A serving?

skymningen
skymningen Posts: 532 Member
edited November 20 in Food and Nutrition
Yes, I looked it up online to some extend. But I am still confused. What is this magic "serving" everyone is raving about?
Yes, I understand the servings given on packaged foods. Okay, those are helpful. But still, where did it come from? A serving can have any amount of calories/"fillingness"/weight.
And then how do I really determine servings of other things? Fruit and vegetables, for example. A magic number of 5 of the magic servings a day. How many peas/peaches/blueberries are a serving though? Do I literally have to learn the proper "serving" for each and every one of them separately, as they can have wildly different macros and calories again. And when servings don't actually connect to calories or macros on packaged food, will they on fruit and veg?

I am a fairly scientific person, but here I am lost. What kind of strange (I am fighting hard to not type "stupid" in, because maybe I am just stupid myself and it makes perfect sense when you know it.) measure is a serving?

Replies

  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    I think the concept of servings is an American thing, and a legal thing, whatever the producer or the goverment thinks is a proper amount to eat in one sitting. A portion is what you serve yourself/choose to eat in one sitting. What the serving is in each case, is stated on the food label, to show the amount of calories/nutrients/DRI/RDA per serving. Europeans are more used to grams and calories per 100 grams. In my opinion, servings is just complicating unnecessarily.

    When it comes to fruit and veg, and the 5-a-day, I just think of a portion as the equivalent of an ordinary apple, and don't fret over it. If I have a handful of berries, that is a portion, but if I only have half a handful, that is a portion. But the fruits and vegs all have to be different to count as one of the five.
  • seska422
    seska422 Posts: 3,217 Member
    edited August 2017
    Suggested serving size is just that - a suggestion.

    My portion of a food varies pretty much every time I eat.

    I use grams for all of the solid foods I eat and use the 1 gram increment so that all I need to do is weigh out how much I want right then and enter the weight into MFP to see how that looks. If that portion works with my plan for the day, I eat it. If the macros or calories for that portion are more or less than I want, I adjust the portion.
  • slaite1
    slaite1 Posts: 1,307 Member
    It's arbitrary. Google it and look at heart.org or choosemyplate.org if you really want to know what they mean by "5 servings a day". Something like half a cup for fruit. They have a bunch of ridiculous equivalents. Take a look at the grain/bread servings if you really want to see stupid.

    But, again, arbitrary. Weigh your fruit, and log that amount. The recommended amounts of food groups are broadly based and certain groups have obvious influence (I have no proof of this, just seems obvious that the dairy industry and farmers in general have influence).

    You are right in your inclination to call a serving "stupid", particularly in the US. Serving sizes are misleading, pointless and intentionally confusing.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    In the UK a 'serving' of fruit and veg is usually 80g.

    Other than that, eat what fits your cals and macros, not what a package says a serving is.
  • scarlett_k
    scarlett_k Posts: 812 Member
    edited August 2017
    A better guide than weight, I find, is that a portion is approximately a handful. So a portion for a child would be much smaller than that of an adult. It is just a guide, though. I aim for variety (10+ a day instead of the outdated 5) rather than weighing out specific amounts.

    ETA: I do weigh out my "handfuls" to add them to my food diary, though. But I don't aim for a specific serving size.
  • AmandaDanceMore
    AmandaDanceMore Posts: 298 Member
    I weigh as much as I can, which helps tremendously (it's amazing how off suggested servings are if you measure instead of weigh (cup/Tbsp vs grams or ounces).

    For my personal preference, I consider 100g a serving of fruits or veggies (before cooking), and aim for AT LEAST 500g a day.
  • CyberTone
    CyberTone Posts: 7,337 Member
    In the US, serving sizes are guidelines regulated by the government for a wide range of products for toddlers and adults.

    The serving sizes on packaging provide a standard size for similar products. A couple advantages to having standard serving sizes are that it allows the government to provide suggested meals for a standard 2000 Calorie per day diet, and to provide information so that consumers can compare nutritional claims made by manufacturers, such as lower fat per serving, or less sugar per serving.

    The government term in the guidelines is "reference amount."

    The list of reference amounts for a wide range of specific products can be found on the US FDA website or in the Code of Federal Regulations at 21 CFR 101.12.

    https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2012-title21-vol2/xml/CFR-2012-title21-vol2-sec101-12.xml
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    If you mean serving of vegetables or fruit for the recommendations, the place that gives the recommendations will say. The 8-10 servings one is about 80 g servings.

    For the US MyPlate servings, it's about a cup raw or 2 cups of leafy greens, for vegetables. Here's more information: https://www.choosemyplate.gov/vegetables

    For fruit from MyPlate: https://www.choosemyplate.gov/fruit

    Really I think focusing on servings is pointless. I just try to have a substantial amount -- at least half the meal by volume or some such (often much more, as with a salad).
  • xvolution
    xvolution Posts: 721 Member
    I had an appointment with my dietitian yesterday and she explained serving sizes fairly well. For most things a serving is about the size of your hand (serving of meat is the size of your palm [3oz], serving of fruit the size of your fist [1/2 cup], serving of cooked pasta the size of your fist [3 oz], serving of fluid is 4 oz). The exception is with foods that are healthy but calorie/macro dense, like peanut butter (serving size is the size of your thumb [2 Tbsp]).
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    The serving size is just a suggestion. Eat as much as you want while keeping in mind how much will fit in your calorie goal.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    xvolution wrote: »
    I had an appointment with my dietitian yesterday and she explained serving sizes fairly well. For most things a serving is about the size of your hand (serving of meat is the size of your palm [3oz], serving of fruit the size of your fist [1/2 cup], serving of cooked pasta the size of your fist [3 oz], serving of fluid is 4 oz). The exception is with foods that are healthy but calorie/macro dense, like peanut butter (serving size is the size of your thumb [2 Tbsp]).

    I don't see what it matters what a "serving" is, unless you are concerned about getting enough vegetables or some such, or trying to count calories without logging (in which case you need to figure out what the correct amount for you is), but in the US, anyway, a "serving" of pasta is 2 oz, not 3.

    And what you get in some restaurants is 3 servings, of course.
  • OliveGirl128
    OliveGirl128 Posts: 801 Member
    Like others have said, 'serving' size is pretty subjective and varies based on whatever standard you're going by. I recently started following the DASH diet for health reasons and it's based on a certain amounts of daily servings of different food categories, but they've formulated their own 'servings', which doesn't always line up with the serving size recommendations on packages. I go by their interpretation of what servings are, along with using my food scale and then tracking my calorie intake.
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