Fitness Mantra : A Health and Fitness Blog

QnA #1: What Is The Difference Between A Serving Size And A Portion Of Food?

09

August

I find it extremely informative (and sometimes really entertaining) to see what brings non-subscribing people to Fitness Mantra in this vast expanse of interlinked pages we call The Internet. Often it’s the “usual suspect” keywords like “starvation response” or “fiber one bars“. But sometimes it’ll be totally unrelated or distantly related searches like “fat babies” or even “simpson doughnut“!

In most of the cases - particularly where I have written specifically about the keyword that the user searched for - I am pretty certain the user found what he/she was looking for. But sometimes I find that the user stumbles on one of my posts by asking an actual question on a Search Engine which I have not directly answered. Maybe the post had some of the keywords used in the question, but not in the context intended and so the user might be disappointed with the results.

While I don’t think I can answer every single question that users ask on the web and land up on this site, I thought it might be useful to begin a series of Questions and Answers or “QnA” (a new category, now). These will feature questions I see in the site logs and which I believe may not have been adequately answered until now.

So, without further ado, here’s the first QnA …

What Is The Difference Between A Serving Size And A Portion Of Food?

The short answer is that a Serving Size is a convenient quantity of food that the manufacturer has chosen in order to describe the nutritional value of that food, whereas a Portion is the amount of that food that you choose to eat at one sitting. These may or may not be the same depending on what food you are consuming.

The best way to describe this difference is with an illustration using one of the most recognizable foods around: A 20 oz bottle of soda (Nutrition Information obtained from the Pepsi Product Info page):

pepsi 20 oz bottle pepsi 20 oz nutrition label info

I chose this product primarily because it’s a perfect example of Unit Bias, the tendency to assume that a reasonably sized package of food is the right amount to eat at a time. Take a look at the the Nutrition Label, and the difference between Serving Size and Portion will become clear.

The FDA regulates what a serving size for a particular food is and in the case of sodas, they have decided that it should be 8 fl oz. Note that your own requirements may vary depending on how old you are or what your specific calorific needs are. So, while the FDA thinks that 2.5 “regular”(2000-calorie-a-day) people can drink from this one bottle, that may or may not be the case for you. The quantity you choose to drink, then, becomes your portion. On a hot summer day, if you’ve been walking about for a long time, you might decide to drink an entire bottle; on the other hand if you are just relaxing at home in front of the television, you might choose to share the bottle with someone.

In other words, while portions may vary from person to person (or even from time to time for the same person!), serving sizes are constant and are simply an FDA-recommended quantity to consume or the manufacturer’s quantity used to display nutrition information.

The good news is that many manufacturers also list the calorific information for the entire package alongside the single-serving information (they are not always required to do this, but sometimes do so when there is the chance that buyers might consume the whole product at one sitting). You can see this in the “Per Container” section of the Nutrition label pictured above.

Always remember that you need to adjust the calories and other nutrition information depending on how much (i.e. how many servings) of the product you decide to consume. In the case of the Pepsi bottle, sticking to 8 fl oz will mean 100 calories and 28g of sugar. Think that’s too much sugar? If you finish the whole bottle, that’s 69g of sugar!

So, to conclude, just read the serving size and watch your portions. You’ll do just fine!

Technorati Tags: health, nutrition, serving size, portions

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FitnessMantra Weekend: Do-It-Yourself Dieters Are The Majority

05

August

Fitness Mantra del.icio.us page Welcome to “FitnessMantra Weekend”, your once-a-week health news update. As always you can also stay updated with the latest in fitness news by subscribing separately to the Fitness Mantra del.icio.us feed.

grapefruit With new diets cropping up almost every other week, it is not at all surprising to read a news item like The do-it-yourself diet which says in essence that a majority of American dieters successfully customize diet plans to suit themselves.

In fact a site called chasefreedom lists no less than 253 diets/exercise plans! Included in this list are the mind-boggling “1-Day Diet” (Imagine, just one day! My blog could out of business by this time tomorrow!), dracula’s special “Blood Type Diet” and even that Armadillo favorite “Cactus Diet”! I mean where would you even begin?

And so it turns out that a majority of us start with a diet and then slowly attune it to our personal liking until we find something that works for us. And the good news is that for many who stick to a plan, it actually works!

“The key is to take a few proven weight loss tricks and personalize them,” says Lisa Young, PhD, a professor of nutrition at New York University. So rather than adapting your life to fit a set of rules, you adapt the rules to fit your life.

So go right ahead and start with something like the “Prism Diet” (no, I have no idea what that is and yes, you should consult a physician before you begin any diet!). Then once you realize you can never completely eliminate carbohydrates and you become a raving maniac ready to kill for a bagel, customize it to your personal liking and what works for you. That’s what most successful dieters are doing.

While you’re making your Do-It-Yourself plans, peruse this week’s top health and fitness stories:

Obese Aussies a hazard for mortuaries: Pathologists are calling for new ‘heavy-duty’ autopsy facilities to cope with obese corpses that are difficult to move and dangerously heavy for standard-size trolleys and lifting hoists.
Experts issue new physical exercise guidelines: Adults should engage in moderately intense exercise for at least 30 minutes five days a week or vigorous exercise at least 20 minutes three days each week
Benefits of tomatoes still bountiful: Not only do studies suggest multiple benefits from eating tomatoes themselves rather than lycopene supplements alone, research also suggests a synergy between tomatoes and other vegetables, such as broccoli.
Going it alone: The do-it-yourself diet: In fact, the most popular - and successful - diet today is the one we make up ourselves.
Gear up to exercise while on the road: Whether you’re traveling for work or pleasure, time away from home is no longer a good reason for spending time away from the gym.
Broccoli ’stops’ prostate cancer: Eating broccoli and cauliflower regularly reduces the risk of deadly prostate cancer, say US researchers.
Menu Bill Would Order Nutritional Information: Menus in Montgomery County’s chain restaurants would have to list nutritional information such as calories, sodium and fat content under a proposal submitted yesterday to the County Council.
16 Ways to Eat Healthy While Keeping it Cheap: You probably think eating healthy is expensive. I’ll be honest - it is. But there are tricks to keep it low cost.
Add a cup of coffee to your workout: The combination of exercise and caffeine increased destruction of precancerous cells that had been damaged by the sun’s ultraviolet-B radiation, according to a team of researchers at Rutgers University.
Shots claim to melt fat, but inject fears: After giving birth to three children, Julie Ohnsorg couldn’t get rid of that last bit of post-baby belly bulge.
Kids spur Vegas school to nix green beans: “A little boy said, ‘Anything, anything, I’ll even eat broccoli,’” said Connie Duits, the lunch lady. “So that one touched my heart.”
Trans fats worse than ever: New Canadian research shows that the presence of trans fats in the blood system can also mess with the heart’s rhythm, worsening the severity of a heart attack and jacking up the likelihood of death.
Color Guide to Staying Healthy and Eating Right by COLOURlovers: All the science talk can be intimidating, so we’ve created a visual guide to help show you which fruits and vegetables are part of a colorful, healthy diet.
Programs aim to teach families healthy habits: Life for the Washington family has changed. Instead of fast food for dinner, they have grilled chicken and vegetables. Sugary drinks have been replaced with diet soda.
Coffee and plenty of exercise could cut risk of skin cancer: A combination of coffee drinking and regular exercise may help to lower the risk of developing skin cancer, according to scientists in the US.