Does anyone actually know what ‘portions’ are anymore? When’s the last time you saw a chart or talked about what made a ‘serving’ of meat or vegetables? Instead, we do the bigger-is-better buffet when we go out to eat so we get our money’s worth. We now have menu options of 1/3 and up to 1-pound burgers or steaks with triple extra fries and an unlimited bottomless carbonated drink.

I’d like to challenge restaurants to offer menu options of food that are portioned correctly. Think about it. If you could order meals that were properly sized, you’d pay half of what you pay now taking your family out to eat. Restaurants wouldn’t have to charge as much because the portions would be smaller (healthier). You’d leave with money in your pocket as you walked out the door rather than feeling like you had to be rolled out the door from food intake you will never work off. Today we order the ‘low-cal’ option, which just means a lower-cal sauce on the same triple-sized plate. OK, how does that equate to healthier eating?

Eating until you are full is a totally bogus measurement if you are already eating up to five times the serving size for a meal. Also, eating healthier foods that are also five times the serving size will not make you healthy, no matter how hard you try. Here are some guidelines to help you get started on healthier eating.

Foods like meats and fresh produce may not have nutrition fact labels, so you need to know that one serving of meat, poultry or fish is about three ounces. If you recall that there are 16 ounces in a pound, a ¼-pounder is already too big, let alone the ‘triple burger.’ One serving of a fruit or vegetable is usually one piece of the produce, one cup (chopped or sliced) or 3/4 cup of juice. This is great news when you are attempting to get your kids to ‘eat their veggies.’ They don’t really need that much!

According to the USDA Food Pyramid, one serving from the grains group is about one ounce. One ounce of cooked white rice is about one-half cup, but your portion of rice you put on your plate may be much bigger. So, you may think you're only eating one serving of rice when you're really eating more, and each half cup of rice adds about 100 calories to your meal, so you can see how the calories can add up quickly.

If cutting portion sizes to cut calories leaves you feeling hungry, add extra servings of nutrient-dense vegetables like carrots, green beans or celery. One-half cup of rice or pasta has about 100 calories; one-half cup of green beans has only 14 calories.

Knowing how much you should eat helps you control how much you do eat. Start slowly but measure and make progress toward a healthier you!