Coming into the holiday season, many people may wonder—or worry—about how much they are eating. This may raise questions about what is a serving size. However the question of “what is a serving size?” is not quite as simple as you might think. This is because there are actually several food guidelines, each with little differences in serving size. In fact, the most recent US food guideline – MyPlate – actually does not use serving sizes per se, but only gives overall amounts that should be eaten of each group each day. This blog will review the most common serving sizes based on the Food Guide Pyramid and then the current recommendations per day based on MyPlate.
Before getting to the common serving sizes, another place you find serving sizes is on food labels, however the serving size may not be the same as food guidelines. Food labels are required to list a serving size and the number of servings per container. These serving sizes are based on information taken from national surveys of what is usually eaten of a certain food at a sitting. The key word here is based on this reference amount because a food label may have a serving size as little as 50% or as great as 200% of this reference amount.
Food Guide Pyramid
Maybe the most well-known food guideline in the US was the Food Guide Pyramid. The Food Guide Pyramid was introduced in 1992 and was replaced by MyPyramid in 2005. Since that time MyPyramid has been replaced by MyPlate, and neither used specific serving sizes. So the serving sizes most people think of are probably from the Food Guide Pyramid or one of its derivatives.
Serving Sizes
According to the Food Guide Pyramid here are some of the most common serving sizes for each group
- Bread, Cereal, Rice & Pasta
- ½ cup of cooked rice or pasta
- 1 cup of ready-to-eat cereal
- 1 slice of bread
- Vegetables
- ½ cup of chopped or cooked vegetables
- 1 cup of green leafy vegetables
- ¾ cup (6 fl. oz.) of vegetable juice
- Fruit
- ½ cup of chopped, cooked, or canned fruit
- 1 medium apple, banana, or orange
- ¾ cup (6 fl. oz.) of fruit juice
- Milk, Yogurt, and Cheese
- 1 cup of milk or yogurt
- 1 ½ oz. of natural cheese (e.g. cheddar)
- 2 oz. of processed cheese (e.g. American)
- Meat, Poultry, Fish, Dry Beans, Eggs, and Nuts
- 2-3 oz. of meat, poultry, or fish
- The following counts as 1 oz. of meat
- ½ cup cooked beans
- 1 egg
- 2 Tbsp. of peanut butter
There was no serving size set for fats, oils & sweets for the Food Guide Pyramid. The recommendation was to use these sparingly.
MyPlate “Serving Sizes”
As mentioned before the MyPlate guidelines do not have specific serving sizes. The guidelines recommend what should be eaten of each group each day. For adults the recommendations for each group are
- Grains – 5-8 oz. equivalents/day
- Vegetables – 2-3 cups/day
- Dark green – 1 ½ -2 cups/week
- Red/Orange – 4-6 cups/week
- Beans/Peas – 1-2 cups/week
- Starchy – 4-6 cups/week
- Other – 3 ½ -5 cups/week
- Fruits – 1 ½ -2 cups/day
- Protein – 5 – 6 ½ oz. equivalents/day
- Dairy – 3 cups/day
- Fats/Oils – 5-7 teaspoons allowed/day
If you would like more about what equals an oz. equivalent, cup, or teaspoon of each group see the MyPlate website.
Conclusion
What you eat has a big impact on your health. Knowing what a serving size is can be helpful to gauge how much you eat, but is only one part of healthy eating. If this information has been helpful share it with a friend. If you would like more information about the importance of nutrition give us a call and watch for more nutrition related blogs to come.
