Once you have planned which food groups you will gain your calories from, you can then get an idea of how big a serving size is from the examples given below.
Fruit and vegetables Most fruit and vegetables contain on average 45 calories per serving. Examples of serving sizes are below:
- Whole banana or apple
- Slice of melon
- 2 plums
- Handful of grapes
- Cereal bowl of salad
- 3 heaped tablespoons of vegetables
- 1 small glass of fruit juice (150ml) can be substituted for one serving of fruit per day
- 2-4 tbsp cereal
- 1 slice of bread
- ½ small chapati
- 2 tbsp rice, pasta, noodles, mashed potato
- 2-3 crispbreads or crackers
- 2 egg-sized new potatoes or ½ baked potato
- ⅓ pint (190mls) skimmed or semi-skimmed milk
- Small pot of low fat or diet yogurt (125ml)
- 2 tbsp of cottage cheese
- 1-1½ oz (40-45mg) low fat cheese (matchbox size)
- 2-3oz (60-85g) meat, poultry or vegetarian alternative
- 4-5oz (120-140g) fish or oily fish
- 2 eggs
- 3 tbsp beans, lentils or dahl
- 2 tbsp nuts
- 2 tsp spread, butter, oil, salad dressing or mayonnaise
- sausage or 1 rasher of bacon
- 1 scoop of ice cream or 1 tbsp cream
- 1 mini chocolate bar or small pack of crisps
- 2 tsp sugar, jam or honey
- Dry medium white wine (125mls) 100 calories
- ½ pint draught beer 100 calories
- 1 pub measure of spirits (25mls) 50 calories