Class 4 Week 4
The Portion Distortion Guide
A List of Serving Sizes
-- By Nicole Nichols, Fitness Instructor & Health Educator
Selecting the right foods also means choosing portions that are proper serving sizes. The terms "portion" and "serving" are often used interchangeably, but they don't mean the same thing. A "portion" is the amount of food you choose to eat for meals or snacks (like a plateful of pasta or a handful of raisins). In comparison a "serving" is the amount of food that experts recommend you eat (like 1 cup of milk or 1 ounce of bread). Servings are listed on a food's nutrition facts label too. When choosing your portion, try to make it as close as possible to these recommended serving sizes.
Grains: Aim for 6-11 servings each day. Choose whole grains whenever possible.
Examples
One serving equals
That's about the size of
Bread
1 ounce (1 small slice, 1/2 bagel, 1/2 bun) Index card
Cooked Grains
1/2 cup cooked oats, rice, pasta Billiard ball
Dry cereal
1/2 cup flakes, puffed rice, shredded wheat Billiard ball
Fruits and Vegetables: Aim 5-9 total servings each day. Choose fresh fruits and veggies whenever possible.
Examples
One serving equals
That's about the size of
Raw fruit
1/2 cup raw, canned, frozen fruit Billiard ball
Dried fruit
1/4 cup raisins, prunes, apricots An egg
Juice
6 oz 100% fruit or vegetable juice Hockey puck
Raw vegetables
1 cup leafy greens, baby carrots Baseball
Cooked vegetables 1/2 cup cooked broccoli, potatoes Billiard ball
Meat and Beans: Aim for 2-3 servings each day. Choose lean meats and plant proteins whenever possible.
Examples
One serving equals
That's about the size of
Meat & Tofu
2-3 oz cooked beef, poultry, fish, tofu Deck of cards
Beans
1/2 cup cooked beans, split peas, legumes Billiard ball
Nuts & Seeds
2 Tbsp nuts, seeds, or nut butters Ping pong ball
Dairy: Aim for 2-3 servings of calcium-rich foods each day. Choose low- or non-fat products whenever possible.
Examples
One serving equals
That's about the size of
Cheese
1 ounce or 1 thin slice of cheese A pair of dice
Milk
1 cup milk, yogurt, soy milk Baseball
Fats & Oils: Eat fats and oils sparingly and in small portions. Choose heart-healthy fats whenever possible.
Examples
One serving equals
That's about the size of
Fat & Oil
1 tsp butter, margarine, oil One die
Class 4 Week 4
Control the Crazy Portions
Staring into the Bottomless Plate
-- By Zach Van Hart, Staff Writer
Question: Is it possible to eat meals consisting entirely of healthy foods, such as carrots, fish, apples and whole wheat bread, and continue to gain weight? Answer: Yes, because you can still eat too much, even if everything is good for you. Portions have grown by leaps and bounds over the last couple of decades. Not surprisingly, our weight has followed right along with it. A huge part of the problem is that people tend to eat what’s in front of them, whether they’re hungry or not. To fight this problem, it’s important to find reasons to cut down on what you put on your plate in the first place. Portion size is a major contributor to weight problems, whether you eat out or at home. Restaurants serve huge plates of food, consisting of several servings per person, making it easy to go way past the recommended amount per meal. It does not stop when you eat at home. It’s been estimated that portion sizes in the past 20 years have increased in restaurants and at home by as much as 50%. Today, the average person eats 200 more calories each day than in the 1970s. Many store bought cookies are now more than 7 times bigger than the recommended serving size. Did you know that a typical dinner plate holds three servings of spaghetti, not just one? When you fill up your entire plate with food, you’re likely eating more than you bargained for.
On the bright side, portion size is something you can change, without getting rid of your favorite foods. All it takes is a few simple habits to control how much you eat during a sitting. Here are a few tips you can use when dining in or out:
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Order an appetizer as an entree (main dish). Remember to stay away from fried foods though.
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Split an entree with another person.
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Order from the lunch menu at dinnertime.
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Leftovers are okay. Feel free to wrap up half your meal to go
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Order smaller sizes such as a half-order of pasta or a "petite" cut of meat. Even so, portions may still be hefty. It's not unusual for a "smaller" portion of meat to be an 8-ounce serving.
In fast-food restaurants avoid "extra value" or "super size" meals, unless you split it with a friend. A regular small hamburger is usually equivalent to one serving of meat and two servings of grain.
AT HOME
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Set the table with smaller plates. Since you can’t fit as many servings on your plate, filling the whole plate is no big deal. Smaller dishes also make the food look bigger, which has a proven effect on your level of hunger.
