Portions?
A user emailed this question and I would like to answer it here:
"Some of the menu items do not tell you how much fluid is needed to cook the item. I used the instructions on the lentil package when cooking the "lamb & lentil stew" recipe and have enough for two weeks. I am trying to figure out what a portion size is for many of the food items, and how big the salad should be. On the shopping list it stated 2 heads of 2 different lettuces. In the basic staple recipes, the Enlita Super salad states to start with 2 cups of lettuce and/or greens then add another cup of various vegetables, etc. Is this supposed to be for the week, two days or one salad?"
If the portion sizes have thus far been unclear, we apologize for this and are taking steps to correct this issue in the menus/recipes. Please continue to ask questions/provide feedback as we are in the early stages of the program and want to be able to correct any glitches...
As for the salads, we recommend you eat at least 4 cups of vegetables, mostly low starch vegetables, each day. The directions in the staple recipes are for one salad, but if you are making up a salad to use over several days, obviously you would need greater amounts of everything. Taking into account the other veggies you are eating throughout the day, your Enlita super salad could therefore have 2 cups of greens and 1 additional cup of other veggies, or fewer greens and more other veggies...it's up to you. As I mentioned, we're in the midst of updating the menus to reflect more detail about portions, but since everyone is different, portion sizes will vary somewhat for each individual. If you find that the shopping lists are calling for way more produce than you can use in a week, please do let us know- best is to post it here in this forum.
Dr. Winnie Abramson
I am learning to listen to my body and recognize when I have had just enough to eat, when I am full, etc.
Me, too, Mamacabbage :wink: I suffer from the starving children in China syndrome . . . however, I can now leave food on my plate and THROW IT AWAY.
Don't you think it would be valuable to have a portion size listed to reference while you are transitioning? For example, my cousin, who hasn't come on board with Enlita yet (unfortunately) is a great example. She believes having a "portion" means "dishing it up on your plate". It can be piled high and actually equate to SEVERAL portions. I cannot understand how she can eat that much or where she puts it all, but the point is, her perception of a "portion" is broken! She NEEDS reference points and even then I am not sure she'll get it.
Sometimes the portion sizes are too much for me, sometimes they are not enough.
Right there with ya! What I am trying to focus on is getting enough veggies in and an adequate level of protein/fat. Through understanding portion sizes and good point of reference, I realized I was not eating enough protein. I still weigh it out with how hungry I am and how I feel while eating, but I at least know how much of what gives me a healthy portion. I want to be careful and deliberate in what I eat, because even though I have been a healthy eater food choice-wise (by Enlita standards) for over 20 years, I have still continued to gain weight.
Two salmon roll-ups (fairly large lettuce leaves full) is plenty for me for one meal and I am not hungry for about 3 hours, but a large dinner plate heaped with vegetables will leave me feeling hungry an hour later. I suspect I am a protein type based on my experiences of listening to my body.
I suspected that I also was a protein type, but keep coming up with "mixed type" results to quizzes and such, so I don't know. It usually takes me all morning to eat one salmon roll up (they are great, aren't they?) and yes! I, too, am hungry after a veggie plate! I have noticed that the amount of protein I eat before my body tells me I am FULL, really tells me how hungry I am. Sometimes I can only eat ONE BITE of protein, sometimes I want a half a cup or more. I don't seem to get the same indications from veggies, so I start with my protein :).
Anyway, I appreciate your comments and friendship! You seem to be doing well and losing weight, and that is encouraging to me!
Dawn
Because so many people are having trouble with the portion size, I just had to say that I am not having any trouble. :D
I'll share this, in case it is helpful to anyone. I have been paying close attention to what I put on my plate, if I go back for seconds, etc. Then if I am not feeling hungry 3-4 hours later or less, I know that what I took at the last meal was too much. I then adjust accordingly. Similarly, if I eat something and I feel like I'm starving an hour and a half later, I eat more of that food the next time.
