Portion control: changing out Mugs for Tea Cups...

Feb 23, 2009

I had a really cool set of mugs that I used for hot beverages... tea for me and coffee for my guests. But, in keeping with the "aha moment" that I'd had at Starbucks (see post below), I realized that the large size of my mug was encouraging me to have bigger portions of tea than I needed or even wanted.  And while I do use a few natural low calorie sweeteners in my tea (I choose not to use artificial sweeteners), they are not 100% calorie free, and in any case, my NUT has suggested to me that it would be helpful for me to learn to like things less sweet.

Since switching to tea cups (7 oz capacity), I find that I actually drink all my tea now--before when I was using mugs I would often leave some of my drink unfinished--and since tea doesn't taste all that good reheated (in my opinion, and anyway, I don't have a microwave at home) it meant I was wasting my ingredients--in effect pouring the extra ingredients used (extra tea leaves, sweetener and milk) down the drain.

And these days, when eating away from home, if I am "stuck" using a mug, I still only make enough tea to fill my tea cup--in effect leaving my mug half-full. Besides the portion control, I find it's good for avoiding spills.

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