Pyramid? Do you seem to be getting roughly the correct proportions of food in your diet? Today we're going to clear things up a little further by talking about serving sizes! Obviously, eating the correct size will make a big difference when it comes to following the Food Guide Pyramid and eating a healthy diet. If you think you are eating six to 11 servings of carbohydrates but your serving sizes are double what they should be, then you are actually eating 12 to 22 servings of carbohydrates and this would obviously result in weight gain. Excess calories, of any type of food, are stored as fat! So it is important to be sure we are eating the right serving sizes.

So, what counts as one serving? Breads, Cereals, Rice and Pasta: 1 slice of bread 1 cup of cooked rice or pasta 1 cup of cooked cereal 1 ounce of ready-to-eat cereal Vegetables: 1 cup of chopped raw or cooked vegetables 1 cup of leafy raw vegetables Fruits: 1 piece of fruit or melon wedge 3 cup of juice 1 cup of canned fruit 1 cup of dried fruit Milk, Yoghurt and Cheese: 1 cup of milk or yoghurt 11 to 2 ounces of cheese Meat, Poultry, Fish, Egg, Dry Beans and Nuts: 21 to 3 ounces of cooked lean meat, poultry or fish Count 1 cup of cooked beans, or 1 egg, or 2 tablespoons of peanut butter as 1 ounce of lean meat (about 1 serving) Fats, Oils and Sweets: Limit calories from these, especially if you need to lose weight.

Given these portion sizes, you can now determine exactly how many servings you are eating from each food group. Chances are you probably have more than one serving from certain food groups within a meal. For example, if you are having spaghetti for dinner you will probably put at least 2 or 3 servings on your plate, considering that a serving size is only 1 cup.

In order to estimate whether you are eating the right number of servings and therefore getting an appropriate number of calories each day, consider the following: in general, women and older adults need less calories, and would therefore consume less servings from each food group; children, teenaged girls, active women and most men would need more servings from each food group; teenaged boys and active men will generally require the most servings.

So, for example, in the Bread Group, women and older adults would aim for 6 servings; children, teenaged girls, active women and most men would aim for about 9 servings; teenaged boys and active men would want to consume about 11 servings. It is because of our varied needs that a range of servings is given in each food group.

Armed with the Food Guide Pyramid and the list of serving sizes, you now have the tools to determine whether you are eating a balanced diet. So use these tools, and assess your diet. In the next column, we will continue on our exploration of healthy nutrition!