I am learning to listen to my body and recognize when I have had just enough to eat, when I am full, etc. Sometimes the portion sizes are too much for me, sometimes they are not enough. I think it depends on the individual food, but that also is a matter of listening to one's own body. By listening to my body, I have mostly been ignoring the portion/serving sizes if they are listed. Two salmon roll-ups (fairly large lettuce leaves full) is plenty for me for one meal and I am not hungry for about 3 hours, but a large dinner plate heaped with vegetables will leave me feeling hungry an hour later. I suspect I am a protein type based on my experiences of listening to my body.
Also, I'd like to point out that there have been some directions as to how much is a portion size, just not listed all in one place. A serving of protein is about the size of the palm of your hand, I recall reading somewhere on this site. I tend to eat a bit more than that at any given meal because I've found that it keeps me full longer and makes me feel more energetic. There are other tidbits like that around the site, but like I said, not all in one place.
Thank you again for your input, Dawn. I have forwarded your suggestions to the appropriate people. We will try to accomodate!
Dr. Marci Scott
I think it is very important that serving sizes are clearly defined in an easily accessible place on the site. (Reference?)
An important part of this program is to re-train our SAD programmed brains to exactly WHAT constitute an appropriate portion. Just as you are helping our bodies regain the ability to recognize when we are full and to stop eating at that point, I think we also need to know portion size. It should be a "whichever comes first" situation-either you reach satiety or your portion size. Please don't assume that everyone's understanding of a portion is going to be the same.
I also would like to see more portion sizes right on the first page of the "Protein in Enlita Approved Foods" page within the printed menus. I have been adapting this chart as a guideline for other foods. It is valuable, because it lists not only the AMOUNT of a portion, but also the grams of protein it gives. This is what I am looking for.
Dawn
^^^^Colorado
We really appreciate your input and apologize for the confusion! Your feedback helps us improve the program, so thank you! As to your question, let's see if I can help clarify. If you are eating 3 meals a day, then 1 serving is 1 serving. If you are breaking up your meals into 6 smaller meals (which is recommended), then eat half of the the serving at one "meal" and half at another. Hope this helps!
I'm sorry, I did not use the proper verbiage in my last post. I was trying to refer to just the number of servings that each recipe would make, not the actual amount of each individual portion. It has made it so much more clear now having the servings per recipe listed. I am still having a bit of confusion with the per meal size. On the first page of the Menus for Week 1, in the "Determining Your Protein Needs', it states,"In our meal plans we have you eat 1/2 SERVING for Meal 1 and then 2-3 hours later when you are hungry, eat the 2nd half for Meal 2. Meal 3 is half of a normal lunch and Meal 4 in the other half.....and so forth. That tells me that if a recipe makes 4 servings then I should serve myself 1 SERVING for a meal, but only eat half of it and save the other half for the next meal. Now, in your post dated March 27th, you said,"If a recipe makes 4 or 6 or 8 servings total, you are supposed to eat 1 SERVING at each meal. Now, that tells me that I am to eat the COMPLETE SERVING at one meal, not just a half, and eat another COMPLETE SERVING at the next meal. Hence,confusion. I appreciate how hard you are working on this and know that it is a huge task to get us all to understand, Please tell me which of the above directions is correct. I understand about the turkey wraps which actually indicate to only eat half of a serving....but that is the only recipe that I have run into that actually says that. I am loving the program so far and have lost 5 pounds in the first 6 days.......and feel terriffic! Thank you for your time and for clearing this up.
Maryp
Uh oh. I fear I was misunderstood a bit. When I said serving sizes would be restored I meant every recipe should say how many servings it makes (e.g. 4 servings or 8 servings etc), This info has been restored at this point, as has the document that described our dietary guidelines. If a recipe makes 4 or 6 or 8 servings total, you are supposed to eat 1 serving at each meal. I did not mean to say that the meal plan would say "eat 1 cup of soup" etc. Is this ok? If it is not sufficient to say eat 1 serving when the entire recipe is supposed to make 8 servings, then we (I!) am going to have some work to do to break down all the recipes into true portions. Maybe this is only necessary for some recipes where the serving size seems to be vague. If this is something people want in the future it can be done, it just hasn't been done yet.
