How Much Are You Eating?

Doling out food portions for a recipe or a diet plan is always a crapshoot: we can barely tell 3 ounces from 10.  Worse, we simply shovel down restaurant chow until we’re asked to leave.  Nutritionists helped us compile a dozen easy conversions for standard servings.  (The nutritional information may vary by brand and type of food.)

Food portion: 1oz sausage link (54 cal, 5g fat) same size as: shotgun shell

Food portion: 1tsp butter (24 cal, 4g fat) same size as: tip of thumb

Food portion: ˝ cup mashed potatoes (112 cal, 5 g fat) same size as: ˝ apple

Food portion: 1 oz cubed Swiss cheese (107 cal, 8g fat) same size as: 4 dice

Food portion: ˝ cup cooked spaghetti (99 cal, 1g fat) same size as: fist

Food portion: 3 oz beef (219 cal, 13 g fat) same size as: deck of cards

Food portion: ˝ cup ice cream ( 143 cal, 7g fat) same size as: tennis ball

Food portion: 4 oz dry spaghetti (422 cal, 2g fat) same size as: quarter

Food portion: 1 cup chicken-noodle soup ( 175 cal, 6g fat) same size as: baseball

Food portion: 1Tbsp blue-cheese dressing (77 cal, 8g fat) same size as ˝ golf ball

Food portion: 1 oz mozzarella (80 cal, 6g fat) same size as: Ping-Pong ball