What's a Serving

How often do you sit at the end of a meal at a restaurant stuffed, but continue to pick at the food on your plate? Better yet, how many times have you wondered why you've gained weight when you haven't eaten that much?

In today's blog we'll take a look at portions. One site I've found helpful in determining nutritional information is Dr. Walford's Food Data Base.

Let's take a look at a typical day. A bowl of cereal with milk. We won't even add sugar because we're being good. So, how many calories in a bowl of cereal. It depends not only on the cereal or what kind of milk you use, but it also matters what size bowl you use.

Here's a test. Take the bowl you'd usually use. Pour some cereal into it. Before you add milk, pour that cereal into a measuring cup just for grins. How much cereal does your bowl hold? One cup, two, or even three?

It's important. For today's example I checked two brands of raisin bran. Both consider one cup to be a serving. Calories for one cup ranged from 178.20 - 186.05. Remember, this is for one cup. Most people I talk to tend to eat more than that. Milk is another 100-148 calories for each cup.

To realistically lose weight, you need to consider your portion sizes. Study labels to find out how big a serving is suppose to be and adjust your intake accordingly.