Don’t take more food than you can eat.

I used to love buffets, even though I do not think they are the cleanest places to eat. I had to sanitize my hands after every trip to get my food, because I became paranoid of all the germs from everyone touching the serving spoons.

Now that I am vegan, it is not practical for me to go to a buffet, plus the ones around where I live tend to be a little dirty, so I don’t want to visit them.

When I did visit a buffet, and before I became vegan, I enjoyed the fact that I could try so many things for such a low price. I felt almost guilty for not eating a lot, which is the exact opposite of what we should be doing.

To be healthy, it is good to eat small meals throughout the day. But, in a buffet setting, it is too easy to eat all those meals in one sitting. Especially for anyone that is a foodie like me.

Growing up, I always heard that I should eat everything on my plate because people in Africa are starving. I was lucky to have all the food placed in front of me. I do agree with the fact that I am blessed, but I have never believed you should have to eat everything on your plate. That mentality can lead to obesity.

I believe we need to be mindful of what and how much we put on our plate. We, as a society, eat way more than the recommended serving of food at a meal. For example, one morning I poured out the recommended one serving of cereal into my bowl. It was less than half of what I typically ate! It opened my eyes to how much I was really eating. Now, I stick with the one serving amount when I eat cereal for breakfast.

It is amazing how much better you feel when you don’t overeat. It is helpful in losing weight and helping your body feel full. I had the best luck losing weight when I lowered my portion size. You would be shocked to see the recommended portion sizes of food as they relate to the actual portion size of foods we eat in a meal.

Some fast food restaurants love to upsize portions in their meals. Stick to the regular portion size when you order. Most likely, it is already over the caloric and portion amount that is healthy.

Food waste makes up thirty to forty percent of the food supply. Imagine if we just took the amount of food recommended for our bodies or just what we knew we could eat, so no food was thrown away. Sounds like something we should strive for, and something I am going to be mindful of from now on.