Measuring portion size
When it comes to getting a balanced diet, it’s not easy understanding what a healthy portion looks like, after all it depends on what food you’re eating for example, a cup of pasta a day is a recommended daily portion, but not a cup of butter! It may seem time consuming to begin with but one trick is to watch what you’re eating throughout the day. Read food labels to check the serving size and nutritional value of each serving and if you’ve got time, use a food weighing scales to weigh out your portion size. Of course most of us haven’t got the time or inclination to get too bogged down at this level, so we’ve made it easy with our quick-to-view portion size guide..
Our portion size guide allows you to eyeball portions at a glance.
Food Groups | Standard Serving | Visual Equivalent | Calories |
Bread, cereal, rice, pasta and potato
| One cup of pasta 30g cereal 1 medium potato | Tennis ball A fist A computer mouse | 110 110 160 |
Fruits | 1 medium apple or orange 1 tablespoon raisins ½ Avocado | Tennis ball ½ cupped hand | 60-80 110 137 |
Vegetables | 2 spears of broccoli 8 brussel sprouts 3 tbsp frozen mixed veg |
1 cupped hand | 7 64 59 |
Milk, yogurt and cheese | 200ml semi-skimmed milk 30g of hard cheese 125g of yogurt | Average glass 1 matchbox Average pot | 90 172 100-130 |
Meat, poultry and fish
| 100g meat/chicken or fish | Deck of cards | 120-200 |
Dry beans, eggs and nuts | 3 heaped tsps cooked beans 28 grams nuts large teaspoon peanut butter 2 whole eggs | Light bulb Cupped hand Ping pong ball
| 115 100-200 95 168 |
Fats oils and sweets | 1 tsp of salad dressing 1 tsp of butter /margarine or oil ½ cup ice cream | ½ thumb ½ forefinger Tennis ball | 45 45 160 |
