from lynette: portion control is a good thing!

portion control is a very good thing. we all need to be aware of how much we eat, and more importantly, how much of any given thing we WANT to eat. because it's not the portion part most people have difficulty with - its the control. so how big is a "portion," anyway?

the Angels suggest we think in terms of serving size rather than portions. for example, i can fry up a five pound bag of potatos for my family of four but while my "portion" may feel like it should be a quarter of what's in the pan, a serving size of those fries is considerably less.

the trouble with serving size - at least for me- is that it starts to feel awkward and cumbersome. i mostly dish up meals to the accompaniment of the cries of hungry people and hunting hounds underfoot. i dont always (ha- more like never!) think about how much im dishing out and my criteria for my own plate used to be how much i feel like eating. (and given that until i started listening to the Angels, i was usually ravenous by dinner time, the answer to that question was frequently: Quite a Lot.)

so what can a busy person do? the Angels suggest the answer is in our hands. a general rule of thumb (pun intended - the Angels love them) is to consider that the palm of your hand is a reasonable serving size for meat, that the size of your fist is a reasonable serving size for just about anything else and that what you eat in a meal should fit comfortably on your two hands held out side-by-side before you.

these are rough guides and parameters, of course, and ultimately, how much you choose to eat, like what you choose to eat, is up to you. so this piece of portion control - deciding how much you give yourself and how much of your plate to fill - all involve planning about your food.

what this doesn't address is what happens when i sit down to eat my measly fist-size serving of my favorite potatoes. i really love these potatoes. i make them with red skins, usually, scrubbed clean and sliced thin, then layered in a cast-iron pan with butter, paprika and maybe if im feeling wild, onion. i cook them on top of the stove, covered, for about twenty minutes until all the butter's melted and the potatoes have softened. then i take the cover off and let them fry crispy and brown, while fat and starch and cast iron all meld together into what for me represents a nearly perfect union of flavor, texture and sustenance. i am capable of eating the whole frying pan myself, and since im the cook most of the time, capable of making two frying pans full - one for the family and one for me. (fortunately there aren't many foods i feel this way about!)

but i knew eating a pan-full of potatoes, pleasurable as it could be, wasn't good for me. a more reasonable serving-size, sure - but how could i learn to control myself over something i liked so much?

i asked the Angels for help, and this what They suggested:

begin by dishing out your normal portion size of whatever food you would like to focus on. They suggest you do this one food at a time, in order to pay close attention to it. (for me and my potatoes, it was nearly a full plate.)

then, They said, eat half. when you've finished half of however much you've given yourself, put your eating implements down and focus on how you feel. focus on your stomach, on your tongue, on your tastebuds and nose. breathe in the scent of the food, now that you've eaten some of it. pause and consider the food on your plate is now part of the food in your body. if you choose to continue eating, and you well may, initially, again, eat half of what is left, and then put down your fork. pause again and consider how you feel and how the food feels. in this manner, you continue to eat as long as you feel the urge, stopping each time you eat half, to savor the food and the eating of it.

it took me a few tries to stop wanting to eat a plateful of potatoes, but there came a point when, as i was putting them on my plate, i actually paused and remembered how stuffed i started to feel after eating about half of my usual portion size. and then a minor miracle happened - for me anyway - i CHOSE of my own volition to put a reasonably-sized "serving size" portion - on my plate of a food that previously the only way i could control myself with it was to deny myself. the Angels had helped me to learn what my body felt like when IT had "enough" and i was able to choose THAT feeling over the less-healthy one, not because anyone told me i had to - but because i liked it. and i was satisfied with it.. and, what was even more of a miracle - i didn't go back for seconds.

the Angels acknowledge that for many of us, a need to indulge in certain foods may be indicative of deeper issues that may need to be resolved with the help of allopathic or alternative doctors or therapists. They wish to reassure everyone that They are with us all in our healing.