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Start with the calorie count, but then look beyond that. Many food packages contain more than you might think. What seems like a single serving might actually be two. And if it contains two servings, the number of calories in the container must be doubled as well. Food labels can also be useful pieces of information for sugar and carbohydrate counts, both of which are important to monitor when you have diabetes. Keep a food log. Besides helping monitor portion control, keeping a food log has another benefit for someone with diabetes. By recording your intake and your blood glucose, you will learn how foods affect your blood glucose. Mindful Eating and Portion Control Mindful eating involves eating with the intention of caring for yourself and paying attention to your own physical and mental processes while eating. Many people who struggle with food portions react mindlessly to their unrecognized or unexamined triggers, thoughts, and feelings. In other words, they react repeating past actions again and again - feeling powerless to change. Mindfulness increases your awareness of these patterns without judgment and creates space between your triggers and your actions. Always ensure you don’t dine when distracted. People who eat while multi- tasking tend to eat more and find their food to be less flavor-ful. Skip the laptop, tablet, and smartphone screens and focus on food. When we eat free of distractions we can pay more attention to our portion sizes and the point in which we’re satisfied rather than simply feeling like we have to finish all the food in front of us. Kepha Nyanumba is a seasoned Marketing Africa Columnist working as a Consultant Nutritionist at AAR Healthcare Limited. You can engage him on this or related matters via email at: [email protected], or follow him on twitter: KNyanumba. Blog: kephanyanumba.blogspot.com.