When it comes to estimating portions, visual cues really help. Keep your serving sizes in check and make sure you enjoy enough of the good stuff, like fruits and vegetables, lean meats and dairy and whole grains.

When you’re filling your plate, picture these items to help remind you of proper serving sizes:

Protein (meat, fish, poultry, shellfish): 3 ounces
Smartphone
Palm of your hand (no fingers)
Baseball

Grains (pasta, rice, cereal): 1 cup
Fist (with fingers tucked in)
Orange

Whole-Grain Bread, Rolls and Muffins: 1 ounce
Bread: CD/DVD case
Rolls/muffins: Racquetball
1/2 bagel: Hockey puck

Whole Medium Fruit or Cut-Up Fresh Fruit: 1 cup
Tennis ball

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Knowing proper servings is an important part of healthy eating. Just think about restaurant portions versus airplane portions. Some restaurants serve four to five times (if not more) of the amount you should be eating; airplane meals are more like it.

Foodnetwork.com has a clever slideshow that uses everyday items — baseballs, golf balls, deck of cards and a computer mouse — to help you keep things straight.

Check it out >>