Watch Your Serving Size To Lose Weight

There are probably as many ideas about what constitutes a serving size as there are fish in the ocean! If in doubt you can always read the package labels.

The labels will tell you how much is a serving (16 chips, 1/2 cup, etc) and how many calories, how much fat, and how many vitamins and minerals are in each serving. Use this information as your guide.

Some things don't come in packages with labels you say, and you are right.

Here are a few guidelines I use: 1/2 cup of most fruits (unsweetened) and vegetables is considered 1 serving. An exception to that is leafy vegetable where 1 cup can be considered as a serving.

1 cup of milk or 1 1/2 ounces of hard or semi-soft cheese or 2 cups of cottage cheese can be used as 1 serving of dairy.

For meat like beef and pork (and wild meats) one can use 4 ounces (about the size of a deck of cards) as a serving. For chicken I use one chicken breast (without the skin) as a serving.

Water, which is something we need lots of, is measured by the glass. Normally, 8 ounces is considered as one serving. As I mentioned before, you can use diet soda, black tea and black coffee (without sugar) as a substitute for water, however, please try to limit these alternates to no more than 3 per day.

As for grains, most cereals come with labels (choose whole-grain cereals without sugar added) and are easily identified.

Watch the labels on bread carefully. There are many types of bread on the market and they vary greatly in ingredients and therefore their serving size. There are lots of good reduced-calorie breads available so choose wisely.

It won't hurt to get into the habit of weighing and measuring your food to ensure you are judging the right serving sizes to ensure you are not eating too much but also to make sure you are eating enough.

Until next time, here's to eating right and weight management success.

Randy