I have mixed feelings about portion control and yet I find myself returning to the process at times in my life and there’s a simple reason why:

Visualizing my portions helps me find balance.

Portion control often gets a bad rap. It can be discussed as a negative part of diet culture, where restrictive eating and hunger are a part of the experience. And certainly, portion control taken to extremes can steal your energy and vitality which is never a good thing. I’m also keenly aware of diet culture, having lived and breathed the fitness industry for 30+ years including Shape magazine diets, the Kate Moss look, and the idea that you can earn treats by burning off calories on the elliptical machine.

But in my thirties, when trying for my second IVF pregnancy, I decided to really look at what I was eating based on some research about the breakdown of macronutrients and IVF success rates. We had just suffered a miscarriage and it was devastating on so many levels.

I became an obsessive researcher throughout my IVF journey and, as an academic librarian, I had access to an unlimited supply of academic journals on the topic (a blessing and a curse). It was exhausting to try and examine every aspect of my lifestyle…was I working out too much? was I using too many chemicals in my life? Everything was a question mark and that had terrible effects on my mental health, but that’s a topic for another day.

While I cannot find the exact article that I read, this post summarizes the research that caught my attention. At the same time, I had been using the Beachbody (now known as BODI) Portion Fix containers off and on for a few years. If you aren’t familiar with the Portion Fix containers, they are colour-coded containers for fruits/veggies, carbohydrates, protein, fat, and dressings.

I remembered how breaking my meals into macros had been eye-opening in flagging some things I was clearly under-eating, namely protein. I realized that the Portion Fix essentially increased protein towards the recommended 25% plus advice and limited carbs to 40% of the diet. I decided to stick to that breakdown as I approached my second round of IVF at an older age (35).

I can’t say for sure that this is what helped us to have great success with this round, but it did produce many healthy embryos and our beautiful boy, Colin! He is an extremely healthy little boy who excels at sports and never lacks for energy now at 9 years of age.

This is part of the reason why I go back to portion control. Not to lose weight and not to restrict my food, but to get a clearer picture of what and how I’m eating.

• Am I creating balanced meals that will give me energy?
• Am I missing out on protein that will help my muscles, skin, hair and nails?
• Am I eating enough veggies and fruits?

For me, it’s not about control but about feeding myself well during times of stress and busyness.

Indeed, many researchers note that we have a tendency to forget what we eat in a day and are driven to eat more when portions are increased (this applies to healthy things as well as more processed foods!) If we can increase our servings of protein & veggies by having a clear picture of what those portions can look like, I see some benefits to using portion control containers. When I get very stressed and busy, I end up not cooking meals and relying on crackers and hummus or smoothies.

I don’t love the idea of tracking portions on an ongoing basis, but I do love pulling those containers back out of the cupboard to check in on how I’m doing with my nutrition. It’s not about restriction but about expanding the food groups that maybe aren’t my favourites, including protein & veggies! And realizing, with heart disease running in my family, what a serving of cheese or oil really looks like.

At the end of the day, I look at portion control as an opportunity to better nourish my body so that I have energy and vitality. What are your thoughts? Please share below!

More Resources on Portion Control

Lisa Young, RD – The Portion Teller Plan

How Portion Control and Mindful Eating can Benefit your Health

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*disclaimer: this post is based on my own experiences and does not intend to be advice on your own diet!