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Skip seconds and get out the Tupperware.
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Divide up single serving portions ahead of time, in sealable bags or containers.
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Read the packaging! Follow the recommended serving size and eat only one.
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Eat foods that curb hunger: oranges, apples, oatmeal, fish, brown rice, and whole wheat pasta.
`How to Read a Nutrition Facts Label
Solving the Ninth Mystery of the World
-- By Laura Bofinger, Staff Writer
What do you look for when you’re checking out the nutrition facts on that macaroni and cheese box? Whether you’re one to zoom in on total calories or total carbs, you might be missing the real picture. Nutrition facts should be a part of your decision in what to eat or even what to buy. But interpreting the facts requires a bit of know-how, so make sure you aren’t misleading yourself. Understand the Power of "Serving Size" The most important rule is to know your serving size and the number of servings in the package or can. If the label says "one cup" per serving size and "two servings per container," that means there are two cups in the whole package. If you know you’ll eat the whole package by yourself, you are going to consume two cups (1 cup x 2 servings/container = 2 cups). That means that you must double all the nutrition facts measurements to know your total intake of each nutrient – the good and the bad. Using the mac and cheese example, eating the whole package means you will have consumed 500 calories, 220 of which are from fat. You will have consumed 24 grams of fat, of which 6 grams are saturated fat.
Class 4 Week 4
bad number?
The only time you can avoid doing the math is when you eat the exact serving size that is listed. Always compare the listed serving size to how much food you think you’ll eat and compute calories from there. Crack the Code in "Percent Daily Value" Confused by what all those percents really mean? The percents refer to "percent daily value" and they’re a bit trickier to interpret. The FDA bases these percents on a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet. Looking at cholesterol on the mac and cheese label, the FDA says that you are getting 30 milligrams per serving, or 10% of the recommended amount of cholesterol for a person eating about 2,000 calories per day. (Remember, you’re getting 20% if you eat the whole package.) So how do you know if 10% is a good or For ease of explanation, let’s break this down into a guide that will help us look at a percent and immediately know if it is high or low for one food source. The magic numbers are 5 and 20%. Anything listed in the percent daily value column that is 5% or less is a low number for nutrients. This is a good range for things that you want to limit (fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium), but too low for things you want to eat plenty of (fiber, calcium, and vitamins). Anything listed as 20% or more is high. This is a bad range for things that you want to limit (fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium), but a good range for things you want to eat plenty of (fiber, calcium, and vitamins).
Class 4 Week 4
Look at "Total Fat" on the mac and cheese label. The 18% daily value is close to the high point, but if you ate the whole package, you actually ate 36% of the recommended daily amount of fat (well above our benchmark of 20%). That amount, coming from just one source of food in a day, contributes a lot of fat to your daily diet. It would leave you 64% (100% - 36% = 64%) of your fat allowance for all other meals, drinks, and snacks you would eat that day. If your daily goal is well below 2,000 calories for your weight loss plan, then use the percents as a frame of reference (realizing you need to be below the percents shown, per serving). Or, you may find it simpler to keep track of grams and milligrams instead of the percents. The Nutrition Facts footnote gives a scale in grams and milligrams for recommended amounts of fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates, and fiber based on 2,000- and 2,500- calorie diets. (This footnote does not appear on small packages where there is no room for it.) The percent daily value also offers a great way to watch your diet without completely giving up your favorite foods. For example, if you ate one serving of macaroni and cheese but ensured you had a low fat intake for all other foods you ate that day, you made a successful trade off. When you really want a food that is high in fat, always balance it
Quick Interpretation Guide
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Start at the top with Serving Size and Servings Per Container. Adjust all measurements below this point according to the serving size you will eat.
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Look at the number of calories per serving (including how many calories are from fat).
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Limit these nutrients: total fat (including saturated and trans fat), cholesterol, and sodium.
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Get plenty of these nutrients: fiber, vitamins, calcium, and iron
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Use the % Daily Value to determine what is a high or low number for your daily diet. 5% or less is low; 20% or more is high.
Don’t just use the nutrition facts to track the nutrients you want to cut back on. Use it to track the nutrients you want to increase (like fiber, calcium and vitamins)! Whether you’re a stickler for tracking every fat gram and calorie per day or someone who just wants a rough estimate of her daily nutrient intake, the nutrition facts label is a handy tool. Learn how to use it for foods you eat frequently and anything new that you are tempted to incorporate into your regular meal plan. with healthy low-fat foods in the same day.
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