The Easy Picture Guide To Handling Portion Sizes

With this graphical guide handling your portion sizes becomes easy and you won’t even need a scale.

Portion Sizes, Then And Now

One cereal portion equals how many calories? Depends on whom you ask and even when you ask.

NYC Health compiled a nice list of fast food portion sizes in 1980 and now, showing the huge differences in kcals you were getting 34 years ago and when ordering the same food today.

It boggles the mind how much bigger and heftier in calories everything got:

 
The Graphical Guide To Portion Sizes

With portion sizes being so much in flux, how about a visual guide you literally hold in your hand everywhere you go? The USDA put it together a couple of years ago and it’s worth bringing it back to attention.

1 Cup = A Fist Or Cupped Hand

Examples:

• 1 serving = 1/2 cup cereal, cooked pasta, or rice
• 1 cup of raw, leafy green vegetables
• 1/2 cup of chopped fruits or vegetables

1 Oz. Of Cheese = A Thumb

1 Oz. = 1 to 2 Handfuls

Examples:

• 1 oz. of nuts
• 1 oz. of small candies
• 2 handfuls are 1 oz. of chips
• 2 handfuls are 1 oz. of pretzels

3 Oz. Of Meat = A Palm

1 Teaspoon = A Thumb Tip

1 Fruit Serving = A Tennis Ball

Of Course, Hands Are Different

Our hands aren’t normed, so the USDA advises you to compare your fist to an actual measuring cup. The whole guide as a PDF you can get over on their website.

Picture courtesy of “Eddi“, statistical data courtesy of NYC Health, graphics courtesy of the USDA.