Tag Archives: Servings

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Holiday Portion Control: Drinks & Desserts

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Eating during the holidays can be tough if you’re trying to stay on a diet, or if you’re worried about eating too much. Since portion sizes have gotten out of control in the past couple of decades, it can be hard to judge how much you should be eating. When looking at the following tables, be sure to remember to eat proper portion sizes. Visit www.MyPyramid.gov for more information on a balanced diet and good nutrition.

Drinks & Desserts

Here’s the tricky part to navigate. Since these are usually readily available at any party tables or serving platters, it can be easy to lose track of how much you actually eat. Make a single pass and figure out which desserts are the most appealing to you. Then, only eat the ones that are most important to you. Serving sizes are important to keep in mind when figuring out holiday nutrition:

Drink Serving Size   Dessert Serving Size
Wine 4 oz   Cookies 2 in cookie
Water 8 oz   Cake 2 inch piece
Beer 12 oz   Pie 2 inch slice
Soda 12 oz   Candy Typically, 1 piece
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Holiday Portion Control: Main Dishes

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Eating during the holidays can be tough if you’re trying to stay on a diet, or if you’re worried about
eating too much. Since portion sizes have gotten out of control in the past couple of decades, it
can be hard to judge how much you should be eating. When looking at the following tables, be
sure to remember to eat the proper amounts of servings, as well as the proper serving sizes. Visit
www.MyPyramid.gov for more information on a balanced diet and good nutrition.

Main Dishes

Main dishes usually contain meat or protein, and often have bread or pasta included with them as well.
Main dishes will normally contain the most calories out of your entire meal. Make sure you get enough
of these, since so much time and effort are being put into them. However, don’t overdo it. Here’s what
considered the standard serving size of any of these dishes:

Main Dish

Main Dish Serving Size Everyday Equivalent
Ham 3 oz. Computer Mouse
Turkey
Prime Rib
Beef Tenderloin
Lasagna 1 cup Baseball
Spaghetti (Noodles) 1 cup Baseball
Spaghetti (Sauce ½ cup ½ Baseball
Seafood Pasta ½ cup ½ Baseball
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Six Picks: The Top 6 Things You Need to Know About Portion Sizes

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  1.  What you don’t know might hurt you. Studies show that when people are offered larger servings, they tend to eat more. Most people don’t know it. But, when you fill up your cereal bowl, it’s usually two or three times as much as the actual serving size.
  2. Serving sizes aren’t exactly portion sizes.  Most serving sizes over the past 2 decades have doubled or tripled. Twenty years ago, a soda came in an 8 oz. container. Now you can get one that’s 48 oz. (More than 75% larger than a normal serving size!)
  3. Use the resources you can. Visit www.MyPyramid.gov to get a handle on what’s a serving size really is, and what you might normally be served.  
  4. Good health that you can measure. A good way to figure out what an actual serving size looks like is to use a food scale, measuring cups or spoons to dole out your servings. You’ll be surprised at what you end up with.
  5. Getting used to correct sizes is easy. After getting the correct serving sizes for a few weeks, you’ll notice how easy it is to make sure that you’re not overeating, and your body will have adjusted as well.
  6. Larger portions add up quickly. Having an extra 100 calories a day, which is essentially the equivalent of having a slice of cheese on your burger, can add up to an extra ten pounds a year… if the extra energy isn’t burned off.

All of this information was derived from weight control products in our catalog and at www.ncescatalog.com.  Check out our site for more products that can help you live a healthy life!

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The Right Size at the Right Time

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Since July is National Community Health Awareness Month, we decided to offer some healthy advice that the whole community can use. And the topic this week is: Right-Sizing Your Portions.
In the past two decades or so, portion sizes have doubled when it comes to what finds its way onto our plates. It makes sense then that obesity is on the rise. Having the right sizes of portions on your plate is one of the first and easiest ways to begin living a healthier lifestyle.
When it comes to things like pizza, did you realize that a slice is considered a single serving in most cases? So when you’re looking at nutrition information for your pizza, make sure to count up how many slices you’re actually eating. The numbers add up fast, don’t they?
Instead of drinking a 32oz soda, the actual serving size you should be drinking is 12oz. Having a diet soda versus a regular wouldn’t hurt either.
Nearly every restaurant over-serves their customers, which isn’t really anything you’d find yourself complaining about. However, since these over-sized portions are there, they tend to get eaten anyway. When you go to a restaurant, try having half or your order boxed up right away, this way you can be sure that you won’t overeat, and you’ll be able to get two meals for the price of one.
It’s difficult to train oneself to eat smaller portions when much of our life has been different in that regard, but with a little control, and a lot less food, you’ll notice that your body will adjust itself accordingly. And your waistline will as well.
For a better look into what portions should look like, check out our “Right-Size Your Portions” handouts and poster online at http://www.ncescatalog.com, or in our catalog in the Teaching Aids section.