Portion Distortion - Handout 1 - Making Sense of Serving Sizes

Finding it hard to know exactly what a serving or portion size is? Below are some ways you can picture a serving or portion size using everyday objects. Using these everyday examples can help you think about how much you are eating. You may actually be eating more servings from the Food Guide Pyramid than you think! (Note: hands and finger sizes vary from person to person! These are GUIDES only).

The Bread, Cereal, Rice, and Pasta Group
1 cup of potatoes, rice, pasta	is a tennis ball, ice cream scoop
1 pancake	is a compact disc (CD)
1/2 cup cooked rice	is a cupcake wrapper full
1 piece of cornbread	is a bar of soap
1 slice of bread	is an audiocassette tape
1 cup of pasta, spaghetti, cereal	is a fist
2 cups of cooked pasta	is a full outstretched hand

The Vegetable Group
1 cup green salad	is a baseball or a fist
1 baked potato	is a fist
3/4 cup tomato juice	is a small styrofoam cup
1/2 cup cooked broccoli	is a scoop of ice cream or a light bulb
1/2 cup serving	is 6 asparagus spears; 7 or 8 baby carrots or carrot sticks or 1 ear of corn on the cob

The Fruit Group
1/2 cup of grapes (15 grapes)	is a light bulb
1/2 cup of fresh fruit	is 7 cotton balls
1 medium size fruit	is a tennis ball
1 cup of cut-up fruit	is a fist
1/4 cup raisins	large egg

The Milk, Yogurt, and Cheese Group
1 1/2 ounces cheese	is a 9-volt battery, 3 dominoes or your index and middle fingers
1 ounce of cheese	is a pair of dice or your thumb
1 cup of ice cream	is a large scoop the size of a baseball

The Meat, Poultry, Fish, Dry Beans, Eggs, and Nuts Group
2 tablespoons peanut butter	is a ping-pong ball
1 teaspoon peanut butter	is a fingertip
1 tablespoon peanut butter	is a thumb tip
3 ounces cooked meat, fish, poultry	is a palm, a deck or cards or a cassette tape
3 ounces grilled/baked fish	is a checkbook
3 ounces cooked chicken	is a chicken leg and thigh or breast

Fats, Oils and Sweets
1 teaspoon butter, margarine	is the size of a stamp the thickness of your finger or a thumb tip
2 tablespoons salad dressing	is a ping-pong ball

Snack Foods
1 ounce of nuts or small candies	is one handful
1 ounce of chips or pretzels	is two handfuls
1/2 cup of potato chips, crackers or popcorn	is one man’s handful
1/3 cup of potato chips, crackers or popcorn	is one woman’s handfulis one woman’s handful

Serving Dishes/Utensils
1/2 cup	a custard cup or mashed potato scoop
1 1/2 cups	is a large cereal/soup bowl
1 1/2 cups of pasta, noodles	is a dinner plate, not heaped
1/2 cup of pasta, noodles	is a cafeteria vegetable dish

Environmental Nutrition, April 1994
First Magazine, August 30, 1993
Kansas Dept. of Health and Environment
Mademoiselle, September 1993
National Pasta Association newsletter
Nutrition Action, November 1996
Skim the Fat by the American Dietetic Association, 1995
Tufts University Diet and Nutrition Letter, September 1994

Compiled by Ellen Schuster, M.S., R.D., Oregon State University Extension Service, 3/97, and recommended to Arkansans by Rosemary Rodibaugh, Ph.D. R.D., Extension Nutrition Specialist

Pictures of chickens, flowers, wheat, a boy looking through a magnifying glass, irrigation pipe, soybean pods, and fruits and vegetables.	Cooperative Extension Service





Cooperative Extension Service	Agricultural Experiment Station
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2002 Volunteer Leader Training Guide Portion Distortion Making Sense of Serving Sizes Handout 1

2002 Volunteer Leader Training Guide
Portion Distortion
Making Sense of Serving Sizes
Handout 1