Dr. Winnie Abramson
Alleluia!!
I will anxiously be awaiting the serving size to be posted with the recipes. I have spent the last 2 days with calculator in hand trying to figure out protein grams, etc. to make some sense out of the recipes regarding servings. When I see the serving sizes listed, my faith will be restored. I appreciate your timely response to this problem.
Mary
Ok I also realized why this is so confusing. For some reason all the serving sizes are not a visible! Each recipe should have the serving size and of course that is how one would guage how much to eat! And its been omitted when the recipes were transferred to the site!
Now I understand why people have been confused, and I will get this corrected ASAP.
Dr. Winnie Abramson
THANK YOU!!!!
Dawn
^^^^Colorado
Ok I also realized why this is so confusing. For some reason all the serving sizes are not a visible! Each recipe should have the serving size and of course that is how one would guage how much to eat! And its been omitted when the recipes were transferred to the site!
Now I understand why people have been confused, and I will get this corrected ASAP.
Dr. Winnie Abramson
Mary,
I am so sorry for your confusion.
There is supposed to be a link to a document that explained all the portion info but it was removed and I believe that is the part of the source of the confusion. I will look into getting that info accessible again.
You are supposed to eat 5-6 times a day- 10-15 g of protein at each mini-meal and the menus are designed to give you multiple portions to be able to eat that meal over several days. If the recipe says it makes 6 servings then yes divide that into 6 servings. The wraps you are referring to say to eat 1/2 the portion at meal 1 and the other 1/2 for meal 2, so that is 3 wraps with 2 oz. total of turkey at each serving. Please keep in mind that everyone is different. You can use your instincts to make sure you are not eating too little and not too much- enough at each meal to be satisfied, not full, and then you can eat again a few hours later. We are always working on trying to improve the menu plan so please feel free to leave me more comments.
Thanks and let me know if you still have questions!
This is so frustrating! I am very excited about starting this healthy way of eating and living life with optimal health. The portion issue is stopping me from even beginning. Week one, day one...the tomatoes,chicken, avocado wraps.....Just give me an answer........What is a portion. How are we all expected to follow this if we do not know what amount to eat. Real simple...make 6 wraps, eat one, eat a half.....holy cow.....I am not going to depend on guess work. My success is too important. Please give some concrete, straight up information. Obviously, others are having these concerns as per the notes on the blog. What a disappointment. This program looks so great.......but how much or how little that is eaten is very pertinent to my success. Please help. Each recipe needs to have the serving size listed, otherwise, we are all just treading water with no place to go.
Thank you, Mary
First I want to apologize because I did not see some of the earlier threads in this message. Second, please know that we are constantly reviewing and updating the food plan to take your kind of experience into account, and I am sorry if you are struggling a bit with the portions. The goal is to always have healthy food in the house to eat, but the goal is not to get sick of leftovers or have to throw a lot of things away...It sounds like the recipes are definitely making too much for you and I admit they aren't really designed to feed one person. First, we designed them to fit one person but many people complained they were trying to feed their families and it wasn't enough food (the opposite complaint of yours!) so we made all the servings bigger. If you are the only one eating, I urge you to use your instincts when shopping and do not overbuy. That said, it is fine to freeze leftovers and save them for times when you don't feel like or don't have any opportunity for cooking. I hope this helps and please know we are working on how to make the program work for everyone!
Dr. Winnie Abramson
I ate the week one menu for two weeks because I had so much food and still threw out leftovers! I fell off the wagon the 3rd week which included my birthday (I think it was a combination of sugar from the b'day cake and boredom from having to eat the same foods for so many days in a row).
This week, I decided to go through the menus instead of printing the shopping list. I'm going with week 2 (instead of starting over with week one like I said in an earlier post--I just don't want to eat some of those foods for awhile!). I'm going with week two because I don't want to introduce grains yet after my binge.
