Food Portions - How Much Is Enough? Have you noticed that the size of muffins, candy bars, and soft drinks has grown over the years? How about portions of restaurant foods like pasta dishes, steaks, and french fries? As portion sizes grow, people tend to eat more-often more than they need to stay healthy.
Larger food portions have more calories. Eating more calories than you need may lead to weight gain. Too much weight gain can put you at risk for weight-related diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers.
Managing your weight calls for more than just choosing a healthful variety of foods like vegetables, fruits, grains (especially whole grains), beans, and low-fat meat, poultry, and dairy products. It also calls for looking at how much and how often you eat. This brochure shows you how to use serving sizes to help you eat just enough for you.
What's the difference between a portion and a serving?
A "portion" is how much food you choose to eat, whether in a restaurant, from a package, or in your own kitchen. A "serving" is a standard amount set by the U.S. Government, or sometimes by others for recipes, cookbooks, or diet plans. There are two commonly used standards for serving sizes:
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Guide Pyramid is a healthy eating plan for people ages 2 and over. It shows the recommended number of servings to eat from each of five food groups every day to meet your nutrition needs, and it defines serving sizes. (For more information, see The Food Guide Pyramid under Additional Reading.)
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Nutrition Facts Label is printed on most packaged foods. It tells you how many calories and how much fat, carbohydrate, sodium, and other nutrients are in one serving of the food. The serving size is based on the amount of food people say they usually eat in one sitting. This size is often different than the serving sizes in the Food Guide Pyramid.
How do I know how big my portions are?
For foods that don't have a Nutrition Facts label, such as ground beef, use a kitchen scale to measure the food in ounces (according to the Food Guide Pyramid, one serving of meat, chicken, turkey, or fish is 2 to 3 ounces). The portion size that you are used to eating may be equal to two or three standard servings. Take a look at this Nutrition Facts label for cookies. The serving size is two cookies, but if you eat four cookies, you are eating two servings-and double the calories, fat, and other nutrients in a standard serving. To see how many servings a package contains, check the "servings per container" listed on the Nutrition Facts label. You may be surprised to find that small containers often have more than one serving inside.Learning to recognize standard serving sizes can help you judge how much you are eating. When cooking for yourself, use measuring cups and spoons to measure your usual food portions and compare them to standard serving sizes from Nutrition Facts labels for a week or so. Put the measured food on a plate before you start eating. This will help you see what one standard serving of a food looks like compared to how much you normally eat. How can I control portions at home? You do not need to measure and count everything you eat for the rest of your life-just long enough to recognize standard serving sizes. Try these other ideas to help you control portions at home:
Take a standard serving out of the package and eat it off a plate instead of eating straight out of a large box or bag.
Avoid eating in front of the TV or while busy with other activities. Pay attention to what you are eating and fully enjoy the smell and taste of your foods.
Eat slowly so your brain can get the message that your stomach is full.
Take seconds of vegetables or salads instead of higher-fat, higher-calorie parts of a meal such as meats or desserts.
When cooking in large batches, freeze food that you will not serve right away. This way, you won't be tempted to finish eating the whole batch before the food goes bad. And you'll have ready-made food for another day. Freeze in single-meal-sized containers.
Try to eat three sensible meals at regular times throughout the day. Skipping meals may lead you to eat larger portions of high-calorie, high-fat foods at your next meal or snack. Eat breakfast every day.
Keep snacking to a minimum. Eating many snacks throughout the day may lead to weight gain.
When you do have a treat like chips, cookies, or ice cream, eat only one serving, eat it slowly, and enjoy it!
Is getting more food for your money always a good value?
Have you noticed that it only costs a few cents more to get a larger size of fries or soft drink? Getting a larger portion of food for just a little extra money may seem like a good value, but you end up with more food and calories than you need. Before you buy your next "value combo," be sure you are making the best choice for your health and your wallet. If you are with someone else, share the large-size meal. If you are eating alone, skip the special deal and just order what you need. How can I control portions when eating out?
Research shows that the more often a person eats out, the more body fat he or she has. Try to prepare more meals at home. Eat out and get take-out foods less often. When you do eat away from home, try these tips to help you control portions:
Share your meal, order a half-portion, or order an appetizer as a main meal.
Take half or more of your meal home. You can even ask for your half-meal to be boxed up before you begin eating so you will not be tempted to eat more than you need.
Stop eating when you begin to feel full. Focus on enjoying the setting and your friends or family for the rest of the meal.
Avoid large beverages, such as "supersize" soft drinks. They have a large number of calories. Order the small size, choose a calorie-free beverage, or drink water with a slice of lemon.
When traveling, bring along nutritious foods that will not spoil such as fresh fruit, small cans of fruit, peanut butter and jelly (spread both thin) sandwiches, whole grain crackers, carrot sticks, air-popped popcorn, and bottled water. If you stop at a fast food restaurant, choose one that serves salads, or order the small burger with lettuce and tomato. Have water or nonfat milk with your meal instead of a soft drink. If you want french fries, order the small size.
Portions and Your Plate Another way to control portions is using your plate as a guide. Imagine your plate is a clock and the time is 3 p.m. The section between the numbers 12 and 3, bordered by the big and little hands, should be filled by your meat or dairy servings for that meal. At dinner, this might be a piece of chicken or fish; at breakfast, a serving of yogurt or a cup of milk. If your meat or dairy portion is larger than the space on your plate, you're eating too much. The rest of your plate should be rounded out with servings of grains, fruit and vegetables. Besides reading labels and weighing and measuring foods, practice these portion control techniques:
Don't put more on the table than what you want to eat. If a recipe serves four and there's only two of you, cut the recipe in half before you cook or divide it into four portions after you cook; store the extra servings in containers for tomorrow's lunch.
