Portion Control Plates & Bowls for Weight Loss
Weight gain has been such a problem over the last few years with limited recreation and much of our lives on hold. It is our environment and our behaviour that contributes to weight gain. By that we mean, the food available, but also the way the people around us are eating, the way the people in our virtual environment seem to be eating - including advertising, entertainment viewing and social media, shape our perception of what is normal or acceptable. Add to that some cultural factors, physical activity habits and chemicals in our environment changing our metabolism, it can be an overwhelming problem.
Taking control of your own environment is key. The plates, bowls, cups, glasses, utensils, serving bowls and even the cookbooks in your own home play a role in determining how much you will eat. Whilst it is a jungle out there, make it a nurturing and supportive environment at home.
Maintaining effective portion control with the right tools: introducing the portion plate and kit
When you’re looking to lose weight, your food intake is crucial to the success of your weight loss program. Evidence suggests that food intake makes more of a contribution to weight loss than exercise does, but exercise certainly creates a good metabolism and a healthy body. Exercise has even been found to make favourable changes to gut bacteria. You can easily eat 500 Calories of eg. 100g chocolate in 5 minutes, but it would take most of us over an hour to burn that off. That’s why the food side of the equation is so important when it comes to losing weight or keeping it off.
But it’s not just what you put in your mouth. It’s how much you eat; the portion sizes. Maintaining effective portion control – consistently serving the right amount for your needs is easy when you stock right-sized tools in your kitchen. Using a healthy eating portion plate is a great place to start.
“I could see that my ideas and advice were working for my clients but needed to find a way to get this valuable yet simple message to all Australians. I did it in pictures and ensured that the reader had the actual plate and bowl used in the pictures so they couldn’t go wrong.”
- Amanda Clark, Advanced APD.
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The Complete Portion Perfection Tool Kit
Portion plates allow you to better regulate your food intake, providing you with easy-to-understand visual cues that highlight the recommended portion sizes for both men and women. Our diet plate and bowl make maintaining a healthy diet easy and manageable; the calorie controlled portion sizes for effective weight management are clearly indicated for your convenience. The Australian portion plates are a part of the Complete Portion Perfection tool kit which includes Amanda Clark's book 'Portion Perfection', 1 plate & 1 bowl (available in both Melamine and Porcelain), 4 Week Weight Loss Menu Plan and the current Australian Healthy Snack Bible. Amanda Clark has written Portion Perfection to help us regain portion control by being aware of quantity and being selective in the products we buy. With over 20 years of experience, Amanda has determined our most commonly prepared and bought meals and foods, and through careful analysis, determined exactly what is the right amount for us to maintain a healthy weight.
Portion Perfection now has a complete suite of tools to help you carry out consistent daily action when it comes to portion control. By using the right sized plates, bowls, snack containers, meal prep containers and recipes you serve the intended amount without having to think too much about it. When you have to make conscious decisions to eat less 6 times per day you reach a level of decision fatigue which sets you up to make poorer decisions based on old behaviours you had been trying to change.
The Portion Perfection kit-n-karry lunch bag is a great way to manage your food intake on the go. It’s perfect for work or a day out. The kit consists of an attractive insulated lunch bag plus an ice brick, small headed cutlery to encourage slow, mindful eating, a serrated spreader knife - perfect for spreading avocado and just sharp enough to slice a tomato but not pointy enough to damage you or your bag, a meal prep container ( there’s one for men, women and children and another for those who have had bariatric surgery), snack containers and a napkin. There’s even a space to carry your own water bottle. There is a place for everything in this stylish and compact lunchbag. Every component comes with guidance so you can’t get it wrong.
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The purple Portion Perfection Book is a pictorial guide showing you how much food is right to eat for any meal or snack. The book contains guides for men, women and children. There’s also an orange one for those who have had bariatric surgery.
