Do You Know What Healthy Portion Sizes Are?

In order to eat a healthy diet, you need to understand how big a serving really is. For instance, a tasty looking hamburger club sandwich with a large side of fries looks like an average meal. However, there is enough ground beef to qualify as at least two servings, plus one serving of bacon. The lettuce and tomatoes are great, but the bread counts as three servings. One serving of potatoes should equal about one half a cup, so there are about four servings of a starchy vegetable there.

According to the USDA, one serving of meat is equal to two or three ounces, which is about the size of a deck of cards. The USDA Food Pyramid suggests two or three servings of meat per day. This meal would satisfy that requirement all alone. Can you believe that? The potatoes, lettuce, and tomato would total about five servings of vegetables and the USDA Food Pyramid suggests a total of three to five per day. Again, this meal covers all the servings of vegetables you should have for one day.

It is also important to note that a meal like this may have up to 1500 calories. Unless you are VERY active, that would be way too many calories for one meal.

Determining Healthy Portion SizeAccording to the USDA Food Pyramid:
A serving of meat is about two or three ounces, or about the size of a deck of cards. Serving sizes for other proteins would be two tablespoons of nut butters, two eggs, and one third cup of dry beans.

A serving of bread is equal to one slice of white or whole grain bread, one ounce of prepared cereal, or just one half cup of pasta, or rice.

A serving of fruit or vegetable is equal to one piece, one half a cup of chopped fruit or vegetable, or three-fourths cup of 100% juice.

A serving of dairy is equal to one cup of milk or one and one half ounces of cheese.If you really can't picture these serving sizes, then you might wish to purchase a kitchen scale to help you. It is amazing how much we overeat.

100 grams of meat is equivalent to 3 ½ ounces. Anything more than that, and you are putting in more than your body will be able to burn.

http://www.mypyramid.gov/