I'm buying 1/2 of what I need for the first 4 days (except for the crockpot recipes which I can freeze). Most recipes call for 8 servings. Since we eat a 1/2 portion at each sitting, I don't see how I'll use it up. I'm not eating the same thing 16 times in a row! This makes sense for families, but I'm the only one eating this way right now.
I'll evaluate what I have on day 4 and go shopping for the rest of the week. If I run out of the something before then, I'll make an extra trip to the store. It may use extra gas, but it's better than throwing out unused produce.
Since this was posted a couple of months ago, how did you all handle this? Is this still an issue for you?
Thanks!
Tammy
I am finding the portion and serving sizes to be ambiguous and confusing, and I know you are working on this, but I really want to succeed at this plan and so I am wondering if you can give some idea of how many people each meal is supposed to feed, how many servings from each recipe, and what portions are acceptable. For instance, Turkey, Tomato, and Avocado wraps: You are basically making 6 wraps from this recipe, but it says to reserve 1/2 for meal 2. So does this mean 3 per meal is a serving? What makes this further confusing is that in the intro it says that many of the recipes have you making food for several meals (Is this one of them?) and also in looking at the entire day's menus, I will have my 4 cups of veggies in by meal 3, or did I read this wrong?? I also realize that veggies are pretty open in quantity right now, but it would be soooo helpful to know how much to buy, how much to save back, how many people this will feed, etc.
Thanks for your help!
Dawn
The recipe itself looks like it makes quite a bit, but the instructions say to "Eat one serving now and reserve the rest for future meals." What is one serving of this plate? It looks like it makes a total of 4 servings ...
I've also noticed the same thing on other salad recipes - they look like they make about 4-6 servings. Any guidance???
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I hope the following will help. It's part of the Dietary Guidelines of the program and may clear up some of your questions:
About Serving Sizes and Recommended Portions
We provide recommended serving sizes for our recipes, but we also believe serving sizes should be determined on an individual basis taking many variables into account, including:
• Whether you are a man or a woman—men have more muscle mass and should eat more than women
• Your height—taller people can eat more than shorter
• Your current body mass—a 200 pound person should eat more than a 100 pound person
• Your activity level—the more active you are, the more you can eat
• Your metabolism
• Your hunger at a particular moment— try not to let yourself ever get ravenous, because you will overeat. Be sure and eat every time you feel hunger—if only a snack.
In time, determining how much you need to eat at any given meal will become an instinctive and natural process. As you are starting the program, though, consider the following guidelines:
• Vegetables, particularly those low in starch, for snacks and salads (generally unlimited): eat as much as you like (at least 4 cups per day)
• Fruits: no more than 2-3 servings per day (pay attention to how you feel with this level of fruit, as some individuals will need to limit fruits at the beginning due to higher sugar content)
• Protein: eat about 10-15 grams of protein at each meal or 4-6 ounces (½-3/4 cup); you can also try to use the palm of your hand as a reference, and eat a portion this size with each meal.
• Grains: eat between 0 and ½ cup of non-gluten grains with your meals (some people may find that grains slow down their weight loss).
• Healthy oils: at least 4 Tb. (used in cooking and as salad dressing) per day is recommended
Try not to focus on specific amounts of calories, carbs, fats, and other things you may have been concerned about before you started this program.
We encourage you to simply eat the balanced and nourishing meals we suggest in amounts that make you feel comfortable and satisfied — definitely not stuffed or even “full.”
We want you to graze by eating small meals that are enough to keep you satisfied for 2-3 hours, and then eat again, as this is one of the most important keys to natural permanent weight loss.
You may find that you have plenty of food left over after making a recipe. This is intentional. We want you to have leftovers that you can reheat for quick meals later in the week or that you can freeze for later. The key to quick and efficient meal prep is to make a lot of food at one time so that you can keep your cooking to a minimum.