Portion Gallery

It only takes a few hundred extra calories eaten here and there over a typical day to gradually build up and trigger a gain in weight. For example an extra 200 calories more than you need over a year will lead to an excess of 73,000 calories which equates to a weight gain of around 1 stone and 4 pounds.

Do this over five years and you can see just how easy it is for your weight to spiral out of control. And this can happen to the most health conscious of us. You don't need to be an obvious candidate who flagrantly chomps on chocolate, cakes and crisps all day to experience this creeping weight gain.

Very often these extra calories come from us unwittingly eating larger portions and servings of everyday foods than we used to. Take for instance the size of an average scone. Back in the 1980's it would have weighed around 50g and provide 151 calories. Now the average size of a scone from a supermarket is around 70g and if you go into a typical high street coffee shop, they can tip the scales at 190g with a whacking 600 calories.

This is what I call 'Portion Distortion'.

And here is the problem. We eat in portions. How many people do you know who, on picking up a now standard 50g packet of crisps say; 'Crisps used to come in 25g bags, so I'll just eat half'. It doesn't happen.

The consequence is that we end up eating double the quantity and double the calories. Portions have, quite simply, become distorted over the last few decades and this distortion is taking its toll on our waistbands.

But it isn't just that portions are getting bigger. Most of us, myself included, find it hard to know how much we should be eating of everyday foods like breakfast cereals (it may say an average bowl is '40g' on the packet, but what does 40g look like?); slices of bread; bread rolls; pitta; pasta; tuna or chicken.

And how about nuts and seeds? With these 'health' foods becoming the latest craze to nibble on between meals, how much is too much from the point of view of calories per portion?

It is to answer these questions and to help give you an idea of 'normal' serving sizes that I have created my Portion Gallery. Take a look at everything from croissants to cappuccino cups to help you get to grips with what you are really eating!

Browse through the thumb-nail images below and click each to find out more.

Breakfast Cereals
Porridge Oats	Muesli	Fruit and fibre
Bread, Rolls, Pitta and Tortilla wraps
Sliced white bread	Multigrain bread	Sourdough bread
Rolls	Pitta bread white	Pitta bread wholemeal
Naan bread	Tortilla wrap
Cakes, buns and puddings
Scones	Danish pastries x 2	Croissants x 5
Clam Croissants	Banana cake x 1	Carrot cake x 2
Chocolate cake x 2	Iced buns x 2	Flapjack x 3
Cookies x 4	Muffins x 4	Apple pie
Fruit crumble
Meats and Fish
Haddock	Salmon	Smoked salmon
Tuna steak	Ham	Chicken slices
Chicken breast	Beef sliced	Pork chop
Pate	Minced beef	Sausage rolls x 4
Beef pastie	Pork pies	Sausages
Cheeses
Camembert	Cheddar
Nuts and seeds Nuts and seeds are often considered to be a healthy alternative to biscuits, sweet, cakes and chocolate as between meal snacks. In many ways they are although this does depend on how many you eat. If you buy a 100g bag and munch your way through the whole lot, you will be eating a good 500 plus calories. Stick to a 30g serving and you will get all the benefits of the nuts and seeds minus excess calories.
Almonds	Brazil nuts	Walnuts
Cashew nuts	Pumpkin seeds	Sunflower seeds
Potatoes and Pasta Potatoes vary in their GI depending on their size and the variety you use. New potatoes are medium GI because the starch is quite tightly packed together and are quite difficult to digest. Baked potatoes have a much more fluffy structure and are high GI and are easy to digest.
Boiled new potatoes	Sweet potato	Chips
Pasta cooked and uncooked penne and spaghetti
Savoury Biscuits
Ritz	TUC	Oat cakes
Water biscuits
Pizza and Quiche
Pizza x 2	Quiche x 1
Dips and Mayonnaise
Mayonnaise	Hummus	Taramasalata
Tzatziki	Coleslaw	Tomato salsa
Peanut butter
Wine
Wine
Lattes and Cappuccinos and Hot Chocolate Some of these drinks when made with whole milk are so large that they are literally equivalent to drinking a meal. Take a look at the figures below, you may want to make some changes to your drinks orders when you dive in to coffee bars. Cups come in three sizes: Regular size cup (also known as 'tall'): 350ml Medium size cup (also known as 'grande'): 450ml Extra large cup (also known as 'venti'): 550ml
Lattes	Cappuccinos	Hot Chocolates