What exactly is a portion?

I don’t know about “statutory” requirements, but the diet where I lost 80 lbs says 1 Cup equals a serving, except lettuce is 3 cups. As for dried fruits, they discouraged them because the calories are so concentrated that you end up with a lot of sugars and not a lot of volume for your calories. Better to have canned (without sugar) than dried, and best to have fresh or frozen.

Best if you grab a website or tool that spells it all out as each fruit/ veggie is different.

I wish I could remember the source, but I once read or heard that about the size of your fist is good for most fruits and veggies. Lettuce is pretty low cal, so I didn’t worry if I did more of it. When I do nuts, it’s a handful. For any packaged foods I just read the label.

You might try looking up the RACC for foods you are eating. FDA established Reference Amounts Customarily Consumed (reference amounts or RACC) for many food product categories, and these values represent the amount of food customarily consumed at one eating occasion. I use those numbers when creating nutritional panels for food labels at work.

A portion of fresh fruit or veg is approximately the size of your fist. One orange, one apple, a cupped handful of broccoli, etc. I highly recommend you ignore counting lettuce, it’s pretty void in terms of nutritional benefit and you’d need a ton to count as a portion. I mean it’s good to note that you had a big salad with approximately 2.5 servings of veg, counting the lettuce as point five of a serving, but don’t rely on it as a full portion or you’ll get sick of it in no time.

A portion is a morsel. A tasty, tasty morsel.

I heard “the size of your fist” thing for meat.

@Judi: I had, too. But I almost never can manage to eat that much meat so it always seemed wrong to me. Maybe that’s just me.

I think we eat way to much meat in our meals too. I have been trying to train my eye to think that the meat part of a meal should be no more than 1/4 of my plate. At least 1/2 should be vegetables and the rest whole grains

perhaps of relevance, the best healthy diet advice I have seen for the general public is found here..it may not answer your specific question, but should be of interest. The links are wonderful with very in depth information for those who seek it. Click on the veg or fruit link and they provide guidelines on amounts per serve

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/index.html

portions vary by description. One good example is the average bottle of diet coke. On the label is a description of nutrition and daily recommendations. Then it goes on to say, for example, 40mg of sodium per serving. Not bad right? Read again…one 16 oz. bottle is actually TWO servings.

When it comes to prepackaged foods, you should never ever trust what they say is a portion size. Food companies are allowed to advertise their foods as “fat-free”, “carb-free”, “trans fat-free”, etc, so long as the amount per portion is below some amount (changes for each fad). So they simply reduce the stated portion size on the package until they can satisfy this requirement. Meaning: a package of potato chips soaked in lard could be advertised as fat-free and carb-free, so long as “one portion” was a quarter of an average sized potato chip.

Always remember: the bottom line for these companies, as with many other companies in the world, is to get their hands on your hard earned dollar. Most companies don’t give one flying hoot whether they do it with integrity or honesty, they just want your dollar, and they’re willing to pull things like portion size manipulating to get it.

@Judi: My doctor always says, size of your palm for meat, size of your fist for carbs and as much fruits and veggies as you feel the need to devour.

For meat it is size of a pack of cigarettes, for fruit it can be one each or if they are big and juicy half of one, for most veggies, except the high carb ones, it’s all you can eat. For my enemy, ice cream, just touching the carton is the acceptable portion.

Does this help?

@Lightlyseared OH you LITTLE GEM!!! THat’s Peerrrrrrrfect.. Thank you so much xxx