Do you suffer from portion distortion?
By Kimberly Alton, Director Food and Nutrition Services at Carolina Pines Regional Medical Center
Without a doubt we live in a super-size, go large kind of world. I often hear people say that they eat the same things that they have always eaten, yet they don’t understand how they have gained weight. More often than not, the answer lies within our portion sizes.
Do you remember life before Big Grab bags of chips and 20-ounce bottles of soda? If so, then you know that we consume larger servings than we used to, but for our young people this is what they have grown up on and this is what they think is the norm. When bagels first came on the market, in general you would have about a 2-ounce bagel.
Today’s bagels weigh in at around 5-ounces and pack greater than 100 calories more per serving. If you consume an extra 100 calories per day in a year, that can translate into 10 pounds of weight gain.
A serving of soda is 8-ounces. If you buy a 20-ounce bottle, you are easily taking in more than two servings. Think of all that added sugar. Most soft drinks have the equivalent of 23-26 packets of sugar mixed in them. Would you realistically pour that much sugar into one single beverage? Again, it comes down to the portion size and making sure that we are not going overboard.
So, what are the right portions? A one-half cup serving or fruit or vegetable would fit in the palm of your hand or about the size of a tennis ball. One and a half ounces of cheese is comparable to a CD or 4 dice. One teaspoon of butter or peanut butter is the size of the top half of your thumb. One ounce of nuts will fit into the palm of your hand. Two ounces of meat is about the size of a small chicken leg, one-half cup of cottage cheese or tuna. Three ounces is about the size of a deck of playing cards. One medium apple or orange is the size of a tennis ball, whereas one small banana is about the size of an eyeglass case.
When we look at the My Plate symbol we notice that half of the plate is fruits and vegetables. The other side of the plate is split in two. One portion of it represents your protein and the other portion your grains and starches. I like to use the palm of your hand as a good representation of serving sizes. Your hand is with you everywhere you go and takes away the need for a measuring spoon, scale or other gadget to judge portions.
So, again thinking of the above plate you would get two palm-sized servings of vegetables and fruits, one palm-sized serving of protein and one palm-sized serving of grains or starches. By eating these portion sizes, you will help maintain a healthy weigh, control diabetes and eat a heart-healthy meal. I know men have bigger hands than women, but given that men tend to eat heartier portions, even cutting down to the man’s palm would be a good starting point.
It’s also important that we recognize both hunger and fullness cues. We should eat when we feel hungry – when your tummy is rumbling a little bit and you just have that sensation that it’s time to eat. You should stop eating when you are satisfied, not full. There’s a difference! When you stop eating when you are satisfied you typically have not eaten all the food on your plate and you will find that you don’t overeat as much. Being more mindful at mealtimes allows you to take in exactly what your body needs.
Start taking a look at your portion sizes and you will be doing yourself and your whole family a huge favor. Living a long healthy life should be a family goal and by everyone making these changes together, it will make achieving this goal easier in the long run. Until next time…Live Healthy!
