When Utah resident Liz Edmunds took her football player sons out to eat when they were younger, she made them share their food.
Although she and her sons now laugh and joke about the fact she made them split meals, Edmunds says she was trying to teach them a valuable lesson about eating the right amount versus trying to eat until they were full.
Now, Edmunds is sharing her message of portion control all around the world.
Edmunds is the star of the popular TV show, "The Food Nanny" and travels to homes of people who ask for her help. In addition to helping families with recipes and meal plans, she also teaches them about the importance of sit-down dinnertime.
With each visit, whether she is in New York City or Italy, she emphasizes the importance of not overly stressing about what people are eating, but how much they are putting on their plate.
"When I go into people's homes, they're afraid to cook because they're afraid that they will gain weight," Edmunds says.
Instead of making a meal at home, they opt for take out or fast food, and in the end eating more than if they would have made a meal at home.
Edmunds says that people are also frantically dieting.
Instead of fast food or dieting, Edmunds believes people need to be concentrating on eating until they are satisfied — not until they are stuffed.
"My entire life I have known that most diets don't work," she says. "People need to think more about portion control instead of diets. Diets will just make you crazy."
She said when people diet, they are denying themselves of eating good food.
"We have all of these wonderful foods at our disposal everyday, and to deny ourselves of wonderful food is just not fair," she says. "I don't think that's something we should be so, so strict about."
Edmunds says if people watched more carefully the amount of food they eat, it will give them the freedom to enjoy the foods they really want without gaining extra weight.
"Part of life is enjoying good food," Edmunds says. "In portion control you can enjoy it all. Portion control means you don't eat until you are stuffed or full. You push your plate back when you have had enough, when you are satisfied."
She says that it is OK if one gets full off of a meal, but only on occasion.
"Now once in awhile we get stuffed and we overeat, I do it too, but once an awhile," she says.
She says people can enjoy the treats they want, as long as it is in smaller portions.
"If we live with portion control, we can have that cookie we crave, we can have that smaller piece of cake, we can have that smaller piece of pie — not half of the pie," she says. "We can enjoy ice cream — we can enjoy all of the things we love."
Edmunds, the mother of seven and a grandmother, too, made it a priority that her family would sit down to dinner most nights of the week when her children lived at home.
During these years, she even developed a meal system that is now featured on her TV show. Since then, thousands of families have incorporated her system in to their own homes.
"I want to tell the world that they can make dinnertime happen," she says.
Edmunds was in Utah County last weekend to host the LIFT Conference for Women at Orem High School.
"I just had a woman recently tell me that I saved her marriage. She and her husband got to the point where their marriage was rocky," Edmunds says.
The husband and wife decided they would do try and do things for each other in effort to help their marriage. The husband said it would mean a lot to him if his wife would make home-cooked meals.
The wife pulled out Edmund's recipe book and kept her promise to her husband, which helped their marriage get back on track.
It is stories like this, that encourages Edmunds to keep spreading her message of family dinners.
When Edmunds is not traveling, doing her show or helping others make changes to their eating regimens, Edmunds says she still cooks most nights when she is at home. But, like many people, she also loves eating out with her husband — and yes, they share their meals when they go out.
"When I am out with my husband, we share everything because that way we can have a little dessert. We are enjoying our food," she says. "I tell people all of the time, share your food. If you do so, you have probably eaten the right amount."