That was an excellent explaination to a common problem. I made a dish today out of a cookbook. It said 6 servings. So I visualized cutting it in half then cutting the half in thirds. It work out perfectly and also turned out to be 1/2 cup which is what is considered a serving for most foods like vegetables, puddings, etc.
In a perfect world all things would be spelled out. It would be very helpful if folks would include the serving size. But you don't find that in cookbooks, websites, etc.
I feel you would be doing yourself an injustice to not try some of the excellent recipes found here just because they don't list the serving sizes.
Try using portion control when trying a recipe.
"A golf ball is the size of a serving of nuts (including peanut butter) or cheese. A deck of playing cards is equivalent to 3 ounces of any meat. Use a die to estimate a proper serving of oils and fats. For fruit and veggie servings, use a tennis ball. One serving of cooked grains or potatoes is about the size of a computer mouse. "
Here is an excellent SP article: www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=305
PARAVEN 7/5/08 8:56 A
The recipes on SparkRecipes all indicate the number of servings in the recipe. So, the total calories in the nutitional info should correspond to one of those servings. That's the way it's supposed to work. You have to just estimate if you are trying to break it up into 6 servings. Just look at it and say, "Now, that looks like half, so I should just eat one third of that half."
The best rule of thumb is that a true serving is only the size of your fist, so whatever you eat, you shouldn't eat more than that. If it's too difficult to count calories, use that rule.
This was the biggest thing I had to overcome when losing weight too - I simply ate too much food! I tell people that I had to relearn how to eat. I bought some small glass containers with lids from Pampered Chef too. (Lots of places sell this type of thing.) They are only 1.5 cups if filled to the rim - that is the most I should ever eat of one thing! Seconds are out!!
I hope you can use some of these simple suggestions to help you on your journey to wellness.
XANADUREALM 7/1/08 9:36 A
That would be nice and very helpful. I think most of us don't think about that when posting a recipe. We need to get the word out about it.
I do a lot of recipes for one, like a one egg omelet, but it would be really hard for me to say if it was 1/2 cup, 1 cup, etc because after I make it I really don't want to mess it up by measuring it. What I am trying to say is then it wouldn't be very appetizing and it is hard enough for me to eat eggs anyway. Same with a piece of pie or a piece of chicken.
NOTQUITE 6/30/08 12:52 P
none of them list the serving size! some of the recipes on here sound really good, but i haven't tried to make any because of this. i read some replies to another topic in this forum, someone said if the recipe serves 6, you can have 1/6 of the total amount. no kidding.
i don't know about you guys, but i don't have time to try to separate my recipe out into 6 equal servings w/o knowing a measurement. i also don't have time to do the math to figure it out...
what does everyone else do? i tend to eat large servings, so i'd really like to be able to measure it... any simple ideas?
