how to measure serving sizes? seriously what is 1oz??

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vicissitude
vicissitude Posts: 13
in Food and Nutrition
hopefully i am writing in the correct forum.

my husband and i just started MFP and diet on monday and i'm currently trying to make due with some residual foods in the house, pre-diet even if they're not the purest of foods. plus i like most of what what i eat. i just ate too much of it.

a mistake for me, in the past, has been to try and completely change WHAT i eat in addititon to HOW MUCH. and that never works for long. not for me. so i'm just focusing on the HOW MUCH, first step.

i have a food scale somewhere floating around the house, not yet located. and i want to purchase one of those nifty pasta measurers but in the meantime, i'm just confused.

yesterday i felt like i needed a phd to convert cooked pasta amount from a dried amount of egg noodles...for the record, 3/4C uncooked cooked up to svg size 1/2C.

but how do you measure 1oz of tortilla chips? even if i had the scale i think 1oz of chips is like air??? i know i'm supposed to look at the ratio of the total bag and 1oz out of 68gr and aliens hats are purple. (that's what math looks like to me).

anyone have a suggestion?

btw, i think the companies who want to keep us fat are purposefully making the serving size confusing...

Replies

  • Rilke
    Rilke Posts: 1,201 Member
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    Depending on the density / thickness of the tortilla chip, I have seen 1 oz servings range from 8 chips (quinoa and black bean from Trader Joe's) to 28 (very thin, light Mexican-style chips).

    In case your scale only measures grams, 1 oz = 28 g. Google is super easy and quick for unit conversion.

    And yes, serving sizes are crazy. When I was counting calories I weighed all my snack foods. Cereal and peanut butter especially end up being significantly less than the cup / tablespoon eyeball measurement.
  • Lina4Lina
    Lina4Lina Posts: 712 Member
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    I use grams and a bag of potato chips would tell you how many grams. You could also weigh it in ones. Or you can estimate as the bag will usually say something like 7 chips.
  • MsMuniz
    MsMuniz Posts: 399 Member
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    A digital scale will give you the most accurate measurement. My scale can measure ounces, grams, kg, and one more that I can't remember off the top of my head. So everyday I measure out one serving of my veggie crisps to eat with my lunch and surprisingly it comes out to a good amount. It takes more prep time but so worth it.

    edit: and my scale was less than $15 at target, worth every penny!
  • bearsmom82
    bearsmom82 Posts: 72 Member
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    Rely on the digital scale - it rules my kitchen!

    Also, a book called the "Swap and Drop" diet has some excellent tools - a series of life-size photos of exactly what a serving looks like - a piece of meat, chicken or fish, the size of a bowl of veggies, glass of milk, chunk of cheese. It was really helpful. here's a link (and no, I don't get commissions!)

    http://www.amazon.ca/Swap-Drop-Diet-Canadian-Revolution/dp/1554750954
  • magerum
    magerum Posts: 12,589 Member
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    Just get a food scale and weigh everything, easier that way. It also will open your eyes to portion sizes and eventually you'll be able to eye-ball things.
  • ritasice21
    ritasice21 Posts: 200 Member
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    Like other said, digital scale. What I do, such as ATM I am making rice for dinner. I weighed out 225 dry grams for the 5 servings. Tonight before serving I will weigh the entire lot of it, and let's say it is now 2,000 grams. I then grab my plate, tare the scale to zero, and weight my plate of rice. If I have 400 grams, I know I have one serving. I just keep a pocket calculator next to my scale. Sounds like a procedure but it is really quick and easy. Plus, I have always served plates to my family, not served from bowls on the table, so there is that also.
  • ritasice21
    ritasice21 Posts: 200 Member
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    Also, as for the 1 oz, get a scale that weighs in grams. 28 grams is one ounce, so snacks are so easy, much easier than counting out 16 crackers, especially if they are broken and you are trying the "puzzle" them together..lol
  • vicissitude
    vicissitude Posts: 13
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    thanks everyone!
  • airangel59
    airangel59 Posts: 1,887 Member
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    my math is the pits but I got the big loser (?) scale on sale at bed, bath & beyond, its digital and weighs in grams and ounces, and you can zero it out before you put your plate or wax paper on it to measure.

    I also have a few sets of measuring cups and spoons so I don't have to constantly wash stuff out.

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