by Dave Schafer

Melissa Tatum is tall, lean and in the ideal weight range for someone her height. For nearly 20 years she’s tried to eat healthy.

But recently she’s been feeling sluggish and soft, so for the new year she started a Weight Watchers program to control how much she eats.

“I never watched portions before because I never tended to overeat,” said Tatum, administration manager in the Mayor’s Office of Special Events. That tendency changed in the past year or so.

Tatum’s not alone.

“One of the reasons we have such an epidemic of obesity is because no one knows what counts as a portion,” said Judy Fraley, a licensed dietitian and breast-feeding coordinator for the city’s Women, Infants and Children program. “You need to measure it out and look at it at home. Then, when you go to a restaurant, and you get this horrendous pile of pasta, you know that’s two meals.”

Eating healthy isn’t just about losing weight. It’s also about a fit lifestyle and feeling your best every day.

“I’m doing this for health reasons,” Tatum said. “I’d like to lose 10 or 15 pounds, but I’m not doing it to lose weight. I want to be healthy and feel good. I want my mind to be sharp. Food weighs you down, not just physically but mentally. It makes you cloudy and tired.”

People who eat healthy tend to feel better and live longer, Fraley said. They have more energy and are more resistant to developing illnesses and chronic diseases.

The key to a nutritious diet is to eat a variety of foods from each group of the United States Department of Agriculture’s food pyramid.

Fraley recommends eating a “bountiful supply” of fruits and vegetables, whole grains and reduced-fat dairy products. A well-balanced meal doesn’t require going cold turkey on your favorite foods.

“Use sugars and fats in moderation,” Fraley said. You can still indulge in the occasional brownie.

“Don’t deprive yourself, or you’ll just feel bad,” she said.
And, Fraley said, understand what constitutes a portion of each food. That plate of spaghetti at Applebee’s is more like your portion and your neighbor’s portion.

A serving is a specific amount of food, like the serving size on a cereal box. It is not the same as a helping, which is how much you put on the plate. Knowing the size of a serving can help you determine your portions – the amount of a particular food you eat at a given time.

According to the food pyramid, a portion of grain is six to 11 servings per day. Although that sounds like a lot, it isn’t when the size of servings is considered.

A serving of rice or pasta is half a cup, or the size of a tennis ball. Those six to 11 servings are for all the grains you eat throughout the day, including the bread on your sandwich and the cereal in your breakfast bowl.

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