Careful of Portion Distortion

What is a serve?

Here are some examples of one serve for various food groups:

Cereals, breads, rice, pasta, noodles

• 2 slices of bread; 1 medium bread roll; 1 cup cooked rice, pasta, or noodles
• 1 cup porridge, 1 cup breakfast cereal flakes, or ½ cup muesli

Vegetables and legumes (choose a variety)

• Starchy vegetables: 1 medium potato/yam, ½ medium sweet potato, 1 medium parsnip
• Dark green leafy vegetables: ½ cup cabbage, spinach, silverbeet, broccoli, cauliflower or brussel sprouts

• Legumes and other vegetables: 1 cup lettuce or salad vegetables; ½ cup broad beans, lentils, peas, green beans, zucchini, mushrooms, tomatoes, capsicum, cucumber, sweetcorn, turnips, sprouts, celery, eggplant etc

 Fruit

• 1 piece medium sized fruit (eg apple, orange, mango, banana, pear, etc)
• 2 pieces of smaller fruit eg apricots, kiwi, plum, figs, etc, about 8 strawberries, about 20 grapes or cherries, ½ cup (125ml) fruit juice (sugar free), ¼ medium melon (eg. rockmelon)
• Dried fruit eg 4 dried apricots or 1½ tablespoon sultanas
• 1 cup diced pieces/canned fruit

Milk, yoghurt, cheese & alternatives

• 250 ml glass or one cup of milk (can be fresh, long life or reconstituted milk)
• ½ cup evaporated milk, 40g (2 slices) cheese or 250ml (1 cup) of custard
• 200g (1 small carton) of plain or fruit yoghurt
• 1 cup of calcium-fortified soy milk, 1 cup almonds, ½ cup pink salmon with bones

Meat, fish, poultry & alternatives

• 65-100gm cooked meat/chicken (eg ½ cup mince, 2 small chops, or 2 slices roast meat)
• 80-120g cooked fish fillet,
• 2 small eggs, ⅓ cup cooked dried beans, lentils, chickpeas, split peas or canned beans, or 1/3 cup peanuts/almonds