If you’re eating healthy foods but still struggling to shed unwanted pounds, perhaps it’s time to do a reality check on the size of your food portions. “People don’t realize how much they eat,” says Daphne Lordly, assistant professor in applied human nutrition at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax. “It’s important to eat healthy but even too much of a good thing can be a bad thing.”
With restaurants serving up colossal plates of food, it’s no wonder people have lost sight of what constitutes an appropriate portion size at home. To overcome your super-size mentality, Lordly suggests these three easy steps:
· Get real about serving sizes
Keep in mind that one serving isn’t the same size as the container it’s packaged in. You may be surprised at how small one serving actually is. For example, one serving of grains is just half a cup of pasta and one serving of protein is a mere three ounces of meat. To learn what constitutes a single food serving of grains, fruit and veggies, dairy products, meat and alternatives and oils, spreads and dressings, read our article on sizing up servings. Then download the Chatelaine daily eating log to ensure that you’re getting the number of daily servings recommended in Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating.
Keep in mind that one serving isn’t the same size as the container it’s packaged in. You may be surprised at how small one serving actually is. For example, one serving of grains is just half a cup of pasta and one serving of protein is a mere three ounces of meat. To learn what constitutes a single food serving of grains, fruit and veggies, dairy products, meat and alternatives and oils, spreads and dressings, read our article on sizing up servings. Then download the Chatelaine daily eating log to ensure that you’re getting the number of daily servings recommended in Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating.