NJ Kids Health & Nutrition Tips: What is the Correct Portion Size?

Last week my family picked up some Chinese take out.  When I opened up the container for what I ordered, I have never seen so much rice in my life!  Good grief, do they really expect you to eat all that?  This lead me to thinking that I probably had about 5 servings of rice in that one order.  No wonder there is such a problem with obesity in America.  Not to mention, your kids are getting these big portions too!

If you’d like to know how many servings from the food groups that your child should be eating, go to www.hoorayforfamily.com and click on the icon “Laying it on the Table.”  You will find a link titled “How much should my child eat?”

Below are some good “rules of thumb” on typical portion sizes.

Peanut Butter – Ping pong ball

Pasta, veggies, cereal – 1 handful

Cheese – 4 dice

Meat, poultry - palm of hand/deck of cards = 3 oz.

Fish – checkbook = 3 oz

Fruit – tennis ball

Rice – ice cream scoop

Canned Fruit – 1/2 baseball

Pancake or waffle – CD or DVD

Milk or yogurt – adult fist

Dried fruit – golf ball

Baked potato – computer mouse

Oil – 1 adult thumb tip