The Co-op Food Stores of New Hampshire and Vermont

added 08/07/10

by Mary Saucier Choate, M.S., R.D., L.D.

Did you know that eating one large bagel is the same as eating four slices of bread? Choosing a large order of fries is like eating three 6-ounce potatoes (each about the size of a computer mouse) plus five teaspoons of butter! Clearly, the power of portions can make or break the best intentions for healthful eating.

Information about food portions is a powerful tool for reaching or maintaining your healthiest weight. Understanding how to use portion power allows you to eat a variety of foods throughout the day, in health-supportive portion sizes.

In the beginning, there was “Natural Portion Management.” Studies have shown that even very young children, when presented with an array of nutritious foods, can easily select a diet that meets their nutrition needs without eating too much or too little. They are naturally excellent managers of their food intake. As we grow older, many of us lose this natural ability to self-regulate our intake according to our needs.

Persuasive food marketing, busy lives, and well-meaning caregivers, can all interfere with our body’s natural eating wisdom. Getting back to this intuitive eating style takes time and the willingness to experiment with paying attention to how we feel when eating- are we full, stuffed, no longer hungry?

Our inflated idea of portion sizes is way out of line with what our body actually requires. For example, a moderately active 55-year-old woman needs about the same amount of calories each day as an active girl who is eight or nine years old! It’s no wonder that many adults find that the aging process brings on added pounds, especially if they have not adjusted their eating patterns to their actual activity level and calorie needs.

Portion awareness is a gentle first step. Paying some attention to food –learning which foods and portion sizes best meet our nutrition and calorie needs. At first, it may seem like a lot of energy is spent thinking about food. It might be helpful to compare the mastery of portion power to learning to drive a car with a stick shift. It takes a lot of attention at first, but like becoming skilled at driving a car with a stick shift, there comes a time when it’s simply a part of you and you give it hardly any thought at all!

Having an idea of what a healthful variety of foods looks like for your calorie needs can be helpful. A good resource to learn just how much of each food group you need is www.mypyramid.gov, where you can enter your personal height, weight, age, and gender and it will give you your daily food groups and the amounts you need. This is a ballpark- your health is the best measure of your healthiest weight and the calories needed to get you there.

Tools You Can Use

• Pay close attention to your usual serving sizes. Try using smaller plates and bowls at home and ask for “take home” containers when dining out.

• Measure out the serving size recommended on the label to familiarize yourself with what it looks like. For example, count out 15 tortilla chips, or place one-half cup of ice cream in a bowl. These are easy and effective ways to start taming the “super-size” monster down to a more manageable form.

• When looking at the Nutrition Facts label, closely examine the serving size listed. For many higher-calorie treats, the nutrition information is based on the tricky “partial” or “doubled plus” serving. Who eats half a muffin or drinks one serving from a 2.5 servings soda bottle?

• If you don’t want to give up a big muffin or bagel, try choosing it less often: for example, two days a week instead of five. Have a lighter choice on the other days, such as an English muffin or a cup of whole-grain cereal and low fat milk. This small change in your intake can make a difference that will result in a healthier weight over time.

• On-the-Go Choice: A whole-grain granola bar or a small bag or travel mug filled with one cup of dry whole-grain breakfast cereal. At lunch check out the cold food case and choose the small size “to go” container of a healthfully prepared pasta dish or grain-based salad and get a small container of a vegetable dish to make a tasty and filling meal.

• Quick-to-Make: Whole-grain hot or cold cereal and milk; two slices of whole-wheat toast and peanut butter; or a whole-wheat roll and slice of low fat cheese, warmed quickly in the microwave.

• Can’t say “no” to a mountain of pasta? Try mixing it with bulky vegetables like broccoli, carrots, and big chunks of mushrooms to get the same volume, but with a pasta portion size that more closely meets your portion goals.

• Time-to-Cook: Try spaghetti squash! Slice it in half, scoop out the seeds, and bake it cut-side down on a lightly oiled or nonstick pan for 45 minutes at 350°F or microwave for about 12 minutes on high. When it’s done, you have a squash that separates into pasta-like strands for about one quarter of pasta’s calories.

• Need a chocolate fix? Three bite-sized chocolate-covered peppermint candies or chocolate kisses, savored slowly, can fit the bill for far fewer calories than a regular-sized candy bar. Low fat chocolate milk or instant hot chocolate can also satisfy.

• Doing fast food? Don’t let them super-size you! Keep to the small single sizes or veggie salads with dressing used sparingly unless you require more calories.

• Of course apples, pears, bananas, oranges, and grapefruit are also filling, low-calorie snacks.

The following examples may help you with roughly identifying serving sizes.

Note: When hands or fingertips are used, they are based on a medium-sized woman’s hand, which, when made into a fist, is comparable to a one-cup measure. If yours is smaller or larger, you may need to adjust accordingly.

• Checkbook= three ounces of cooked fish
• Compact disc= diameter of one ounce-equivalent pancake
• Computer mouse= one-cup-sized potato
• Entire thumb or four dice= one ounce of cheese
• Fist or tennis ball= one cup
• Hockey puck= medium bagel= three one-ounce mini bagels
• Matchbook= one tablespoon of mayonnaise or dressing
• Ping pong ball= two tablespoons of peanut butter
• Standard deck of cards= three ounce serving of meat or poultry
• Standard ice cream scoop or half of a baseball= one-half cup
• Thumb tip to first joint or one die= one teaspoon of butter

For many more tips about portion sizes and healthful eating, check out Better Eating for Life, available at the Co-op Food Stores.