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The Portion Control Plate is designed to guide you towards a main meal which is balanced in nutrients and controlled in calories (comes with a how-to-use booklet). The Porti-Prepper (or the Bari-Prepper for those who have had bariatric surgery) is your plate.
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The Portion Control Bowl has been created to provide portion guidance for cereals, soups, stews and desserts and shows cup measures on the inside so there’s no weighing and measuring - just pour your cereal to the right level in the bowl.
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The Healthy Snack Bible is a handy, pocket sized, quick reference to those 'everyday' and 'occasional' snack foods in 100 calorie (420kj) and 200 calorie (840kj) portions. The Portion Perfection Snacker is also an easy way to carry your fresh snacks.
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The 4 Week Weight Loss Menu Plan helps take the guesswork out of managing weight including 4 weeks 3 flexible versions of menu plans for the whole family, easy to follow recipes with visual guides, everyday ingredients found in your local supermarket and a comprehensive shopping list.
Frequently Asked Questions for our Portion Control Plates
A tool that guides how much of which type of food to serve to make a healthy meal. The value is that it doesn’t only serve as an educational tool but it is your actual dinner plate. The most effective portion plates have very noticeable designs and guidance so it sends a message to you very clearly about whether your meal fits the model or not. Some portion plates only hint at dividing up your plate and these fast become just a design rather than a dietary guide.
The normal portion of a food is the amount that most people eat at one time. Unfortunately this is strongly influenced by the size of the packet or container the food is usually served in or the portion size chosen by food outlets. It is different from the ideal or healthy portion of food. This depends on the nutritional benefits of the food and the calorie density.
Many people ask whether it is a good idea to eat unlimited amounts of salad at meals. Whilst this is a good idea if you are very hungry but also trying to limit your calorie or kilojoule intake, I generally recommend limiting to 2 densely packed cups. This is because eating large volumes of any food trains the stomach to anticipate or actually need similarly large volumes to feel satisfied. The problem with this comes when you are presented with meals without salad or low starch vegetables such as lasagne. You are likely to need larger volumes of the lasagne to feel satisfied without the large volumes of salad you are used to.
Dinner plates have increased in size significantly over the decades. The evidence is that the larger plate you eat from, the more food you serve on it and the more you serve, the more you eat. Simple but true. I recommend a 10 inch or 25cm diameter dinner plate and our plates are designed to demonstrate two distinct portion sizes on the one plate. One for weight loss for men and one for weight loss for women. There’s also indicators for weight maintenance amounts for men and women.
Portion sizes vary based on food type and your personal needs. For example, when you use a 10 inch or 25 cm diameter portion plate, and you fill just the base, 3/4 inch or 2cm deep with 1/4 protein, 1/4 carbohydrate, 1/2 salad or low starch vegetables and 1tsp oil, you have 350 Cals / 1400 kJ which is the right portion size for women aiming to lose weight. If you fill out to the edge of the plate in the same pattern you have 450 Cals / 1800kJ which is the right amount for men aiming to lose weight.
What are the different portion sizes for your plate?
Dietitians Australia recommends these portions for a main meal:
*This however is dependent on whether you have had Bariatric Surgery or not. Here are the portion size specifications for each plate:
| Product Information | Portion Plate | Bariatric Plate |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | 25cm diameter | 20cm diameter |
| Weight | 120g | 110g |
| Materials | Melamine or Porcelain | Melamine or Porcelain |
| Divisions | ¼ Protein, ¼ Carbs, ½ Free Veg | ½ Protein, ½ Free Veg, optional carbs |
| Total volume | Women: 3 cups, Men: 4 cups | 1 cup |
| Manufacturer | ||
| Creator | ||
Join over 100,000 others using Portion Perfection Products, which are used and recommended by Dietitians around the nation. Choose between both the normal portion plate and bariatric portion plate ranges below.
Contact us today at Great Ideas in Nutrition for more information or get your very own Portion Perfection Products and feel confident to eat everything on your plate today!
