Diabetes and Understanding Serving Sizes

Get the Facts

Risks and Prevention

Diabetes: Tests You Take

Monitoring Diabetes

Treatments

Complications of Diabetes

Living With Diabetes

Diabetes: Smart Eating

Diabetes Diet Reading Food Labels Serving Size Sample Meal Plan Eating Out With Diabetes Drinking Alcohol and Diabetes

Diabetes Bookshelf

To the Diabetes Center

Following a balanced meal plan can help you keep the complications of diabetes in check. A dietitian can advise you on how many servings from each food group you should eat per day. But how much is considered a "serving?"

The amount of food that is counted as one serving is listed below. If you eat a larger portion, count it as more than one serving. For example, a dinner portion of rice using the chart below is 1/3 cup. The amount you eat may be 1 cup. This would count as three servings from the breads and starch group.

Serving Size Based on Food Groups

Milk and Yogurt:

1 cup of low-fat milk
1 cup of low-fat yogurt (unsweetened or sweetened with aspartame or other artificial sweeteners)

Meat, Poultry, Fish, Eggs, Dry Beans, Cheese, and Nuts

2-3 ounces cooked lean beef, veal, pork, lamb, chicken, turkey, or fish
2-3 ounces low-fat natural cheese (such as Swiss, cheddar, Muenster, parmesan, mozzarella, and others)
1/2 cup of cooked dry beans
1/4 cup tofu (bean curd)
1 egg (or equivalent serving of egg substitute)
2 tablespoons of peanut butter
2 ounces of processed cheese (American)
1/2 cup low-fat cottage cheese
1/2 cup canned tuna (packed in water)

Vegetables

1 cup of raw leafy vegetables
1/2 cup of other vegetables; cooked, raw (chopped), or canned
1/2 cup of vegetable juice

Fruits

1/2 banana
1 small apple, orange, or pear
1/2 cup of chopped, cooked or canned fruit

Bread, Cereal, Rice, Pasta, and Starchy Vegetables

1 slice of bread
1/2 English muffin, bun, small bagel, or pita bread
1 6-inch tortilla
4-6 crackers
2 rice cakes
1 ounce ready-to-eat cereal
1/2 cup cooked cereal, pasta, or bulgur
1/3 cup cooked rice
1 small potato or 1/2 large potato
1/2 cup sweet potatoes or yams
1/2 cup corn kernels or other starchy vegetables such as winter squash, peas, or lima beans

Reviewed by Certified Diabetes Educators in the Department of Patient Education and Health Information and by physicians in the Department of Endocrinology at The Cleveland Clinic.

Edited by Brunilda Nazario, MD, WebMD, December 2006.