Understanding serving sizes

There is a difference between a serving and a portion or meal/food intake. With each meal you may eat numerous servings of one food group. For example, a sandwich with 2 slices of bread may have 2 servings of grains, whereas a large roll may have 4 servings. Also note that a particular meal may have a variety of servings from different food groups. Eg: A chicken sandwich may have 2 servings of grains, 2 serving of meat, 1 serving of fat (butter & mayo).

Although the amount you eat in a meal may vary, understanding serving sizes is important in recognising whether you are getting too much, or not enough, of a particular food group. The idea of the diet however isn't that you have to be exact, but on the whole, address the basic nutritional needs from each food group over time. Below is a basic guide to work your coding from. Simply make guesstimates based on this guide and code your chart accordingly.

CODING YOUR FAT

When it comes to fat, there is no set guide other than to use it sparingly. This however is a big part of everyone's dietary issues. So, in coding your fat intake for assessment, you will need to determine a process that is easy to understand and follow. You can devise your own assessment of fat however Fit Aussie recommends the following:

Some samples or one serving of fat could include: 1 Big Mac or similar burger, 1 cake, 1 small chocolate bar, 1 large fries, a small bowl of ice cream, 1 beer etc.

For those that aren't quite this size serving you could list it as a fraction of a serving Eg: 0.75 for a glass of wine, 0.5 for some salad dressing etc. You get the idea - or simply personalise your own recording procedure (but keep it consistent).

1 SERVING OF DAIRY (MILK, YOGURT, CHEESE ETC)

As a basic rule with the cheese products, close your fist and extend 2 fingers. One servings basically represents a cheese to the equivalent size.

MEATS (POULTRY, FISH, BEANS, EGGS, NUTS ETC)

As it is highly unlikely that you will be eating 2-3 eggs in a serving or 6 table spoons of peanut butter etc, you can use this as a guide and list 0.5 or .3 of a serving in your guide.

Regarding the lean meat, a handy guide here is the size of your palm (if you don't have a huge hand). Beware of the typical size dished out in most meals, they can often provide a large number of servings in 1 sitting (eg: your 12 ounce steak).

FRUIT

A handy guide here is the size of your fist, a fruit that is equivalent in size equals a serving.

VEGE'S

A handy guide here is also the size of your fist, an equivalent size in vegetables is roughly a serving.

GRAINS (BREAD, CEREAL, RICE, PASTA)

A handy guide here is to cup one hand. A hand full of grain products is roughly a serving.

OVERVIEW

As stated, there is no need to be precise, a good guess is all that is required. The realities of what we neglect will stand out in no time, regardless of how good a picture you try to present.

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Understanding multiple servings

It is important to understand how small a serving actually is. For example, when we sit down to a meal, we will more often than not eat multiple servings from the one food group. Viewing the list of standard products in our diet, will show you just how easily the number of servings can escalate. The point, keep it under control. Here are some samples from the meat, vegetable and grain groups.

GRAINS

VEGETABLES