Judy Scott Welden is a consumer advocate, nutritionist, and media spokesperson. She is passionate about bringing nutritious foods to Canadian families and we're happy to have her unique perspective in her upcoming series of posts at chickenfeeds.ca. Have you noticed in recent years that portion sizes have ballooned?  Think of extra large coffee paired with a jumbo muffin, and what movie is complete without a bucket of popcorn and a supersized pop?  As we grow accustomed to increasingly larger portions at restaurants, fast food outlets and grocery stores, our meals at home are also growing larger – call it portion distortion.  We’re often eating ‘one serving’ that is actually double or even triple the standard size used by nutritionists.  These larger portions mean consuming excess calories, which can easily add up to weight gain. A good way to gain control over portion size and the amount you eat is to familiarize yourself with serving sizes based on Canada’s Food Guide.  I am always shocked that this free tool isn’t used more often.  Instead, we join pricey weight loss groups and look to the latest gimmick for help. If we ate according to the Guide, I’m sure weight would not be the problem it has become today. Canada’s Food Guide provides recommendations for the daily number of servings from each food group based on age, gender, stage of life and activity level.  It’s easy to determine your daily needs and see the number of servings appropriate for each person in your family. But what does a serving look like? Here are some tips for understanding what a single portion looks like:

• Use your hand or common items to estimate portion sizes. For example, a Food Guide serving of meat, poultry or fish is about the size of your palm or a deck of cards. This could be a half of a chicken breast or half a cup of cooked chicken.
• A Food Guide serving of fresh, frozen or canned fruit or vegetables is ½ cup, which is about the size of a computer mouse. For raw, leafy vegetables a serving is one cup, or the amount you could hold with both palms open.
• A Food Guide serving of grains is ½ cup. A portion of cooked rice, pasta or cereal is about the size of a woman’s fist. A tennis ball sized serving translates into two Food Guide servings.

• Use smaller dishes at home to help control the amount of food you serve – your eyes will tell you you’re eating a full plateful.
• Avoid snacking on foods right out of the bag or box.  Instead, set aside an appropriate serving and then put the item back in the cupboard or fridge. Leave the kitchen to enjoy your snack – out of sight, out of mind.
• At restaurants ask for smaller portions, share with a friend or enjoy half your meal and take the rest home for tomorrow’s lunch.
• These days everyone has a camera in their cell phone – put it to work for you. Take photos of what you eat for three days.  Reviewing the pictures will give you a visual clue to what your average portion size is.  Compare these to Canada’s Food Guide. How did you do?  You may find you ate too many grains because the bagel you ate at breakfast was actually four servings from the grain group.