What's a Serving?

Summarized by Robert W. Griffith, MD
August 28, 2007

Summary

Anyone who plans to follow a diet has to understand serving-sizes and portion control. They should inform themselves about the different serving sizes available, the amounts of nutrients associated with them, and how to judge portion sizes.

What's A Serving?

The guidelines on the Nutritional Facts Label uses 1 cup as the serving size for cooked pasta. Typical restaurant portions are 3 cups. Bagels and muffins bought in fast-food chains and restaurants can be 2 to 8 times the size recommended by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). A 20-ounce soft drink (250 calories) is labeled as 2½ servings - each 100 calories.

Obviously 'servings' are much smaller than the portions that we've become accustomed to these days. Here's a short guide to help you realize just how small a dietician's servings actually are:

Carbs
1 pancake	a CD (compact disc)
1 slice of bread	audiocassette tape
1 cup potatoes, rice, cereal, or pasta	tennis ball, or fist
½ cup cooked rice	cupcake wrapper-full
Veggies
½ cup cooked broccoli	scoop of ice cream
½ cup serving	6 asparagus spears, 7 baby carrots, small ear of corn on the cob
1 baked potato	a fist
Fruit
¼ cup raisins	a large egg, or golf ball
½ cup grapes	15 grapes
1 medium-size fruit	tennis ball, or fist
1 cup cut-up fruit	a fist
Dairy
1 ounce cheese	pair of dice, or a thumb
½ ounce cheese	9-volt battery, index or middle finger
1 cup milk or yogurt	softball
1 cup ice cream	large scoop, baseball
1 teaspoon butter or margarine	top joint of thumb
2 tablespoons salad dressing	ping-pong ball
Meat, Fish, Poultry, Nuts
3 ounces cooked meat, fish, poultry	palm, deck of cards, cassette tape
3 ounces cooked fish	checkbook
2 tablespoons peanut butter	ping-pong ball
1 ounce nuts or candies	one handful
1 ounce baked chips or pretzels	2 handfuls
½ cup popcorn or potato chips	one handful

All Servings Aren't Equal

The Nutrition Facts Label found on just about all food sold in the USA gives nutritional information per serving size - and it states how big a serving is. These label servings are often smaller than those given in the table above. For instance, you may find that the label says your favorite cereal serving is only ½ a cup. So make the necessary adjustment, either to how much you put on the plate or how many calories you reckon.

Source

• National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, NIH. Stay Young at Heart: Portion Distortion. http://hp2010.nhlbihin.net/portion/keep.htm

Related Links
Portion Distortion Interactive Quiz
Combine Two Approaches for Weight Control
Twenty Long Minutes

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