Watching Your Portion Sizes

Although we might choose healthy snacks and food - our portion sizes are often too large! It is important when choosing meals to refer to the food pyramid . Spend time familiarising yourself with the correct portion sizes and allowances for your food.

It is a good exercise to weigh out the correct serving size of the most common foods to familiarise yourself with what you should be taking.

Easy Ways to Size up Your Portions

A serving of bread, cereal, rice or pasta is:
  • 1 slice of bread
  • Half a bagel or roll
  • 30g of cereal (this will go about halfway up a standard sized cereal bowl)
  • 50g of uncooked rice or pasta
A serving of vegetable is:
  • A cup of raw, leafy greens (a pile the size of a fist)
  • A large piece of broccoli (about the size of a light bulb)
  • Half a cup of chopped vegetables (about as much as you can fit in the palm of your hand)
  • Half a cup of vegetable juice (175mls)
  • 1 baked potato (about the size of a computer mouse)
A serving of fruit is:
  • A medium apple or orange (200g, about the size of a tennis ball)
  • A medium banana (150g peeled; it should fit on an average side plate)
  • Half a cup of chopped fruit or berries (100g)
  • Half a cup of fruit juice (175ml)
A serving of milk, yoghurt or cheese is:
  • 1 cup of milk (200ml)
  • 1 carton of yoghurt (125ml)
  • 28g (1oz) of cheese (about the size of a matchbox)
  • A slice of cheese (about the size of a floppy computer disk)
  • Half a cup of cottage cheese (57g)
A serving of meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs, nuts is:
  • 85g lean cooked meat, poultry or fish (the size of a deck of playing cards)
  • 1 medium pork chop or 1 small hamburger
  • 1 small fish fillet
  • Half a whole chicken breast or a medium chicken leg
  • Half a cup cooked beans (about the size of a tennis ball)
  • A handful of nuts or seeds (25g)

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