By Susan Burke MS, RD, LD/N, CDE
eDiets chief nutritionist


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If you're like most people, you eat more than you think you do, and
exercise less. You're not deliberately trying to deceive anyone;
it's just that most people don't have any idea of how much they're
eating.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends eating a variety of
foods and suggests portions based on your age, sex and activity. A
40-year-old woman getting 30 to 60 minutes of exercise daily might
need about 2,000 calories/day, and is recommended 2.5 cups of
vegetables and 2 cups of fruit daily. That shouldn't be too
intimidating. But it's hard to limit portions of grains…especially
pasta, rice and bread, because we're used to eating a lot. The same
woman's recommendations are for 6 ounces of grains daily.

Just one cup of cooked pasta is considered 2 ounces. If she's eating
a couple of cups of cereal in the morning, a sandwich at lunch, and
buys a small bag of pretzels from the vending machine in the
afternoon, she's already over her grains limit for the day, and she
hasn't eaten dinner yet.

Besides grains, even if the food is a "good food," or one that's
healthy and good-for-you, if you eat too much of it, it's NOT good
for you. Eat too much and the calories are stored as fat, on your
hips or worse, around your abdomen, where it is most dangerous.