Nutrition Basics – Healthy Servings & Portions
Just How Much Is A Serving?
The key to healthy eating is learning the size of a serving for each of the foods you eat and eating the recommended amounts each day. This next table gives you some examples for each Food Group.
|
Food Group |
1 Serving |
| Grains | 1 slice bread 1 oz dry cereal 1/2 cup cooked rice, pasta, or cereal |
| Vegetables | 1 cup raw leafy vegetable 1/2 cup cut-up raw or cooked vegetable 1/2 cup vegetable juice |
| Fruits | ½ cup fruit juice 1 medium fruit ¼ cup dried fruit ½ cup fresh, frozen, or canned fruit |
| Fat-free or low fat milk and equivalent milk products | 1 cup fat-free or low-fat milk 1 cup fat-free or low-fat yogurt 1½ oz fat-free, low-fat, or reduced fat cheese |
| Lean meats, poultry and fish | 3 oz cooked meat, poultry, or fish (1 oz meat = 1 egg) (Limit egg yolk intake to no more than 4 per week due to high cholesterol in yolks.) |
| Nuts, seeds and legumes | ⅓ cup or 1½ oz nuts 2 Tbsp peanut butter 2 Tbsp or ½ oz seeds ½ cup cooked dry beans or peas |
So, if you are planning to have 4 servings of fruit today, you can attain that by eating 1.25 cups of dried fruit. Since a serving of lean meat, poultry or fish is 3 ounces, you should eat no more than 6 ounces a day of any of them if your healthy meal plan is 2000 total calories a day.
Portion vs. Serving
These terms are often used interchangeably, but I tend to use “portion” to refer to the amount of a Food Group that is served for a specific meal, and serving refers to the amount appropriate for the day. So, the 6 oz. of meat for the day is the daily serving that can be eaten in one 6 oz. portion at dinner, two 3 oz. portions at lunch and dinner, three 2 oz. portions at breakfast, lunch and dinner or some other combination. Most of us in the United States do not think in terms of these daily serving sizes or meal portion sizes. Thanks to our experience eating out, we typically over-estimate what a portion should be. Taking the time to weigh and measure your food until you can better judge the quantity you’re eating is an important step to eating healthy.
What do you think? Tell us about your experiences with portion control.
For Your Health – Dr. Bob