Portion Control
Marketplace food and beverage portions are at least two times bigger than standard serving sizes (Young and Nestle, 2003), leading people to have an altered perception of appropriate portion size. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recognizes portion control as an important strategy to prevent weight gain as well as an integral component of weight loss programs (Seagle and Strain, 2009). Providing clients with common household equivalents to estimate portion sizes is a useful tool. While clients may not have any idea what 3 oz of meat looks like, they can visual the size of a deck of cards to estimate reasonable meat portions. Proportioned 100-calorie packages and smaller dinner plates, serving utensils, and
glassware may also help “right size” portions.