Portion sizes

Controlling your portion sizes is key to keeping yourself healthy as eating too much or too little of any of the food groups can be bad for your health.

Different people require different portion sizes of the major food groups and it depends on a variety of factors such as age, gender and how active you are. If you are trying to lose weight, then portion control becomes even more important and you will need to eat smaller or fewer portions than is recommended.

A good practice to get into is weighing your food, particularly for foods such as cereals, pasta and rice as it is very easy to underestimate your portion size. If it is difficult to weigh foods, then aim for a quarter of your plate to be carbohydrates, the second quarter to be filled with protein foods and the remaining half with plenty of cooked vegetables or fresh salads.

Bulking out your meals by increasing the number of vegetables you eat is a good strategy as they are full of vitamins, minerals and fibre which will keep you feeling fuller for longer.

Have a look at the difference in calories for different portion sizes of spaghetti bolognese and tiramisu:

Carbs & Cals is a great resource which provides visual guides for working out portion sizes of a huge range of foods. You can also download a factsheet for portion sizes that has been created by the British Dietetic Association.