The New American Plate: Portion Control Made Easy
28
July
At Fitness Mantra you have read a lot about sensible, portion-controlled diets. You know it’s no shame to count and measure calories and by now you can also recognize portion sizes for fruits and veggies. But from a meal perspective, is there an easy way to estimate portions that you can consistently use everyday?
(You already know that I am going to say “Yes there is!” so I’ll skip saying it. Wait… too late!)
The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) presents: The New American Plate
What is The New American Plate?
According to the website, it’s no crazy, difficult-to-follow, food-group-banning diet (already regular readers of this blog are perking up their ears!). It’s a simple proportion and portion based system that divides your plate into the right proportions of carbs, proteins and fat (now, now … be reasonable with the size of the plate … unless, of course, you are an NFL Offensive Tackle).
Typically the right proportions suggested is 2/3rds of fruits/veggies/whole grains and 1/3 (or less) of animal based protein (vegetarians could easily substitute this with plant-based sources like lentils/beans). This is based on AICR’s landmark expert-report “Food, Nutrition and the Prevention of Cancer: a global perspective“ which suggests that eating more vegetables, fruits, whole grains and beans coupled with increased physical activity can reduce cancer risk by 30 to 40 percent.
As for portions, the site has a “Standard Serving Size Finder” that lists easy-to-visualize serving-sizes for common foods by using everyday items as cues (for example the serving size for dried fruits is 1/4 cup and when you roll your mouse over, you see the picture of a golf ball; eating cheese? it should be about 4 dice worth!)
Additional Resources:
The AICR site also contains some useful additional resources like brochures that you can download or order. These include the New American Plate and the superb “One Pot Meals (there is only one pot to dishwash!)”. You can also order health aids like serving size finder “wheel”s, posters and placemats (to make control that much more easy). Also check out out their recipes section and the “New American Plate CookBook“.
This section of the AICR site will change the way you look at your plate and serving sizes. You can now get a good understanding of not only what is good for you, but also how much of it you should eat. Remember too much of a good thing… turns to fat!
Stay healthy and remember our mantra: make fitness a way of your life. The New American Plate just made it a little easier.
Technorati Tags: health, fitness, nutrition, new american plate, serving size, portion control
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1. Lynne Eldridge M.D. | March 6th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Thank you for sharing this information that the world needs to hear!!
I have one idea that I could add that I use when I have people over who struggle with their weight. I serve dinner on desert plates, restaurant style. This helps to limit the portion size and skip second helpings.
Portion size as well as content can make a difference. In a book I recently published on cancer prevention, we did some fun math. The average American woman is eating 335 calories more per day than she did 30 years ago. 100 calories per day adds up to 10 pounds per year. To burn off 100 calories requires walking for 25 minutes. Therefore, the typical American woman needs to walk 75 minutes per day MORE than she did 30 years ago just to MAINTAIN her weight! From the statistics we know that is not happening.
Thank you again for sharing this information and spreading the word!
Lynne Eldridge M.D.
Author, “Avoiding Cancer One Day At A Time”
http://www.avoidcancernow.com