Keep An Eye on Portions!

(By: Kimberly A. Tessmer, RD LD)

You hear again and again that for successful weight loss and weight maintenance it is vital to watch your portion sizes.  You can eat a healthy diet but if your portion sizes are too large you can be eating to much, making weight loss or weight maintenance difficult.  So what is a serving size?  The following will give you an idea of how to "eye" your portion sizes: 

A medium potato should be the size of a computer mouse.
An average bagel should be the size of a hockey puck.
A cup of fruit the size of a baseball.
A cup of lettuce is four leaves.
Three ounces of meat is the size of a cassette tape.
Three ounces of grilled fish is the size of your checkbook.
One ounce of cheese is the size of four dice.
One teaspoon of peanut butter equals one dice. And
One ounce of snack foods--pretzels, etc. equals a large handful.

If you need more help in learning what normal portion sizes should look like try out the:

"PERFECT PORTIONS DIET PLATE"

Click here for more info!!

Cancer-Fighting Cruciferous Veggies!

(By: Kimberly A. Tessmer, RD LD)

Cruciferous vegetables are members of the cabbage family.  They include such vegetables as arugula, bok choy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, kohlrabi, mustard greens, radishes, rutabaga, Swiss chard, turnip greens, turnips and watercress.  Scientists believe that these vegetables contain nutrients, compounds, and phytonutrients that seem to have cancer-fighting properties.  More specifically cruciferous vegetables' contain special phytochemicals called isothiocyanates, which stimulate our bodies to break down potential carcinogens (cancer causing substances). 

Sulforaphane, found in broccoli and in even more concentrated form in broccoli sprouts, is a well-known isothiocyanate.  These vegetables from the cabbage family as well as other fruits and vegetables may help protect against colon cancer.  Many cruciferous vegetables also contain indole-3-carbinol, a compound that affects sex-hormone metabolism involved with the progression of prostate, breast and ovarian cancers.

Include your veggies everyday and make sure that those include some type of cruciferous vegetables!