portion size guidelines chart

I found this today, I thought it might be worth posting. I know I will check it out more to see how I am eating compares with this. I hope that it can help someone.

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Eat Right: Your Guide To Proper Portions - from www.ediets.com



(EDITOR'S NOTE: Since hands and fingers vary from person to person, think of a modest size individual. And remember, these are only guides.)



Breads, Grains and Cereals

1/2 cup cooked cereal or grain = cupcake wrapper full

1 cup cooked pasta or grain = a walkman, tennis ball, man's fist

2 cups pasta or grain = a full outstretched hand

1 cup dried cereal = large handful

1 slice bread = audiocassette tape

1 pancake = compact disc (CD)



Vegetables

1/2 cup cut up vegetables = tennis ball, light bulb

1 cup cut up vegetables = man's fist

1/2 cup serving = 6 asparagus spears; 7 or 8 baby carrots or carrot sticks

1 medium potato = computer mouse

1 cup lettuce = 4 lettuce leaves

1 cup salad = baseball, man's fist



Fruit

1 medium fruit = tennis ball, man's fist

1/2 cup cut-up fruit = 7 cotton balls, 15 marbles

1 cup fruit = baseball, man's fist

1/2 cup grapes = 15 grapes



Milk & Dairy Foods

1 oz. cheese = 4 dice, your thumb

1 1/2 oz. natural cheese = 3 dominoes, a 9-volt battery, bar of hotel soap, your index and middle fingers

1/2 cup ice cream = tennis ball

1 cup ice cream = baseball



Meat and Nonmeat Proteins

1 oz. meat = match box or floppy diskette

3 oz. meat = deck of cards, cassette tape

4 oz. meat = palm of the hand

3 oz. grilled or baked fish = checkbook

3 oz. cooked chicken = a chicken leg and thigh or breast

1 tsp. peanut butter = tip of finger

to first joint

1 Tbsp. peanut butter = tip of thumb to first joint, 1 dice

2 Tbsp. peanut butter = ping pong ball

1 cup beans = baseball



Concentrated Fats and Other High-Fat Foods

1 tsp. butter, oil, salad dressing, mayonnaise = tip of finger to first joint

1 Tbsp. butter, oil, salad dressing, mayonnaise = tip of thumb to first joint, one dice

2 Tbsp. butter, oil, salad dressing, mayonnaise = ping pong ball

1 oz. chips or pretzels = one modest handful

1/3 cup chips, crackers or popcorn = woman's handful

1/2 cup chips, crackers or popcorn = man's handful



Concentrated Sugars and Other Sweetened Foods

one slice cake = width of two fingers

wedge pie = width of three fingers



Serving Dishes/Utensils

1/2 cup = small fruit bowl, custard cup, mashed potato scoop

1 1/2 cups = large cereal/soup bowl, dinner on a dinner plate (not heaped)

4 oz. liquid = tea cup, small juice glass

8 oz. liquid = water glass



Nikki Goldbeck is a New York State Certified Dietitian-Nutritionist and the author/co-author, along with husband David, of eight books. The recipes in their cookbooks are for reasonable size portions. You can learn more about her work at www.healthiestdiet.com.