My dear friend Bianca emigrated from Italy with her family in 1989. We have always been very close and we share the joys and challenges of life, just like sisters. I can't recall Bianca ever being happier or more healthy than recently after she discovered that portion control through monitoring her daily food portions, helped her lose weight.

Neither of Bianca's parents has ever gained extra weight and they could never fully understand the cause of her weight gain after she left home. They did rightly suspect though, that she had started eating larger portions her favorite Italian pizza and pasta more often and that these had started to show around her hips and stomach.

Bianca married Joe but regardless of regular dieting since then, her weight has yo-yoed with the arrival of two boys and a very busy life. Diets she embarked upon saw her diminish or delete fats, fiber, sugar and most recently carbs, but none had the sustained impact that she has always yearned for. She was always fixed on the content of her food portions, not how much she ate of these.

Bianca marvels at how she decided to approach portion control one day in her kitchen. She had to find a way to lose weight that did not require any more time and energy than she presently had. She decided to include the same nutritious food she cooked for her family in her own menu but served herself smaller portions.

But what food portions should she eat? Bianca knew that a balanced diet provides us with the nutrients essential for a healthy body. She knew that health authorities like the American Diabetes Association, The American Heart Association and the American Medical Association all agree that the best approach to weight loss is a balanced diet and she knew she provided food from the four major food groups for her family.

The key to Bianca's success was her approach to the size of her food portions. To solve the problem of how much food to eat, she used the circular design on her Italian dinner plates. This circle inside the lip of her plate governed the magnitude of her food portions at lunch and dinner the extent of her portion control.

Joe and their adolescent sons enjoyed regular daily meals and Bianca ate the same meal but she reduced the size of her food portions so that these were always contained by the blue circle. She made time for a healthy breakfast and prepared portion snacks of fruit, nuts and vegetables in the event that her tummy rumbled before the next meal.

This new approach to eating worked and Bianca has lost weight regularly for the past year until she recently reached a body shape and weight that she feels is really her. Life in her European family home always revolved around food eaten the right way and Bianca has re-established this in her own family. Food portions are smaller, the taste of food is enjoyed, meals have become a celebration and there is even time for a sweet splurge now and then!

Bianca says this has been the most natural way she has ever lost weight and she is confident that she will keep it off forever. The benefits of portion control have her back in charge of her body again and her food portions can even include an occasional serving of tiramisu - her favorite dessert. Now she has established healthy, life-long eating habits, Bianca can have her cake and eat it too!