Diet Talk from the Doc
by Dr.Diet, Diet.com's Medical Director

If “portion distortion” has you wondering just what a healthy portion of food looks like, Dr. Lisa Young, author of The Portion Teller, has some easy tips for eyeballing portion sizes both inside and outside of your home.

Easy Ways to Keep your Portions Healthy
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Dr. Diet weighs in:

If you're someone who eats quickly, is usually a member of the “clean-your-plate” club and doesn’t know when he or she is full until it’s too late, then you may be having a problem with portions.

Though anyone now and then can overeat when served a large, buffet-style meal, people who suffer from portion distortion fall for the “oversized food trap” (of which there are many!) time and time again.

Dr. Young lists some common ways to eyeball portions such as a 3 ounce serving of meat is the size of the palm of your hand, a cup of rice is the size of your fist or using a shot glass to estimate what 2 tablespoons of salad dressing looks like.

Another great portion control tool she mentions where you don’t have to pull out a measuring cup are small size baggies that hold about 1 cup fully packed or ¾ cup loosely packed of crackers, nuts, pretzels, baked chips or cereal.

A common portion control strategy is to find foods that are individually packed such as small cereal boxes that hold ¾ cup of cereal, nutrition or meal replacement bars, frozen entrees by Lean Cuisine or Amy’s and individual microwave popcorn bags.

One of the easiest ways to take control of food portions at home is to stop serving family style where all of the serving bowls and trays are in the center of the table – which just encourages us all to take seconds and thirds. Using smaller plates and bowls is another trick you can try that really works to keep your portions in check.