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Hi everybody, I'm Gillian. I'm the registered dietician with NCPAD.
I'm going to talk to you today about serving sizes.
We've all heard that serving sizes have gotten bigger and bigger over the years
but do you ever find yourself wondering what a serving size really looks like?
I'm going to show you some food models I have here today to give you
examples of what we think looks like a serving size and what one actually does look like.
For example, take this rice. When you put it in this bowl, it doesn't look very big, does it?
This is actually half a cup, which is considered a serving of rice or pasta.
This might look more familiar, putting rice in a bowl, but this actually
is two servings and is actually double the amount.
Ice cream is another one that we see often. You know, on the back
of the ice cream container we see that a half cup equals one serving.
Do you ever find yourself scooping ice cream into the bowl thinking
"that looks like one serving, maybe a half cup"? Well, actually
this is what a half cup really looks like, kinda small.
This might be what you normally see in an ice cream bowl. It doesn't look
like very much, but it is double the serving.
This meat for example, this might be a typical steak you might see at a
restaurant, this is eight ounces of meat. Three ounces is the actual
serving size which looks more like this. Note the thickness difference as well.
Now I'm not saying that you only need to eat one serving per meal, but for
weight management purposes when you think you're actually eating for example, one
serving from a box of rice, you might actually be eating two.
So you have to think about that. The calories that you think you might be getting are doubled.
Take this label for example. This drink, and this is common with a lot of drinks
On the label this says it actually has four servings. So the serving size is actually
eight ounces and it's only sixty calories, but the whole bottle has two-hundred forty calories.
If you've never measured your food at home, it could be a good idea.
Now measuring everyday is not really practical, and also not very fun.
But measuring for a couple days, to get an idea of what a serving size really looks like
especially for some of your favorite foods can be a really good idea.
These are all three different types of things you might see in a kitchen.
This is not as common, but this is a food scale. Runs about one-hundred dollars, so it is
a little bit more expensive, but it can measure exactly what you are using in your cooking.
Do you know how much chicken you are putting in a recipe? Do you know how much
butter you're putting in? Things like that. It can be a really good way to measure exactly
what you're actually eating or what you're putting in a recipe.
These however, most people have around their kitchen. Measuring cups and measuring spoons.
As I said, for a few days, for example with your cereal you might want to measure what
a cup of cereal looks like in your bowl because you may be surprised.
When you're not at home, say you are at a restaurant or at a party, you obviously are
not going to carry these devices with you, it wouldn't be practical.
But you can use your hand as a handy guide. For example a fist is about
the size of one cup which would be good for measuring cereal like I said or
beverages. A cupped hand like this is about half a cup which would be appropriate
for cooked rice or pasta. The palm of your hand is whats known as about three ounces,
or a serving size for most meats. A thumb is about one tablespoon which would be
most appropriate for salad dressings, sour cream, cream cheese and peanut butter.
The tip of your thumb is more the measurement of a teaspoon which would be most
appropriate for oils, butter and margarine.
I hope that's helpful for you, and I hope that you'll begin to understand
what a serving size really looks like and use it in your weight management program.