Healthy Meal Portions
Did You Know? A half-cup of Ben and Jerry ice cream is 280 calories; a 12-ounce fruit smoothie contains up to 300 calories;a 16-ounce iced Café Mocha with whip cream contains almost 350 calories.
FACT – In Japan only 3.6% of the population is obese. In the U.S. 32% of the population is obese. Why? In Japan they eat less. They are taught from a very young age to fill their stomach only 80% full. In the United States, excess is the rule. Supersize is the “better deal” – or is it? A “McValue” meal (burger, large fries and large soda) contains almost 1,200 calories. That’s more than HALF of the recommended calorie intake for an average person, and 448 calories of that amount come from FAT!
Benefit
By eliminating 200 to 400 calories per day a person would lose 30 lbs in a year’s time.
Solution
There are a lot of strategies for eating health portions. When at home, eat off of salad plates instead of dinner plate, and keep yourself to just one serving. Don’t eat snacks out of the bag. Once you start, you can’t stop (remember “'Betcha can’t eat just one?") and you can’t keep track of how much you eat.
Choose healthier portion sizes:
* 3 oz. of meat: size of a deck of cards or bar of soap
* 3 oz. of fish: size of a checkbook
* 1 oz. of cheese: size of 4 dice
* 1 medium potato: size of a computer mouse
* 2 tbs. peanut butter: size of a ping pong ball
* ½ cup of pasta: size of a tennis ball
* Average bagel: size of a hockey puck
Options
* Choose the regular size hamburger instead of the larger burger and you’ll save about 150 calories
* Have the small fries instead of the super-sized and save about 300 calories
* Order the small soda – save about 150 calories