Why Should We Use Portion Control Bowls

by | Oct 10, 2011 | Health Habits, Nutrition Support, Uncategorized

Portion Control bowls are best and cheapest way to cut the flab, as they are highly effective in controlling the quantum of food we consume. They are cute, well-designed, made from ceramic, porcelain, plastic or melamine. The porcelain ones are ideal because they are graceful and blend well with your existing dinnerware.  A portion control bowl holds precisely 18oz of food and is the ideal ‘do not exceed’ quantity for fruit, soups, etc.

Briefly, porcelain portion control bowls are ideal because:

  1. They hold precisely 18oz – a nutritionist approved quantity that is ideal to provide all the required nourishment from that particular food group.
  2. A full bowl makes it appear as if the person is having the usual quantity they were used to eating while eating the right amount of food in practice.
  3. The bowl is elegant and blends very well with the existing dinnerware.

More importantly, portion control bowls break into old habits.

Our experience proved that it was tough to break an old habit – especially one that has been honed into a fine art. Take my brother Jeff for example; no sooner he gets home from his workplace, he opens the cabinet, picks out a can of soup, opens and eat it all while watching his favourite ball game on TV. He calls it ‘multi-tasking’. “I see the ball game and have my soup – two–in-one. I’m a multi-tasker,” he says playfully. Although he has the basic structure, weighing at over 200 lbs, he could hardly qualify for a Mr. America title. All the cans of soup we have contain two portions i.e. they are meant for two healthy American adults.

Portion control bowls succeed where age old methods fail.

Age-old methods such as leaving a diet book on Jeff’s bed, sticking a diet poster next to the TV, etc. did not seem to work. He had become impervious to our schemes but fortunately, a routine visit to our family physician and the portion control bowls changed all that.

Our family physician mentioned portion control bowls as the perfect and most inexpensive way to regulate the quantum of food we consume. Instead of allowing Jeff to pick a tin of soup and eat direct from the tin, he recommended we initially hide the tins, open one, pour half the contents into a container, heat it a bit and then serve it to Jeff in a 18oz portion control bowl.

There are different types of portion control bowls.

Initially I purchased the plastic ones but I soon discarded these as they looked somewhat cheap and also, I could see Jeff was not too happy with them. I then purchased these lovely porcelain portion control bowls online. Now Jeff not only loves using the Portion Control bowls, he also loves the vegetable and parsley garnishing that I add on top of the soup. Guess what, we also spend less on soup because each can now lasts for two days. Of course, soup is not the only thing Jeff eats. On our part, we have decided to tackle one thing at a time. We already got Jeff eating a reduced quantum of soup. Other foods we will tackle in due course.

Here’s how portion control bowls work.

When we put the soup into 18oz Portion Control bowls, the bowls immediately appear full. Top the soup with garnishing and it appears overfull. In reality, Jeff was only eating half the usual quantity. A neat, inexpensive trick that works wonders for people who love eating.