When dining out, request foods that need to be measured on the side. You can't measure salad dressing once it's poured on your greens, but you can spoon out a portion when it's served on the side. This works for sour cream, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, pancake syrup, etc.
At restaurants, don't be afraid to ask. Find out how many eggs are in an omelet. If they usually make it with three or four, you can request one or two. If a waiter brings your entree and the steak is larger than a deck of cards or a serving of pasta is bigger than a baseball, ask the waiter to half the portion immediately and have it wrapped to take home.
If you know a restaurant serves big portions, split entrees with a friend. Just order an extra side of vegetables or salad to supplement your meal.
Look at your food. Measure out snack foods like popcorn and pretzels before you put them into serving bowls. Then take a mental picture of how much room they take up in your bowl, so you don’t eat more than a serving.
When you make dips for raw vegetables, measure out one serving into a smaller bowl, so you won't overdip.
An increase in restaurant portions is equally troublesome, since many Americans eat out frequently. The excess portions can affect our health. An order of pasta, for example, is often three cups. For those with calorie needs at the lower end of the spectrum, like inactive women and older adults, that's all six of the daily grain servings, recommended by the Food Guide Pyramid, in one meal.
Remember... The amount of calories you eat affects your weight and health. In addition to selecting a healthful variety of foods, look at the size of the portions you eat. Choosing nutritious foods and keeping portion sizes sensible may help you reach and stay at a healthy weight.
Portion Guide
1 tsp. salad dressing = the size of a half-dollar
1 oz. chunk of cheese = your thumb or two dominoes
1-1/2 oz. hard roll = a bar of soap
3 oz. meat = package of tissues, deck of cards
3 oz. fish = eyeglass case
1/2 cup rice = custard cup
1 oz. nuts = 2 shot glasses full
1 oz. of chocolate = 1 package of dental floss (illustrated above)
1 1/2 oz. raisins = 1 soup ladle full
1 cup dry cereal = 1 wine glass or 2 soup ladles full
1 tsp. peanut butter or cream cheese = a lipstick cap
1 cup pasta = 1 baseball
3/4 cup frozen yogurt = 1 tennis ball
1/4 cup sour cream = 1 golf ball
1/2 tsp. oil = 1 thimble
Sample food portions larger than 1 Pyramid serving
This list shows the size of a portion you may choose or be served. They are not recommendations. This chart compares these portions to Pyramid servings, so that you can judge how they might fit into your overall daily eating plan.
Grains Group
Bagel
1 bagel 4 ½" in diameter(4oz)
½ bagel 3" diameter (1 ounce)
4
Muffin
1 muffin 3 ½" in diameter(4 oz)
1 muffin 2 ½" in diameter 1½oz
3
English muffin
1 whole muffin
½ muffin
2
Sweet roll or cinnamon bun
1 lge from bakery (6oz)
1 small (1 ½ ounces)
4
Pancakes
4 pancakes 5" in diameter 10oz
1 pancake 4" in diameter 1 ½oz
6
Burrito-sized flour tortilla
1 tortilla 9" in diameter 2 oz
1 tortilla 7" in diameter 1 oz
2
Individual bag of tortilla chips
1 ¾ ounces
12 tortilla chips (¾ ounce)
2
Popcorn
16 cups (movie theatre, medium)
2 cups
8
Hamburger bun
1 bun
½ bun
2
Spaghetti
2 cups (cooked)
½ cup (cooked)
4
Rice
1 cup (cooked)
½ cup (cooked)
2
Vegetable Group
Baked potato
1 large (7 ounces)
1 small (2 ¼ ounces)
3
French fries
1 medium order (4 ounces)
½ cup, 10 French fries(1 ounce)
4
Meat and Beans Group
Broiled chicken breast
6 ounces
2 to 3 ounces
2
Fried chicken
3 pieces (7 to 8 ounces)
2 to 3 ounces
3
Broiled fish
6 to 9 ounces
2 to 3 ounces
3
Sirloin steak
8 ounces (cooked, trimmed)
2 to 3 ounces
3
Porterhouse steak or prime rib
13 ounces (cooked, trimmed)
2 to 3 ounces
5
Ham or roast beef(in deli sandwich)
5 ounces
2 to 3 ounces
2
Tuna salad (in deli sandwich)
6 ounces
2 to 3 ounces
2
Eating or drinking "one" of many foods can now mean consuming significantly more calories, fat and sugar. For example, years ago, candy bars were a standard 1.6 ounces. Today, one bar might still be 1.6 ounces, but it could also be 2.6, 5, 7 or 8 ounces. Likewise, "a beer" once clearly meant 12 ounces. Today's beer bottles and cans, however, come in 12, 16, 22, and 24-ounce sizes.
Food/beverage
Year introduced
Size at intro (oz or fl oz)
2002 sizes (oz or fl oz)
Budweiser (can)
1936
12.0
8.0, 12.0, 16.0 and 24.0
Budweiser (bottle)
1976
7.0
7.0, 12.0, 22.0, 40.0
Hershey's
1908
1.6
0.6 1.6, 2.6, 4.0, 7.0 and 8.0
Nestlé Crunch
1938
1.6
1.6, 2.8, 5.0
Soda, commercially packaged
1916
6.5
8.0, 12.0, 20.0 and 34.0
Burger King French Fries
1954
2.6
2.6 (Small), 4.1 (Medium), 5.7 (Large) and 6.9 (King)
McDonald's French Fries
1955
2.4
2.4 (Small), 5.3 (Medium), 6.3 (Large) and 7.1 (Supersize)