Next time you visit your favorite supermarket, take a gander down the aisle and count how many shelves are dedicated to foods that come in boxes or bags. These days, a whole lot of these processed foods are available. All too often, we end up getting way too many of our calories among the prepackaged varieties. Generally, these foods have more salt, less nutrients per calorie, and more additives. Anyone who follows nutrition trends knows dieticians say to avoid these foods as much as possible.

But sometimes, eating bagged or boxed food is unavoidable. That’s all that’s available. You just plain don’t have time. Whatever the reason, when you do eat prepackaged items, do away with the bag or box first. In other words, place what you’re about to eat on a plate. When you eat out of the bag or box, it’s easy to keep eating without having any idea how many pretzels, chips, or crackers you’ve taken down. If you’re really hungry, you might just find yourself at the end of the bag when you only meant to have a quick snack to get you by. Avoid eating more than you intended to eat by deciding ahead of time what your allotted serving size will be and serving yourself up only that amount.