What Does 3 Ounces of Chicken Look Like Anyway?
We’re all taught that the amount of food we eat in a day matters, especially when it comes to weight loss. However, when it comes down to figuring out what a healthy portion size is, things get really confusing.
As an example, if you’re trying to eat 60 grams of protein daily, and 3 ounces of chicken contains approximately 20 grams of protein, that’s fine. But…what does 3 ounces of chicken look like? Is it a whole chicken breast, or half of one? How many chicken legs does 3 ounces equate too?
You can see that when it comes to portion control, things can get confusing pretty quickly. Even our government has avoided discussing portion sizes much, in Canada’s latest Food Guide. They have skirted the issue by stating we need to eat “plenty of fruits and vegetables”, in addition to consuming “protein foods”. There is no clear indication of how much of these macronutrients we should be eating though.
I like to keep things as simple as possible for myself and my personal training clients so I use Precision Nutrition’s idea of using my hand to track my portion control.
How to Use Your Hand for Portion Control
This simple and clear method outlines portion differences for males and females.
Here is the general portion recommendation for each meal a woman consumes:
- 1 palm of protein dense foods (meats, eggs, beans)
- At least 1 fist of vegetables – I always go heavier on the veggies (broccoli, zucchini, spinach, etc)
- 1 cupped hand of carb dense foods (fruits or grains)
- 1 entire thumb of fat dense foods (nuts, seeds, oils)
Here is the general recommendation for each meal a man consumes:
- 2 palms of protein dense foods (meats, eggs, beans)
- At least 2 fists of vegetables – I always go heavier on the veggies (broccoli, zucchini, spinach, etc)
- 2 cupped hands of carb dense foods (fruits or grains)
- 2 entire thumbs of fat dense foods (nuts, seeds, oils)
3 Benefits to Using this Portion Control Method
- It’s simple. Trying to count calories is confusing, time consuming and not even very accurate. Who wants to buy a food scale and measure chicken to the ounce? It’s so much easier building your portions based on the size of your palm, thumb or fist.
- It’s convenient. You have your hands with you everywhere you go. Whether you’re at home, the office, or on a trip, your measurement device is always there with you.
- It’s unique to you. If you are a larger person, your hands are generally bigger. It makes sense that if you’re bigger in size, you consume a little more than your size 4 co-worker who may have tiny hands.
To Sum it Up…
We all understand the portions we eat correlate to weight loss or gain. However, when it comes to figuring out what a healthy portion size is, things get really confusing, fast. Try using your hand to measure out what you should be eating in a meal. This method is simple, convenient and unique to your body size.
Source: https://www.precisionnutrition.com/calorie-control-guide