I wanted to share a trick I do that helps me eat less of the food with higher calorie counts during dinner. I will often buy the bag of salad from the grocery store that is mostly lettuce, carrots and a little bit or purple cabbage. I’ll add Kraft fat free shredded cheese, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Then use fat free salad dressing. Basically, this salad is a nearly ideal: low calorie and completely fat free.
There are two things I’ll do to leverage the salad to make my dinner healthier.
1. The bag of salad plus my additions equals 3 servings. My wife gets one bowl, I eat two.
2. After we eat our salads, I usually leave a 10 minute gap before the rest of dinner is ready. We usually eat on the island counter in the kitchen, so I can transition from eating to cooking pretty easily.
What these two things do is by eating the double portion of salad and then having the 10 minute gap I end up more full before we start eating the main course. So I eat less of it.
I have always had a big appetite. I know if eating healthy is always leaving me wanting more food, there will be a day where this will be hard to sustain. I want to be full, eating things I enjoy. The key for me is changing the portions to eat more of the food that is best for me and less of the meats and breads.