Your Perfect Portion
See how to get the right serving amount every time.
Yes, size matter: Each extra spoonful of mashed potatoes or chili – just one ounce – can add another PointsPlus value or two, and from meal to meal, that adds up. So managing portions is key to weight loss. Our quiz will help you size up your food – even when you’re away from home (and your measuring cups).
- Snack attack! How many small pretzel twists can you have for 3 point plus values? 18, an amount that fits loosely in your cupped hand – about a 1-ounce serving. In fact, as a portable measuring tool, you hand in. Your hand is roughly a cup for fruit or pasta and you thumb is roughly 1 ounce for meat.
- Date night at a steakhouse: You’ve decided to share a rib eye and you slice off a 3-ounce serving. What can you use for reference: deck of cards, palm of your hand, bar of soap? Any one of these would be a a good 3 ounce reference.
- Happy Hour! How much wine is in a 4 PointsPlus value serving? 5 fluid ounces – but can be each easy to pour much more, especially with a large glass. Mark the glass you usually drink from with a “fill” line. Learn how to eye ball a serving: Pour 5 fluid ounces of liquid into different size glasses.
- Lunch buffet: The quinoa looks yummy! How much space should you give it on your plate? A quarter of your plate should be filled with grain products, per the USDA’s My Plate initiative. Allot another quarter to lean protein. That leaves half your plate for fruit and/or vegetables.
- A juicy orange sounds good for a snack, but you’d like to keep it at 0 PointPlus value. How much can you eat: 3 sections, half the orange, the entire fruit? The whole orange. All fruit and most vegetables are 0 PointPlus value because we want you to eat them.
Tara Marie 