Visual guide to portion sizes

08 Nov Visual guide to portion sizes

Finding YOUR balance with healthy eating and physical activity is invaluable to reaching your personal goals and maintaining your best health. While we might have an idea of which foods are more nutritious than others, it becomes increasingly important to also learn the proper amounts of these nutritious foods in order to meet our body’s nutritional needs.

Take for example an avocado. It is packed with roughly 20 vitamins and minerals (containing more potassium than banana), lots of healthy fat (monounsaturated to be exact), plus they’re a great source of fiber, and they’re a naturally cholesterol and sodium free food. However, eating the whole avocado in one meal or snack can provide more calories than we think (remember anything high in fat will be high in calories (it doesn’t necessarily have to be fried or greasy for this to hold true). Because of this fact, portion size becomes a very important factor to consider. That means ¼ of an avocado is a better choice on a regular basis. So grab some citrus juice (drizzle on the avo meat) and wrap in Press N Seal or cling wrap to block out oxygen and you’ll be able to save the rest of your avo friend for later. The same rule applies to nuts and nut butters. While healthy, a handful (or two or three or more) or smear here and there can add up rather quickly in our calorie total for the day.

With portion sizes at the forefront – especially during holiday meals and festivities, here is a great article containing visuals to guide you in developing eye-balling habit so that your eyes don’t become larger than your stomach on a regular basis.

If you realize that portions are indeed important, but need some tips to rein them in, here are 18 tips just for you! Portion sizes (how much) and frequency (how often) of foods in your diet (nutritious or not) will be your guiding light to achieving your health goals with healthy eating.