When it comes to maintaining a healthy weight, there is so much talk about portion size. Since we're living in the age of Super Size Me, bottomless this and all-you-can-eat that, we've really lost sight of what an actual serving size is.
I made a chart to help us get a handle on what a serving size of most foods looks like. Want to see it? Then read more
| Food |
1 Serving Equals... |
| Breads, pasta, cereal, cooked grain, etc. |
- 1 slice of bread (looks like a CD case)
- 1/2 a bagel (the size of a hockey puck)
- 1 cup cereal (looks like two hands cupped together)
- 1/2 cup cooked grain or pasta (one cupped palm)
|
| Fruits |
- 1 piece of fruit (the size of a tennis ball)
- 1/2 cup cut up fruit, raw, cooked, frozen, or canned (looks like 7 cotton balls)
- 1/4 cup dried fruit
- 3/4 cup 100% fruit juice
|
| Veggies |
- 1/2 cup cut up veggie, raw, cooked, frozen, or canned (looks like the bulb part of a light bulb)
- 1/2 cup cooked, canned or frozen legumes
- 1 cup leafy greens
- 3/4 cup 100% vegetable juice
|
| Meat, chicken, or fish |
- 3 ounces (looks like a deck of cards or a checkbook)
- 1 egg
|
| Dairy |
- 1oz. of cheese (1 oz. looks like 2, 9-volt batteries)
- 1/2 cup ice cream, cottage cheese or pudding
- 1 cup milk or yogurt
|
| Nuts |
- 1/3 cup (a small handful)
- 1 tbsp nut butter (size of both your thumbs)
|
Source
Missoni
Erickson Beamon
Antik Batik
i'm thinking i would go hungry if i ate like this...
1I would def go hungry , but I think its a good system to use.Especially with breads,dairy,etc!
2hmmm i would like to say i could eat like this.. but i dont think i could!
3I have a question! IS it important to follow serving sizes of veggies? If they don't have the added fats from butter, or added salt, shouldn't that be a total indulgence?
4Yeah, cravinsugar. If you are eating raw fruits and vegetables without any extras, should you limit yourself?
5Cravinsugar - I think that veggies would be an indulgence. I think most time the charts give you serving sizes of veggies because most people don't eat enough. If you want to fill up on fat free, salt free veggies indulge away.
6Great information.
I think as long as you're eating healthy and not over indulging I don't think measuring exact serving sizes are nessesary.
7Is it just me, or is a checkbook way bigger than a deck of cards? How can they both be a meat serving size? Does it include the same thickness as these items? That would make sense then...
8i agree with aimeeb. just keep your diet relatively healthy, eating when you are hungry until you are satisfied, and you'll be fine. trying to incorporate these specific serving measurements into my diet would make me feel sort of neurotic.
9I'm with cravin! Can't I just eat my heart out on veggies?
10I'd always heard that a serving size of meat should be no bigger than your fist. Of course that would be different for everyone.
11I heard that too baby chloe.
12You'd have to have seriously large hands to eat according to this list!nThere is no way I could eat a meal consisting of a handful of pasta. Else i might have the definition of serving size wrong...
13You can eat as much veggies as they are cooked natural (steamed, boiled, braised or grilled)and without fatty sauces.
14Fruits are ok but they do contain sugar so you shouldn't eat more fruit than veggies.
I meant to write "as much veggies as you want as long as"
15Well, there's a difference between a serving in the caloric sense and a serving in the meal sense.
I think this has more to do with equating a portion size to the numbers you see on the side of the package.
16how many gr is a cup? i've been asking that for ages... or oz or whatever mesurement. i combed this whole site and didn't find the answer.
17Alytta: Check out this link http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/gram_calc.htm
there are 229.92 grams in a cup!
18if i ate like this i would starv to death in less than a week.
19The idea is not to eat one serving of pasta and that's your meal - it's a guideline so that you maybe eat two servings of pasta for lunch or dinner, but you know that you are consuming two servings. The problem is that many Americans have distorted ideas about what is considered a portion. The food guide pyramid is designed to give people plenty of calories (I believe it is based on 2,000 calories a day). You just have to learn to understand what you are eating. If you think that a plateful of pasta is a serving, you probably are consuming way more carbs than you need.
The food pyramid allows for plenty of servings, and the assumption is not that you only eat one serving per meal. You could eat a two-serving dish of pasta with tomato sauce (probably around one serving of vegetables, maybe half a serving or so of protein if you add meat), a green salad with light or non-creamy dressing (easily two servings of veggies), a piece of bread (one serving of carbs) and a glass of milk (one of dairy) and you have a balanced dinner. With somewhere around 10-12 servings of carbs to work with, that leaves plenty for breakfast, lunch, and snacks!
The key is eating the right combination of foods -- that is where serving sizes come in. And if you're like me and LOVE things like pasta, just eat whole-grain pasta and it is a lot better for you - not empty calories, but good calories!
20I know this is an old post, but I have to correct "nobama" cravinsugar. Grams are a measurement of weight, cup is a measure of size (volume). A cup of marshmallows and a cup of nuts do not have the same weight, or grams.
P.S. I'm so excited for the Inauguration!
21When they say a handful is a serving they mean that you would eat more than one serving and, If you only eat vegetables then you will not grow right and live a healthy lifestyle. Probably shouldn't just eat vegetables because you will be in the bathroom all day and, you will be pooping green. that's all for now see ya later. BBFN TTFN TTYL
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