Healthy Living for Every Body

PORTIONS VS. SERVINGS:  Do you Know How Much You’re Eating?

We live in a culture which values bigger and better:  a bigger car, a bigger house, etc.  This thinking has also trickled down to how we view food and what we eat.  You may not want all those fries or that huge soda, but you’ll buy the Value Meal because your money goes further.  It seems reasonable to eat a “grab bag” of chips with your sandwich at lunchtime.  Bigger and better comes with a price, though:  do you realize how MUCH you’re eating? 

PORTIONS VS.  SERVINGS

A lot has been said about how many servings you need of various food groups.  For example, you may have heard it said that you need between 6 and 11 servings of complex carbohydrates.  So, you stand in line at Lottie and ask for a serving of rice, which is ½ cup.  You may think that you just got one of your carb servings for the day.  However, the server gave you a 1 cup portion, which actually equaled two servings.  The point is that sometimes you end up eating more than you realize because one portion of something can actually equal more than one servings. 

PRE-PACKAGED FOODS

This issue of portions vs. servings comes into play a lot with pre-packaged foods.  How often do you get yourself a Sobee drink from the Falcon and down it during your next class?  You probably don’t realize that you just drank 2 ½ servings of that beverage, which translates into consuming more calories.  Here are some other foods sold in the Falcon and Union and how many

servings you are actually consuming:

EAT WITH YOUR HANDS!

Knowing that a serving size of nuts or chips is 1 oz. is good to know, but it can be difficult to know what that looks like.  Here are some estimations you can make by using your hands (and other reference objects) in determining appropriate serving sizes:

Here are some other helpful estimations:

BOTTOM LINE

If you are trying to cut calories and lose weight, begin by becoming more aware of the portion sizes you are eating. Ask for smaller portions when you’re in line at Lottie, share a braided pretzel for a snack with a friend, and save ½ of your bottled beverage for tomorrow.  By cutting portion sizes you are cutting calories.  You may be surprised with the results!

• Healthy Living: Finding Your Balance
• Apartment Living: Meal Planning
• Becoming a Healthful Vegetarian
• Eating Well on Campus
• Fat: To Eat or Not to Eat?
• Living a Gluten-free Lifestyle
• Making Sense Out of the Glycemic Index
• Portions vs. Servings - Do You Know How Much You're Eating?
• The Protein Factor
• Understanding Carbs