What Should Food Portions Really Look Like?

As I’ve aged, my vision has changed, but I can still see that some things are distinctly different. To be exact, some things have actually gotten bigger --  specifically food portions.

Donna deKay, R.D., is an outpatient nutritionist and diabetes educator at Mills-Peninsula Health Services. In this video, Donna gives useful tips for eating at home or dining out, as well as some easy-to-understand and sometimes surprising visual examples of portion size and comparisons.  See what five pounds of fat looks like!

If you consume 100 added calories every day, you’ll gain ten pounds in one year.

Here are some tips to regain control of your diet when eating at home:

• Use a small plate
• Eat sitting down
• Eat slowly
• Set down your fork between bites
• Stop when finished
• Avoid eating in front of a TV or computer

When eating out at a fast-food restaurant:

• Avoid ordering anything that says “mega,” “super” or “large”
• Consider ordering a child’s size portion (That was a standard adult-size portion 20 years ago.)

To learn more, visit the Diabetes Education Resources section of the Mills-Peninsula website, or check out the USDA’s “My Plate” portions guide and Meals Matter site.