Have you ever read the nutritional facts on a box of cereal? Each serving size is a little different from cereal to cereal , but a serving size of Cocoa Krispies is 3/4 cup, which is 120 calories, and 160 caloreis with 1/2 cup of vitamin A & D fat free milk. I eat the recommended serving with plain soy milk, and that's about 50 calories for a 1/2 cup, making it 170 calories.
170 calories for Cocoa Krispies cereal (with soy milk), and a large mug of coffee with soy milk and sweetener, perhaps a half/whole banana or other fruit, and we're looking at around 300 to 375 calories for breakfast, which is not too bad. It's not perfect, but not bad. I get to have something crunchy and chocolate is involved.
On the left is an average sized bowl from my dish set and can fit at least 4 cups of cereal. On the right is a 3/4 cup Pyrex bow, the recommended serving size.
It's not hard to figure out that most of us probably eat cereal out of a bowl from our every day dish set. My son does. Some bowls are probably smaller, but they are still not as small as the 3/4 cup sized bowl. Most of us are probably unaware of the extra calories we're getting just by not paying attention to portion size. Do the math. By using the larger bowl, we're getting in at least 3 to 4 times more calories than what the recommended serving size is. That could be around 800 calories just for a bowl of cereal with milk. That's a lot.
I often hear "I don't eat breakfast" from many people. Not eating breakfast isn't great, either. You're more likely to over eat later on in the day if you don't have breakfast.
I've been eating my cereal out of the 3/4 cup sized Pyrex bowls for about 8 years. It's not just the cereal portions I watch, it's the portion sizes of just about all foods that I eat. I don't need to physically measure out every thing I eat, but I visually know what a portion size is. In the beginning, I did measure, but after about two weeks I was OK with eyeballing everything.
I'm not limited to Cocoa Krispies. I like raisin bran, Rice Krispies, Cheerios (plain), corn flakes, Chex, etc... I like most cereal. I'm not a big granola fan, but I'll eat it if that's what we have. I'm also not limited to cereal and do not have cereal every day. I adore breakfast foods in general, but I'm careful to watch the carb/fat/protein ratios as well as caloric intake. It's super easy to go overboard with the fat content of a lot of breakfast foods. I also eat breakfast EVERY DAY. It's a great way to get those carbs in about an hour prior to running.
I had PT today. I'm slightly more flexible today and I practiced walking. My PT also put me on a recumbent bike, with a tiny bit of resistance for 5 minutes. I still have so far to go.
Yesterday's song:
Late At Night - The Iguanas, Buffalo Tom - Barbie2be
PEACE
7 comments:
Rascal Flatts
I'm the cereal killer (get it) in my house .... love that stuff which is why I rarely have it at home ... I'd eat the whole box.
I was sooooo good about eating breakfast during the school year...then school ended...and with it went my regular morning routine. Now I'm eating breakfast at lunch...YIKES!!!
dave matthews band?
i always laugh when i see the serving size as 1/2 or 3/4 of a cup, because really? who eats that? my ex-husband used to eat his cereal out of a mixing bowl. so pretty much half a box of cereal and two quarts of milk.
i eat aboout 1 1/2 cups of ceral with about 3/4 cup of 1% milk.
I weigh my cereal every morning. I used to think the "cereal" bowls were too small but now I think they're perfect.
I'm glad PT is going well.
You are so right about portions being as important as the nutritional makeup of the meal. Amazing comparison picture...even more amazing is that for 8 years you've stuck to the small bowl!
Whoa, that bowl picture is a good reminder that I should probably check how much cereal I'm eating daily...the bowl on the right looks so tiny to me!
Katie,
Winner with Rascal Flatts! (Tons of people did songs with the same title!) Cereal doesn't last long in our house, either. We're a family of cereal killers... It's not just for breakfast!
AKA Alice,
My husband does the same on week days! He'll eat breakfast on weekends, only because I do.
Barbie2be,
Winner with Dave Matthews Band! I like cereals where you get more bang for your caloric intake. I can eat twice as much Rice Krispies or regular Cheerios than with most cereals and get the same calories.
I actually eat a 3/4 cup serving size, but I also eat 5 to 6 smaller meals through out the day instead of 3 larger meals. I metabolize my food better that way.
Michelle,
I started weighing my food before we moved - about 2 years ago, and I liked doing that, but I have no clue where my food scale went. I also loved that for baking. I'm glad PT is going well, too.
Anne,
With all the super sizing, I think everyone has a misconception of what an actual serving size really is.
TFH,
Thanks for stopping by! The bowl on the right IS small. It's something most people use for custard or pudding, but it measures a 3/4 cup perfectly. When I started my journey to get fit 8 years ago, I started paying close attention to nutrition and serving size, and that's when I noticed how much more I was really eating. I lost 30 pounds and kept most of it off. Little tricks like using smaller bowls and plates to get an actual serving size correct helped me.
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