Serving Sizes

 

The following article is a small excerpt from one of my books.  I hope you’ll want to learn more and let me help you to get into the best shape of your life.

Before I talk about serving sizes and how they can help you to get into your desired shape I’d like to give you a few thoughts.  In 1991 a little over 12% of North Americans were considered obese, and now in 2001 that figure has almost doubled.  Why?  Is it because the portions you receive in fast food stores have doubled?  Well before you always had the option of ordering twice the amount of food.  Now all you have to do is order the super size.  Basically the fast food restaurants are only providing what the customers are asking for, and at the same time providing a platform for you to overeat.  But is this the only reason for the rising rate of obesity?

Is it the invention of the computer, which has made us lazy and therefore contributing to our weigh gain?  Statistics tend to show otherwise because obesity seems to be higher in cities were computer ownership is lowest.  What about the growing number of people who have stopped smoking?  They tend to gain weight after quitting because they eat more to satisfy their oral needs.  Although this is true and that in over 25 cities tested obesity rose 55 percent, however in 25 cities were smoking increased, obesity rose even more to 59 percent.

I believe we are starting to believe that no matter how fat or unhealthy we become that modern medicine will be able to help us to live longer, so it doesn’t matter what we eat or do, a magic pill will come along sooner or later and make everything better.  After all look at the success of the Human Genome Project, and all that it has to promise. Years ago if you thought about eating a bag of chips a night, or a scoop of ice cream, and that you could possibly add 10 pounds to your weight, you chose not to do it.  Now with the Non-fattening chips and low fat ice cream, you think nothing of devouring a bag and maybe 2 scoops of double chocolate before bed.  You still will gain 10 plus pounds but you can rationalize it because it was low fat and ‘oh well’ sooner or later modern medicine will take away what you have added.  This thinking is backwards, because who knows when or even if this magic pill will come along, and even if it does, will it be too late?  We must get back to basics!

In our quest to get into shape and lose weight we can often lose track of one of the basic, very fundamental resources that we have to guide us, and that is the food guides that are set out by the government.  In them they state that we should eat between 5 to 12 servings of grain products, 5 to 10 servings of fruit and vegetables, 2 to 4 servings of milk products, 2 to 3 servings of meat and 3 to 4 servings of fats and oils.  Seems quite easy, but what exactly is a serving?  And why is there such a difference in servings required? 

Well for starters, women and older adults, who typically need fewer calories, should choose the lower serving numbers.  Teenage boys and active men can eat the higher number and children, teen-age girls, active women and sedentary men should choose a serving size in the middle. 

Now you just had a muffin for a snack.  Does this count as one grain serving?  Probably not…you see most commercial muffins can add up to about 3 to 4 servings, yet we think of it as one.  Just think of all the extra calories you are getting and thinking you are following the food guides.  In today’s competitive fast paced world, we are bombarded with ‘Super size’ this and ‘30% more’ that.  As serving sizes get bigger our desire for larger food portions is also growing and so are our waistlines.  We may be trying to follow a low-fat diet, yet were eating more calories. 

So what is a serving?  Well on some packaging labels they will tell you what a serving size is.  I just looked on a Super Size bag of Potato chips, and they stated the serving size was 12 chips, yet how may of you would sit down and probably eat 2 or three times that if not the whole bag.  One serving is 5 ritz crackers, 16 wheat thins, 55 goldfish, one cup of raisin bran, or ¾ of a cup of Life cereal.  Try to measure your serving sizes based on what they say on the packaging labels.  If they don’t tell you then you can use the following as a guide;                              

- 3 ounces of cooked meat, poultry or fish which works out to be     the size of a deck of cards or audio cassette tape. 

-  One cup of cooked rice, pasta or vegetables is about the size of your fist or an ice – cream scoop.
 

-   One and a half ounces of cheese is about the size of four stacked dice or the size of your thumb

-    One tablespoons of mayonnaise, peanut butter, or salad dressing looks like a ping-pong ball or ice cube.

-   One ounce of nuts is about what you could hold in your cupped hand.

-   One Ounce of bread looks like that of a CD case.

If you can visualize the above references when thinking of serving sizes, hopefully this will help you to reduce your overall calories.  After all an extra bite here, or gulp there can add up…Do you know that most bags of Microwave popcorn are actually 3 servings?  And if you drink one cup of orange juice for Breakfast instead of the serving size of ¾ cup you’ll actually be getting 25 extra calories?  Even though these calories are non-fat, they are still extra calories and they do add up.

We have all heard the secret to getting into great shape and losing weight is eating right and exercising.  Most of us may have an idea of what we’re doing, but sometimes we just need an extra boost or reminder of what we need to do.  So what is eating right?  Well for starters it’s eating from all the food groups in balance and getting our proper amount of daily calories required to maintain our bodies. 

I’d like to go through the food groups and give you some ideas of what serving sizes are as well as calories, but for a more detailed list you can find most foods in a good food guide or check out my book ‘Get Fit Stay Fit’ for the help you need.

SWEETS AND FATS (3 – 4 servings)

You should try to avoid or use this food group sparingly, because they can add a lot of calories and fat and have very little nutritional value

MILK, YOGURT AND CHEESE (2 - 4 servings)

Consuming from this food group will provide you with a good source of protein, calcium and other essential vitamins and minerals.

MEAT, POULTRY, FISH, DRY BEANS, EGGS AND NUTS (2 – 3 servings)  

In this food group you’ll find good sources of Protein, B vitamins, iron and zinc.  You should be careful to choose lean cuts of meat, and be careful of eggs, high fat nuts, and fried fish or seafood packed in oil.  Also try to avoid processed meats like bologna, salami, hot dogs, sausages and bacon, they are generally higher in fat.

VEGETABLES (3 to 5 servings)

Vegetables are a good source of Vitamins A and C, folate, Iron, magnesium, and beta carotene.  You should be careful when you eat vegetables that you don’t fall into the trap of putting on sauces, dips and dressings that are full of fat and add a lot of extra calories.  

FRUITS (2 – 5 servings)

Between 2 and 5 servings of fruit a day will help to give you a good source of carbohydrates, vitamins A and C and Potassium.  Generally all fruits are good for you but you should try to avoid fruits that are packed in syrup or fruit drinks, they are packed with sugar.