Watch your budget and your waistline

One of the best ways to improve your diet and your food budget is portion control!  

As Americans, we eat very large portions.  Think steak house dinner with a 12 or 16oz steak for one person, served with a huge baked potato.  This is after your appetizer of bread and salad, and maybe even a bloomin' onion or baked potato skins.  All of which is way more food than any one person needs in one sitting.  The steak alone exceeds one person's protein portion for the entire day! 

By learning proper portion sizes and using portion control in your eveyday life, not only will you cut your food costs, but you will also cut down on your waist line!   That 12oz steak dinner could be shared with someone else at the dinner table, and you split the bill.  In fact, you could even split a 6 oz steak and get the proper amount of protein needed with an even smaller price tag.  You save on cost, and calories. Don't forget it will also save you from that horrible feeling of being overly full.  

Get started today by watching how big your portions are while eating.  Think your portions are alright, consider comparing them to recommendations by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans or Choose Your Plate. You may be surprised at how far off your portions are compared to what you should be eating.  For example, a baked potato should be the size of a computer mouse… not the size of your plate.