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Know the Difference Between Portion Size and Serving Size

Know the Difference Between Portion Size and Serving Size (1:29)

Portion control is a smart weight-loss strategy. In this Health Smarts video, Vonda Wright, MD, reveals the difference between a serving size and a portion size for smart nutrition.

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Make sure you're not super-sizing your portions. Hi, I'm Dr. Wright. If you can't figure out why you're not losing weight, maybe you're confusing portion size with serving size. What's the difference? A portion is the amount of a specific food you choose to eat for dinner, or a snack. Portions of course can be bigger or smaller than the recommended serving size.

A serving is a unit of measure used to describe the amount of food recommended for each food group. It's the amount of food listed on the nutrition fax panel on the packaged food. It's also the amount of food recommended in the US Government's Dietary Guidelines for Americans. For example, 6 to 11 servings of whole grains are recommended daily.

I recommended serving of whole grains would be one slice of bread or a half cup of rice or paster, it's not 6 to 11 portions, where a portion could mean a large bowl of paster, rather than half a cup. Keep an eye on your portions, how do they compare with the recommended serving sizes.