Nestlé Portion Guidance
Nestlé Portion Guidance
Nestlé encourages responsible nutrition, moderation and variety in food habits. We are committed to supporting individuals and families to balance their diets.
Over time, people’s perceptions of what constitutes a serve, or a portion of food has been slowly increasing. Today’s portion sizes have 2-3 times the number of Kilijoules compared to 20 years ago.
As part of our continuous support to individuals and families, we are improving our products and packaging so they provide clear portion guidance. Clear portion guidance makes it easy to ensure you are eating the right amount, helping to achieve a balanced diet.
Portion v Serve
A portion is how much food you choose to eat at one time, whether in a restaurant, from a package, or at home.
A serve or serving size, is the amount of food listed on a product's food label.
The Power of Portions
- Portion sizes in restaurants and at home have been increasing since the 1970s.
- We eat more when we are served more.
- When we eat from a larger plate, our calories creep up over time without us realising.
Understanding portion size is important for healthy eating. A good way to start is by rethinking the amount of each food group on our plate. The images above of the spaghetti bolognaise show you how easy it is to serve a smaller portion on your plate that still looks satisfying. Focusing on eating more vegetables, wholegrains and legumes and eating less foods high in saturated fat, added sugars and salt, can help us to eat more healthily. See Figure 1 for portion guidance for core food groups.
Figure 1: Core Food Groups and Portion of Plate
|
Food Group |
% Plate |
Eat More |
Eat Less |
|
Vegetables & fruit |
50% |
Fill up your plate to add colour, flavour, and texture to almost any dish. They are low in calories and full of nutrients. |
|
|
Carbs & starchy vegetables |
25% |
Brown rice, ancient grains, whole grain bread, pasta, potato, and sweet potato. They may provide more satiety (feeling of fullness). |
Choose whole grain, high fibre and low GI carbohydrate foods over refined grain foods to boost essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals in your diet. |
|
Proteins |
25% |
Lean poultry, beef, fish, eggs and plant proteins like legumes, tofu and nuts provide nutrients and satiety with fewer kilojoules. |
Fattier choices of bacon, fried meats and processed meats can be very high in kilojoules. |
|
Fats & oils |
0-5% |
Enjoy olive oil, avocado, margarine and nut butters to add flavour and variety to vegetables, salads and meals. |
Creamy sauce, butter and whipped cream will add extra fat and kilojoules. |
To help you further with making healthier choices, clear portion size guidance is provided on Nestlé products and packaging.
