Portion Control

Now that we have a pretty good idea of what carbohydrates are—and if you’re still confused refer to the stop light infograph from the previous carb article when meal planning—we can address the cheat code for portion control: YOUR HANDS! They are the proportional and portable food scale that never changes.

For carbohydrate consumption, the typical recommendation for active males -Ones needing a diet of 2,300-3,000 calories with 4/6 meals a day- would consist of 2 cupped handfuls of carbohydrates per meal (ex. rice, pasta, potatoes etc.) as well as two fist sized vegetable portions per meal! I know I just told you veggies are carbs, but we need way more of these carbs, so it’s easier to be held accountable for these by measuring it separately.

For active women with a diet of 1,500-2,100 calories, again eating 4-6 meals a day, 1 cupped handful of carbs, and 1 fist sized portion of veggies, are recommended per meal.

(Precision Nutrition)

As we work through each macronutrient it is important to note that this is NOT the definitive line of how much you should be eating—get to know your body! You may be running every day and needing to bulk up on some carbs. Maybe you're weight lifting or trying to gain weight and need more protein and fat than the average Joe. Perhaps you're living a completely sedentary life, which if you’re in the restaurant please tell me what position would place you into that category because no one is sedentary in a restaurant unless you’re the acoustic set at 3 pm in lagoon bar….even then they probably get a killer forearm workout.

There are several contributing factors in your daily life that determine appropriate consumption for YOU. Everyone is different and getting to know what full feels like, what hunger feels like, how it feels to be deficient in some macronutrients is how you can really succeed in fueling your body for what your day looks like. Unless you are striving for a specific physique in a specific timeline, intuitive eating is your best bet with a little portion control guidance. It's an introspective, trial and error method, but it works and it doesn't require you breaking out a scale at every meal. 

Using your hands as a measuring tool puts how much you’re eating into perspective—how many handfuls of chips can you easily eat, or how many handfuls of pasta are in that big ol’ bowl? I’m sure some of y’all read one handful of carbs per meal and said “yeah, okay, no way” and trust me I get it—again just a guide—buuuuut when you start to eat satiating carbs, one handful can absolutely feel like enough. Satiating foods are foods that keep you full for longer, like oatmeal, fruits, veggies, or quinoa, in the carbohydrate macro group—oh and there will be plenty more information on satiating foods to come—for now take a look at your hands, they’re about to be your new nutritional coach!