Proper Portion Sizes

Even if you eat the most nutritious food in the world, you'll still gain excess weight if you eat too much of it. That's why eating proper portion sizes matters. Of course eating sensible portions can be hard in a world of 32-ounce sodas, 1/2-pound burgers, and "single-size" bags of chips that contain enough for three people. At home you can read labels to find out portion sizes, but when you're away from home, you have to guess. Here are a few handy guidelines to follow:

• 1 cup of dry cereal = the size of a baseball
• 3 ounces of meat, fish, or poultry = a deck of cards
• 1 serving of thin fish = a checkbook
• 1 1/2 ounces of cheese = four dice
• 3?4 cup of frozen yogurt or ice cream = a tennis ball
• 1/2 cup of fruit, rice, pasta, or cooked vegetables = half a tennis ball
• 1 cup of pasta = a closed fist
• 1 2-ounce bagel = a hockey puck
• 1 teaspoon of butter = the tip of your thumb
• 2 tablespoons of peanut butter = a roll of film

Originally published in You & Your Baby: Pregnancy.

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