifestyle--according to International Food and Information Council 2009 Food & Health Survey, although half of Americans view their diet as healthful, the majority (78 percent) are trying to lose or maintain their weight primarily by changing the amount or type of food they eat or by exercising, however, sticking to New Year's resolutions year-round can be challenging.  In order to maintain a healthy lifestyle every day, where will I start?  By building off of positive activities and habits I already enjoy regularly and modifying those, rather than diving into a whole new list.  For example, I enjoy regular exercise a great deal--however, I struggle with keeping the variety alive in my workouts.  Therefore, I'm going to try two things:  1) get more creative by trying new types of exercise-I've always wanted to learn how to horseback ride and partake in hip hop dance class and 2)  modify the length of my daily sweat sessions-right now, I spend a solid 45 minutes a day swimming and running, so I'll up it to 60-90 minutes a few days per week.

     I suppose that in striving for no New Year's resolution, I've inadvertently created one:  to take a more realistic approach when it comes to my health.  The mark of the New Year doesn't have to mean drastic lifestyle changes, necessarily.  Sticking to what you like and gradually modifying it each week can help you achieve ultimately what most strive for at the turn of each year:  a healthy lifestyle all year round.

Cheers!