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Want to stay trim and keep your heart healthy? Choosing nutritious foods is important. But you also need to pay attention to portions, say Kate Patton, MEd, RD, CCSD, LD, and Julia Zumpano, RD, LD.
To find out if your portions are on target, check the Nutrition Facts panel on the food’s packaging. Look for the number of servings in each container and the nutrients per serving. If you’re routinely eating more than one serving, you’ll need to do some multiplying to determine the amount of calories, fat, sugar and salt you’re actually eating.
To help you, we contrast typical portions with actual serving sizes for the popular foods above. Here are their true serving sizes:
- Cereal: One serving = 1 cup for unsweetened, 3/4 cup for cereal with dried/dehydrated fruit
- Trail mix: One serving = 1/4 cup
- Chicken breast: One serving = 3 ounces for women, 4 ounces for men
- Broccoli: One serving = 1 cup (helps meet daily goal of 2.5 cups veggies)
- Rice pilaf: One serving = 1/3 cup
