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and Health
Eating disorders can manifest in many different ways, but an important factor in the recovery process is finding balance with portion control. Acting as an important component to healthier eating patterns, portion control is an essential tool in eating disorder recovery and maintaining overall health.
What is Portion Control?
Portion control is the practice of consciously limiting the amount of food eaten during meals and throughout the day to achieve a healthy balance in nutrition consumption. This helps to promote healthier diet and lifestyle habits and can lead to the prevention or treatment of eating disorders.
Importance of Portion Control in Eating Disorder Recovery
By controlling the size and amounts of food consumed, individuals are able to more readily adhere to a balanced and healthy diet, instead of the potential for overeating or restrictive eating practices when dealing with an eating disorder.
When in eating disorder recovery, portion control can also help to reduce anxiety and stress levels by avoiding unhealthy behaviors associated with nutritional intake such as binging, purging, restricting, or compulsive eating practices.
Important Tips for Practicing Portion Control in Recovery
- Start with smaller portions. To easily begin to practice portion control. Start off with smaller meal or snack portions and gradually increasing the size of portions overtime.
- Increase portions of your meals over time. As individuals become more confident with portion control, giving yourself more food at a single meal or snack can help to provide more of the essential nutrients needed to maintain health.
- Balance nutrition with portion size. It is important to understand how to match the portion of food with adequacy of the nutrients you are consuming. Make sure to incorporate a wide variety of nutritious foods and discuss any concerns about portion size and nutrition with a healthcare professional.
Summary
For individuals in eating disorder recovery, portion control is an essential component in regaining balance and health in your diet. By taking the right steps in beginning or continuing to exercise portion control, it is possible to maintain healthier eating habits, reach nutritional goals, and maintain overall well-being.
