The large meal that's placed in front of you when you go to a restaurant likely doesn't adhere to standard serving sizes. The food portions served at coffee shops and cafes have increased substantially over the past 20 years. If weight loss or weight management is your goal, it's crucial to understand the difference between a portion and a serving.
What's a Portion?
A portion has no defined quantity. Quite simply, a portion is how much you choose to eat in one sitting. A portion can consist of one serving -- but often, it's more. The American Council on Exercise, or ACE, points out that a "portion" of coffee with milk and sugar used to consist of 8 oz. and around 45 calories, whereas now, gourmet coffee drinks can consist of 16 oz. and 280 calories. The "supersized" order of fries may give you more food for your dollar -- but far more calories and fat than you need.
What's a Serving?
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Nutrition Facts label tells you how many servings there are in the packaged food you buy from the market, how many calories you get per serving, and the fat, carbohydrate, sodium, cholesterol and other nutrients one serving of the food provides. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Guide Pyramid also provides information about what constitutes a serving. For example, for most vegetables, one serving size is 1/2 cup of the vegetable, cooked, or 1 cup when eaten raw; the serving size for most nonfat dairy foods, such as milk and yogurt, is 8 oz., or 1 cup.
Understanding Serving Size
The Nutrition Facts label can help you determine how much you're eating -- and if you're eating too much. If you're cooking, use measuring utensils to mete out servings according to the food's label -- once you see this amount of food on your plate, you're better able to gauge how much food you've been eating compared to how much you should. Visualizing what a serving looks like by comparing it to common objects is also a handy method to use when you don't have measuring cups or weight scales available. A 3-oz. serving of poultry or fish is the size of a deck of cards. A serving of fresh fruit is the size of a tennis ball. A serving of butter is the size of a die. A serving of baked potato is about the size of your fist.
Portion Control
Getting portion sizes under control is vital to any successful weight-loss plan. According to ACE, research indicates that portion control is one indicator of successful, long-term weight loss. MayoClinic.com also points out that research shows that people will eat bigger portions when placed in front of them -- even the perception of children as young as 2 years of age is skewed if they are exposed to large portions of food. If you're trying to lose weight, use a food diary. In addition to writing down how much of a certain food you ate, note when, where and why you ate it to see if you notice patterns of overindulgence.
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