With restaurant portions bigger than ever, it's easy to lose sight of what a true portion size looks like. Here's a guide for the next time you start filling up your plate.
Chopped vegetables: 1/2 cup (1/2 baseball size or rounded handful), 1/2 cup of 100 percent vegetable juice
Raw leafy vegetables such as lettuce: 1 cup (1 baseball size or 2 rounded handfuls)
Fresh fruit: 1 medium piece or 1 baseball size; or 1/2 cup chopped (1/2 baseball size or rounded handful), cooked or canned fruit (use packed in juice or water, avoid packed in syrup), 1/2 cup of 100% fruit juice
Dry fruit: 1/4 cup (1 golf ball size or scant handful)
Beans: 1/2 cup cooked, dry beans (1/2 baseball size or rounded handful)
Nuts: 1/3 cup (level handful), 2 tablespoons peanut butter
Meats: 2-3 ounces of cooked lean meat, poultry, or fish
Pasta, rice, or cooked cereal: 1/2 cup (1/2 baseball size or rounded handful)
Breads: 1 slice bread, 1 ounce ready-to-eat cereal
Dairy foods: 1 cup milk or yogurt
Cheese: 1 1/2 ounces (4 diced pieces or cubes)
Egg: 1 egg
Recommended composition and sources of diet
Fat: 20 percent - 35 percent of total energy intake
- Saturated fat < 10 percent
- Trans fat < 3 percent
- Choose plant sources such as olive or canola oil, avocados, seeds and nuts, oily fish
Carbohydrates: 45 percent - 65 percent of total intake with high intake of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes
Proteins: 10 percent - 35 percent of total intake of poultry, fish, plants, and nuts, with a goal of 0.8g/kg (limit red or processed meat)
Nutrition: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/nutrition.html
Reprinted with permission from the National Institutes of Health
Tags: Nutrition
