I’m sure you’ve heard it said over and over again, that the key to a healthy diet and weight management is portion control. The concept is easy: if you eat less, you consume fewer calories, and therefore you lose weight! But, what do food portion sizes really look like?
With the current trend to super-size meals, it can be really tough to figure out what a “normal” food portion size should look like. Most people know the basics about nutrition, however, we must to be aware of just how much we are eating.
Believe it or not, this is just as important as what we eat.
What is the difference between a serving and a portion?
A food serving helps you understand how much food is recommended from each of the food groups within the Balance of Good Health, or the Food Pyramid. In some cases, a food serving may be close to what we actually eat, such as an apple. In other cases we may serve more than one food serving, for example rice or pasta.
A portion is the amount of food we choose to eat. There are no portion sizes of food. Since it would be impossible for us to carry our weighing scales with us everyday to measure our food portion sizes, being able to estimate what a serving size looks like is really useful in making sure we aren’t overeating.
How do we know? Is there a food portion guide?
Often we remember items easier when we can visualise their size, shape or weight, in comparison to something else. Relating the portion size of a serving to everyday items is an effective method to use as a food portion guide.
Please remember the list below gives portion size examples of the size, shape, and/or look of one serving of a particular food.
- A rounded handful - one 1/2 cup vegetables or fruit, 1/2 cup of cooked rice or pasta, or a snack serving of crisps or pretzels
- Woman’s fist – another way of visualising a serving of vegetables, or one piece of whole fruit
- Small handful or golf ball – 1/4 cup of dried fruit
- A matchbox – a 1 oz serving of meat, or a serving of cheese
- Deck of cards, or the palm of your hand (excluding fingers) - a 3oz serving (recommended serving) of meat, fish or poultry, or ten chips/french fries
- Thin paperback book – a 8 oz serving of meat
- Check book - a serving of fish (approximately 3 oz)
- Tennis ball - 1/2 cup of pasta, or a serving of ice cream
- Computer mouse - a medium baked potato
- Compact disc - one serving of pancake or small waffle
- Thumb tip or one dice - one teaspoon of margarine
- A ping pong ball – two tablespoons of peanut butter
- Small milk carton – 8 oz glass of milk
- A baseball – 8 oz cup of yogurt, one cup of beans, or one cup of dry cereal
It is also a good idea to weigh some of your favorite foods, and try to remember what they look like on your plate. You will then be able to see what a 1/2 cup, or 3 oz serving looks like.
This will help you to visualise what an appropriate serving looks like, and it could help to prevent overeating.
To transform the lifestyles of a diet-obsessed world by teaching people how to eat healthy and make healthy eating a habit for life.
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
Portion size is something that I know I am bad at and need to improve to get where I want to be. The sizes you reference are helpful as that does make it easier to translate when you are sitting down for a meal.
Yeah it’s just one way of making the choice of food portions a little easier.
I think this is something most people find difficult too. As I mentioned, extra large fast-food portioning etc have made it really difficult to know if we are choosing healthy portions. And also, it’s difficult not to eat everything we’re served, even if we know the calorie content is massive!!
I am so guilty of this! I always finish what’s on my plate – no matter how large portion! I need to adjust my portion sizes!!!
mypyramid.gov is a great place to look at portion sizes.
In http://mypyramid.gov/pyramid/, click on one of the food groups under “related topics” and choose the “food gallery”.
You’ll find images like these:
http://mypyramid.gov/pyramid/food_library/grains/oatmeal.html
http://mypyramid.gov/pyramid/food_library/vegetables/broccoli.html
Some are more useful than others!
Saman – I think we’re all guilty of this!!! My weakness is pudding, especially chocolate, I usually can’t refuse a good dessert!
Family Nutritionist – many thanks for your comment, I regularly visit mypyramid, it really has some great information!
We were wondering, how many portions should two people get, out of a 400gm box of Maltesers?
Yum Yum
Glenn and Gerry – it would definitely only be one portion….chocolate isn’t really meant for sharing you know!!!!!!!!! LOL
This is such a useful post Melanie. We’ve become so disconnected from our portion sizes. Here in Australia the last few years have seen a homewares fashion of buying big plates and big bowls. And yes, they do look beautiful, but it’s encouraged people to eat bigger portions. Clients often laugh at me when I suggest buying smaller crockery, but I find it really helps – you eat less and are still satisfied.
Kathryn – welcome!! Thanks for your comment. I totally agree with you about using smaller plates, this is a great piece of advice for clients!
This is a good post. I recently watched ‘SuperSize Me’ for the first time and felt very convicted about the size of my portions. It’s good to have a rough guide like you provide here. Thanks.
Frank – glad you found this useful! Sometimes I wonder do representations like this only add to the confusion, as it’s another thing to remember, however i suppose it depends on the readers, and their preferred method of remembering things!!
Thank you so much for posting this. I am having trouble seeing 3 matchboxes equalling 1 deck of cards, however. I guess it’s important to know that these are rough measurements and weighing is the best route.
Hi Lauren,
Yes, I see what you mean. I suppose it’s just intended to be a guide, for example the palm of my hand won’t be the same size as that of another women’s, or indeed a man’s.
I tend to weigh foods such as rice and pasta, but am a little more lax on other foods. I also find cup measures to be very handy.
hey ))
its very interesting article.
Good post.
realy good post
thx
OmitumN’s last blog post..No Faxing 100 Percent Online Payday Loan
I’m using this website to help with a science project of mine, im trying to get my school to realize no matter how much they dumb down the food, its now what but how much of it we’re eating. Thank you so much for all the help.
Hi Katie,
Best wishes for your project, it sounds like you’ve got it all sorted! I really hope it goes well. Do you have to do a presentation or is it a written project?
Hey Melanie!
Great Web-Site! It really helps to remind people how important it is for their portion intake size as well as their food choice.
Hey Veronica,
Thanks for stopping by. Yes, I totally agree, portion size is extremely important.
Are the visual portion examples for cooked beans and pasta or raw?
Hi Katie,
These portion examples are for the cooked foods.
{ 12 trackbacks }