Quick portion size tips

Many diet books always suggest eating a certain number of ounces of food or a fraction of a cup. These portion suggestions may be easy to follow when you're preparing the food yourself, but what about when you're not eating at home? Unless you carry around one of those mini food scales and a measuring cup, your best guess is all you have to rely on.

That's why you should try to make your guesses as educated as possible. To assist you in that effort, here are a few common portion estimation tips you can try.

~ 3 ounces of lean meat is about equal in size to a standard deck of 52 cards

~ 1.5 ounces of cheese is about the size of three dominoes

~ 1/2 cup of fruit, veggies, or grains is equal to about the size of half a baseball

If your portions sizes are larger than those listed above, you can simply adjust the size of the comparison object accordingly.